President of the United States of America
 
 
 
Pius PP. XII
 
 
 
Most Excellent Sir:
Health and Prosperity.
 
 
 
The memorable message that your Excellency was pleased to have forwarded to Us on the   
eve of the Holy Feast of Christmas has brightened with a ray of consolation, of hope   
and confidence, the suffering, the heart-rending fear and the bitterness of the peoples  
 caught up in the vortex of war.  For this all right-minded men have paid you spontaneous   
tribute to their sincere gratitude.  We have been deeply moved by the moble thought contained  
in your note, in which the spirt of christmas and the desire to see it applied to the great  
human problems have found such eloquent expression; and fully persuaded it to the distinguished   
gathering present that very morning in the Consistorial Hall of this Apostolic Vatican Palce,   
solemnly expressing before the world, Catholic and non-catholic alike, our appreciation  of this  
courageous document, inspired by a far-seeing statesmanship and a profound human sympathy.