Evening star., 1943-03-03
ltoIy: Diplomatic Front


The five-day conference just con-
cluded in Rome between the leaders
OF Fascist Italy and Nazi Foreign
Minister Joachim Won Ribbentrop are,
Of course, important in themselves
as tending to coordinate the war
efforts of the European Axis partners.
Yet this conference has added sig
niflcance when viewed against the
larger diplomatic background of
which it forms part.
Rome has become the center of an
undercover diplomatic war which is
being fought on two sectors-the
PalazzosVenezia and the Vatican. We
should remember that the Eternal
City is the seat OF two independent
poWers-the Italian state and the
papacy Since 1929. the Pope has
been recognized as exercising full
sovereign rights over the miniature
state OF Vatican City with its area of
1887 acres situated in the heart OF
Rome, and he maintains regular dip
lomatic relations with many nations,
including the United States. The
Holy See, however, is pledged to a
perpetual neutrality in political dis
putes between governments and to
abstention from international con-
crosses called to cope with them, un-
less the Popes mediation Is spe-
ciflcally requested by both parties to
= dispute. This rules out any taking
Of sides by the Vatican in the present
war. But for that same reason, it
makes Vatican City neutral ground
where the accredited diplomats from
both sets of combatants are simul-
taneously present, with the possibil-
ity of informal contacts between
them. Undoubtedly, intense diplo-
matte activity has been going on in
Vatican City during recent weeks,
high lighted by such events as the
visit Of Archbishop Francis Spellman
Of New York. the appointment of
Count Ciano as Italian Ambassador
to the Holy See, and the doings of
Finlands representative, Mr.. Gripen-
berg. All those activities are cloaked
In profound secrecy. Yet they evil
dence the diplomatic maneuvering
which is going on behind the scenes.
and which by no means is confined
to Italy's present and future relation
to the war.
This burning issue was the main
subject Of the conferences at the
Palazzo Venezia. Ribbentrop un-
questionably came to Rome with in
structions to deal drastically with the
growing war weariness and discon-
tent Of the Italian people. There can
be no doubt that Mussolini and his
henchmen are kept in power chiefly
by German backing, without which a
collapse Of the Fascist regime and
Italy's withdrawal from the war
would be a virtual certainty. This
means that the debated Duce has
become little more than a satellite OF
Berlin and, in the last analysis, must
tiers to the northward.
Though Berlin has played down the
importance Of Ribbentrop's visit and
has not announced officially the re-
suits. reliable information from neu-
trail European diplomatic sources in
! dictates that what Berlin calls the
| Axis answer to the United Nations
Casablanca conference" co-ordinates
Italy's war effort with that Of Ger
many in the most ruthless fashion
Ribbentrops reported demands in
cluded an Italian contribution Of
500 900 workers to German industry,
Is more Italian divisions for service
against Russia, intensiflcation of
Italian naval action in the Mediter-
ranean perhaps stiffened by German
personnel, and joint Italo German
police activity to stamp out disaf1ec-
ton and anti German feeling in the
peninsula Gestapo efficiency pre-
sumably will be needed If Mussolinl' S
Ovra is to handle the tide of popular
resentment certain to be aroused in
Italy by such wholesale drafts of la
Dor and cannon fodder for German s
industrial and war machines. All
this is part Of Hitlers program for
the total mobilization of Axis domi-
mated Europe to meet the supreme
test which obviously lies ahead
Whether Italy can stand the strain