Rome, March 18, 1940.
 
     After leaving the Pope, I was received by Cardinal
 
Maglione, the Cardinal Secretary of State. Cardinal
 
Maglione spoke French with complete command of the
 
language, and we consequently spoke in that language
 
rather than through an interpreter.
 
       Cardinal Maglione stated first of all that he was 
 
sure the Pope had said to me that he believed the Presi-
 
dent could perform a service of great value in the inter-
 
est of peace by using his influence with Mussolini to
 
dissuade the latter from bringing Italy into the war.
 
He said that he had been very much gratified by the
 
friendly way in which I personally had been received by
 
Mussolini and by Count Ciano, and that he hoped that
 
cordial relations between the two governments would now
 
be maintained, since he believed that such relations would
 
be of great value in persuading Mussolini to maintain a
 
position of Italian non-belligerency. He said, further-
 
more, that it was only through the maintenance of a close
 
and friendly contact between Washington and Rome that,
 
should it later seem possible to make some move for peace,
 
the two governments might then be enabled to act in harmony
 
and not in discord.
 
     He said that he knew that the Pope had undoubtedly
 
also said to me that the Holy See would cooperate towards
 
that objective in every possible way and that all the in-
 
formation that the Vatican possessed would be placed at 
 
the disposal of the President.
 
     He himself did not believe that the moment was now
 
ripe for the discussion of the bases of any real, just and
 
                                   lasting