The following morning, Mac took his run in the direction of the Vatican, passing the boutiques and cafes along the Piazza di Spagna. He turned left at the Tiber River, running past the San Luigi dei Francesi Catholic Church, the Piazza Navona, then back past the Pantheon towards the Inn. His mind was on Carla DeFelice, and their encounter of the day before. Her beauty, her youth, and her naiveté captivated him. She was nothing like Sara and her worldly persona, but he nevertheless found her charming and delightful. He wanted to get to know her, to be with her more. His thoughts drifted to her by his side, like the demure Ambassadors’ wives were with their husbands. The ladies were shepherds of dinner conversation, unwilling to let their husbands stray from civility for too long, particularly while at the dinner table with guests. Carla could be that for him, he thought.
Mac returned to the Inn, got himself ready for work, and he skipped breakfast, choosing instead to grab coffee at work. When he walked into the office at nine o’clock, Teresa was there to greet him, and bring him his coffee.
“Good morning, Teresa,” Mac greeted his coffee bearing receptionist. “Thank you, I need this.”
“Good morning, sir,” Teresa responded tersely, sounding less friendly than she had the day before.
“What's wrong?”
“Oh, nothing, sir.”
“Come on, tell me.”
“Well, sir, we had a little brouhaha in my home last night, when Alberto got back from work. Carla told him you had asked her to the King's Christmas Ball. He was not happy, to say the least.”
“Why? He doesn’t even know me!”
“Precisely, Tommaso. We don’t do things that way here in Italy. If you want to see my sister-in-law, it is proper for you to ask permission of the family first. Alberto said it shows you are disrespectful, and he refused to let her go with you. Carla was hysterical. I was able to smooth it over a bit, but you are going to have to talk to Alberto beforehand, if you intend upon taking my sister-in-law to the Christmas Ball.”
“Oh, Teresa, I am so sorry. I did not know. I was intending to ask his permission when I picked her up for the Ball. I just found out about it yesterday, myself. Logistics was a problem. I didn’t think it was such a big deal. It was wrong of me to assume that things are done the same way here, as in America.”
“I understand, but my husband is old fashioned. I will tell you what. Come to dinner tomorrow night. You can ask him then. He will at least have opportunity to decide without having his sister standing there, dressed for the Ball.”
“Thank you; yes, what time should I come?”
“Well, Carla works until 8:00 tomorrow. You come before; say seven, to talk to Alberto without her being there. Then we can all have dinner together, if it works out,” laughed Teresa.
“Oh, great, you want me there without Carla? I hope I win his favor. I don’t want to go home hungry.”
“You will be fine, Tommaso. Just show him respect and your gratitude for the opportunity to be with his baby sister. Old fashioned, my poor husband. A suffering older brother, what can I tell you? At least he cares.”
“You are right. I will be there, and I will show him how respectful I am.”
“Hey, what's happening in here?” laughed Balls, as he barged into Mac's office. “We need to get over to the Vatican. Teresa, would you call us a cab, please.”
“Good morning, Balls,” said Mac, as Teresa left the room. “Teresa was just inviting me to dinner tomorrow night so I can ask her husband if I can take his sister to the Christmas Ball on Saturday.”
“Bit old fashioned, I take it,” said Balls. “Alberto is a character, alright. Works for Ciano. He is a fascist. Better to do it his way,” laughed Balsieri.
“I will do it his way, Balls. It's nice actually. His sister is lovely, and she is young. I went to church with her on Sunday, and for a walk in the Villa Borghese afterwards. I guess I am lucky he did not come looking for us.”
“Bring a gift. He will like that.”
“What should I bring? Flowers for Teresa. What, a bottle for Alberto?”
“Bring him a bottle of Cognac. It's hard to get in Italy, nowadays. I have a bottle in my office, good stuff, unopened. Remind me.”
“Thanks, Balls. I will take you up on it.”
“Cab is here,” said Teresa, peeking her head into the office door.
“Let's go Mac,” said Balsieri.
The two lawyers jumped into the cab, and went to Vatican City, basically taking the same route Mac had just run that morning, except they crossed the Tiber River, taking the Via della Conciliazone into St. Peter's Square. Although Vatican City is an independent City-State enclaved within the city of Rome, there are no walls, nor are there any passport controls between the two. With an area of 110 acres, and a population of about 1,000 people, it is the smallest State in the world by both area and population. The Holy See, then under the leadership of Pope Pius XII, rules Vatican City, which had been an independent State since 1929, with the signing of the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and the Italian Government of Benito Mussolini, on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III. Countries around the world had recognized the autonomy of the Vatican, and sent emissaries to court the Holy See, and to show respect to the seat of worldwide Catholicism, albeit for their own political purposes. The United States, however, had refused to send an emissary, causing a rift between the Papacy and the American president. In 1936, then Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, who would later be named Pope Pius XII, visited America, marking the first time a Papal Secretary of State had done so. When in the United States, Pacelli, first and always a diplomat, met with President Roosevelt to smooth out relations between the Vatican and the United States on the eve of World War II, which only a few years later would pay dividends when it was clearer they had a common interest in maintaining peace in Europe.
