𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐎𝐏𝐄-𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒

"For a long time, in our "Mitteilungen zur weltanschaulichen Lage", we have repeatedly drawn attention to the attempts at rapprochement between the United States and the Vatican. Since the World War, the more than 20 million Catholics in the North American Union have developed into a highly significant factor, both within the United States and within the universal Church itself. The Vatican acknowledged this fact in the autumn of 1936 by dispatching the then Cardinal Secretary of State, Pacelli, on an extensive tour of inspection and information-gathering to the United States. On this occasion, the man who is now Pope met President Roosevelt in person, and there was already talk at the time of an imminent resumption of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Washington. At every available opportunity, both powers demonstrated their friendship: the dispatch of a personal representative of Roosevelt to Catholic congresses; the provision of a warship for Cardinal Mundelein for his journey to Rome for the papal election; the appointment of the American Cardinal Dougherty as the Pope’s legate to the International Eucharistic Congress in the Philippines in 1937; and the honoring of American Catholicism through various papal pronouncements and direct radio addresses by the Pope. All these developments indicate that the rapprochement between the Vatican and the United States should not be viewed as a merely passing phenomenon."

Source: BArch RS 4/818 Mitteilung zur weltanschaulichen Lage Nr. 1 / 6. Jahr. 11. Januar 1940 p.20