ancient and priceless Papal basilica of St. Laurence, one of the most treasured   
and loved sanctuaries of Romans, especially close to the heart of all supreme   
pontiffs, and visited with devotion by pilgrims from all countries of the world.
 
     
 
 
God knows how much we have suffered from the first days of the war for   
the lot of all those cities that have been exposed to aerial bombardments,   
especially for those that have been bombed not for a day, but for weeks and   
months without respite.  But since Divine Providence has placed us head over   
the Catholic Church and Bishop of this city so rich in sacred shrines and   
hallowed, immortal memories, we feel it our duty to voice a particular prayer   
and hope that all may recognize that a city, whose every district, in some   
districts every street has its irreplaceable monuments of faith or art and   
Christian culture, cannot be attacked without inflicting an incomparable loss   
on the patrimony of Religion and civilization.
 
     
 
 
Meanwhile the war proceeds at a quickened pace; and as the peoples of   
the world are being told to prepare themselves for increasingly destructive   
battles that will drain the life-blood of many thousands of the armed forces   
and, to our be it said, of civilians, our own soul makes ready for a more   
grievous ordeal