St. Peter's Square, the Piazza San Pietro, holds the majestic St. Peter's Basilica, with its universally recognized dome and pillars, on one end. The massive Doric colonnades, four columns deep, were designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini to surround the Piazza, like “the maternal arms of Mother Church.” At the center of the Square is an ancient obelisk, which had originally been taken by Caligula from Heliopolis in Egypt for his Circus, standing tall in the middle of all this Catholicism. Although the Lateran Treaty set the seat of the Holy See in Vatican City, there were still various properties of the Holy See elsewhere in Italian territory. The Vatican had its own police force, and a small military presence known as the Swiss Guard.
Mac had read in the newspapers that, as of April of 1939, the taciturn Pope Pius XII had attempted to promote a plan for peace, hoping to mediate between European powers, to prevent war. Despite his diplomatic background as Papal Secretary of State, his efforts accomplished very little, and his detractors saw his suggestions as appeasement. In August of 1939, Pius warned: “the danger is imminent, but there is still time. Nothing is lost with peace; all can be lost with war!” A week later Germany marched into Poland.
With the blitzkrieg of Poland, and before the rest of Europe was to be attacked, the Pope was continuing to push for a negotiated peace, for which he had the attention and support of President Roosevelt. At that point, Roosevelt sent Myron Taylor to the Vatican to establish diplomatic relations, after a seventy-year hiatus, to help promote the attempt at peace negotiations.
Now, a year later, the Vatican was receiving Mac ostensibly to assist in the Pope's efforts. Balsieri and Mac were now entering the Vatican offices within the Bernini colonnades, with the permission of the Swiss Guard, for their meeting with Father Robert Leiber, the Private Secretary to the Pope.
The offices were stark white, almost antiseptic, with white moldings, and white mullions on the windows overlooking St. Peter's Square and the ancient obelisk. The wall-to-wall carpeting was a deep royal blue; the cushions on the furniture were in deep shades of red. The furniture was fine antique, from France and Italy. The marble fireplace had a fire blazing in its hearth, sending warmth over the entire reception room. The greeter was male; in fact, there was not a woman in sight.
“Father Leiber will meet with you in his private office, gentlemen,” announced the greeter, as he led them down a great marble hall, his black cassock rustling as he walked.
“The Secretary has a secretary?” whispered Mac in Balsieri's ear.
Balsieri chuckled, without a sound.
“Father Leiber, the lawyers have arrived,” the greeter announced, as he opened a heavy wooden door to a private office.
“Gentlemen, come in,” said Leiber, “it is good of you to be punctual. With Christmas coming, things are a little busy here.”
Leiber was dressed in a cassock as well, a handsome man of perhaps forty.
“It is our pleasure to be here,” said Balsieri. “This is Tommaso Martini, Father Leiber, from America. He is an attorney with our firm, sent here by John Foster Dulles and President Roosevelt to be of service to the Holy See.”
The private secretary of the Pope nodded his head toward Mac, as he motioned the men to sit down in chairs on the other side of his desk.
“Unfortunately, I do not have much time this morning to be with you, so let's get right to it. Gentlemen, there are two issues with which the Holy See needs your assistance. Both are very delicate, and thus, we must be sure of your discretion.”
“We are attorneys, father,” said Balsieri, “everything said stays between us.”
“Very well. How rude of me, would you like some coffee or tea?”
“No, thank you,” said Mac, looking to open his mouth for the first time.
Mac was awed by the experience, knowing that Pope Pius XII was likely in the next room, or close by. As a Roman Catholic, the idea of the Holy See needing his help was enough to have made the rigors of law school worthwhile.
If only my mother could see me now. She would be beside herself with pride and joyous prayer.
