June 2nd, 1940 and more recently in his Christmas message  
to the world.
 
     
 
 
The Pope and the Holy See is with every nation  
in its suffering, and strives always to fulfill faithfully   
the pastoral mission divinely entrusted, to the Church, and  
to succour the distressed in every possible way.  
Naturally, therefore, the Czechoslovak people in  
their tribulation have a special place in the maternal heart  
of the Church. As regards the step taken by Your Excellency   
with a view to establishing unofficial contacts between the  
Czechoslovak Government recently formed in London, and the  
Holy See, His Eminence is sure that Your Excellency will  
understand how delicate is the present situation and how  
difficult it would be at the preslent time to benefit the  
Czechoslovak people by means of such contacts. His Eminence  
is of opinion that the time for such a development has not  
yet come.
 
     
 
 
III. Since then more than two years have elapsed and  
the situation throughout the world, both in a military and  
political respect, has undergone a fundamental change. The