“Very well, let us get down to it, gentlemen,” said Leiber. The first issue involves certain approaches that have been made to the Pope, through me, by dissident German generals seeking to negotiate a peace with the British, if and when they were to remove Hitler from power. I met with Abwehr officer Josef Muller, acting as an emissary for the German military opposition against Hitler, this past year, from the winter of 1939, until early this year. Negotiations were tense, as the British wanted assurances from the Holy Father, vouching for the opposition representative, before they would even enter such negotiations. They had been down this path before and got burned. Communications were channeled back and forth in secrecy, through my office. The discussions ultimately failed when the Germans took France and the Low Countries with little trouble. Hitler became intolerable, but untouchable at that point, according to the Abwehr. The question now remains, should future negotiations ensue, what part could, or should, the Holy See play in these discussions as a neutral third party, independent State, situated within an Axis country? What, if any, historical precedent, either formal or secret, is there that would authorize, or prohibit, such an effort on the part of the Pope?”
“I will get right on that, sir,” said Mac. “It should just be a matter of historical research.”
“Well, not exactly, young man. Things here are often done in secret, with no record of it at all. If it were so easy, as to look up the answers in books, we wouldn’t need outside assistance. No, we want you to quietly investigate this question by speaking with the cardinals and church officials with respect to their knowledge and opinion as to such matters. Of course, you will have a letter of introduction from Pope Pius, requesting complete cooperation with your inquiry.”
“I understand, sir,” said Mac, feeling his own naiveté.
“The Church hierarchy is somewhat on edge, as it is,” continued Leiber. “The Pope has not made any new Cardinals, nor will he, until the war is resolved, and peace has been secured. His stand on neutrality, and his disapproval of the war, racism, anti-Semitism, the invasion of Poland, and the persecution of the Church has, most unfortunately, put clerics in harms way. In Poland alone, the Nazis have undoubtedly murdered many monks and priests, with even more being imprisoned, God knows where.”
“Delicate matters call for discrete investigations, sir,” said Balsieri. “We understand completely.”
“Which brings me to the second topic, even more delicate than the first, with which we need your discreet assistance. We have been approached by several important, trustworthy people, Jewish and Christian, indicating that the Germans, no matter how far fetched this may seem, are plotting the wholesale destruction of the Jewish Race. The Pope is appalled at the notion, having reiterated repeatedly that Catholic teachings prohibit racism and anti-Semitism. Pope Pius would like to you quietly investigate these reports, determine their authenticity, and explore the legal possibility of the Church opening itself up to the Jews, sheltering these faultless people from further atrocities by whomever seeks their destruction, whether it be the Germans, the Italians, or anyone else. Can we do this, as a sovereign State, and still maintain our neutrality?”
“When do we start?” asked Mac. “How do we start? That might be the more appropriate question.”
“After Christmas, we will sit down with a group of Jewish leaders, to review what they claim are proof of atrocities. Pope Pius will be there to greet these emissaries, but he will excuse himself from the room when they make their presentation. In the meantime, become familiar with the first issue. I will get you your authorizations, and we will start interviewing the Cardinals, many of whom are here for the birth of our Savior.”
“Yes, Father Leiber,” said Balsieri. “You can count on us, sir. We humbly appreciate His Excellency's trust and reliance.”
“Now, gentlemen, if you do not mind, I have pressing matters that need my attention. Shall we agree to meet back here on January 2nd? See my assistant on the way out and tell him to put us down for two hours on that day. It should be quiet right after the New Year. We will meet with the Jewish leaders shortly thereafter, assuming the arrangements can be made on such short notice.”
“We will be here, Father Leiber, God willing,” said Balsieri, bowing to the gentleman as they left the office.
As the lawyers returned to the Piazza di Spagna, both were struck quiet by the magnitude of the Vatican requests.
“Nothing like having the fire put to your feet, huh Mac. Welcome to Rome. You wanted to be busy? You are now officially busy, young man. Sometimes you get what you wish for.”
“Clearly, they are bringing us into this for a reason,” opined Mac. “They want me to report back to the president what we are seeing and hearing, unofficially, so as not to have to get involved with these things themselves. They are trying to pass the buck, so to speak, to President Roosevelt, by giving him the knowledge, so that he will be morally obligated to act, and get involved in the conflict. Ingenious, really.”
“Very smart, Mac. Of course, that is what they are doing. They know you will have to report back what you see and hear, so they will not have to breach their neutrality by making direct overtures.”
Mac spent the balance of the day in his office, writing up notes from the meeting with the Pope's private secretary, and from the conversations the evening before at Villa Taverna. Teresa ordered him lunch, and she pushed him out of the door at the end of the day.
“Tomorrow is another day, young man,” she said. “Go say hello to that sweet sister-in law of mine before she goes home from work heartbroken that you haven’t stopped by.”
“Good idea,” responded Mac, as they walked out of the door on to Piazza di Spagna together. “I will see you tomorrow.”
“And dinner?”
“Yes, of course. I will be there. Thank you.”