Letter from Joseph P. Walshe to Frederick H. Boland (Dublin)
(Most Secret and Confidential)

My dear Secretary,
I am seeing Montini tomorrow and I shall talk to him about the audience for Messrs. Aiken and de Valera. The Minister need have no worries about this matter. The Holy See are always wide awake to such situations and there is no possibility of the leader of the opposition being treated as if he were still head of the Government. On the other hand, there is no doubt whatever that they will treat him as a particularly distinguished guest. In the circumstances of this particular case ... especially delicate for all concerned ... I must, first of all, make sure that the Government suffers no loss of prestige in the eyes of the Holy See by any apparent ... even remotely apparent ... lack of generosity towards a beaten foe. For that reason I wish the Minister had been able to allow me to invite the visitors to stay here at the Embassy. Most certainly, I shall be asked by the Vatican if they are staying here, and if I have to reply that they are staying in a Hotel there will be no concealment of their surprise. In fact their comments may not be too flattering. Apart from a possible bad reaction within the Vatican and in Rome generally the Minister would, perhaps, consider another important factor, namely that of the extent to which I can control the situation in the alternative circumstances. I feel quite sure that I should be in a better position to achieve an approach to the Minister's wishes in the whole matter if the guests were my guests. Is there not also the possibility that the very fact of the visitors not staying in the Embassy might provide a motive for the Vatican to go further in their demonstration of welcome than they would have done were the (what they would regard as the) normal courtesies extended by the Embassy. And we cant forget that the Vatican have been following, to some extent at any rate, through their own reports and those of the press, the incidence of Mr. de Valera's influence on sections of the English speaking Catholic world. That consideration also would tend to make them react ... perhaps even very strongly ... to any departure from normality on our part. Of course an invitation might not be accepted but, at least, we should have had the credit of having tendered it.

That is how the problem looks from the angle of Catholic Rome, and if I were to put out feelers (and, of course, I have no such intention) I should probably find that the Irish in Rome would condemn us as a Government if we did not take the course which seems to be suggested by the place and complicated circumstances of this visit.

With regard to publicity, during the two days of the visit there will not [be] very much occasion for it ... but I am afraid I can do nothing to control it unless the Minister lets me invite them to the Embassy. My normal functions in the case of distinguished guests have been, so far, as follows: a) make arrangements for an audience; b) meet them at the Airport, no matter what hour of the day or night; c) have them at the Embassy for a meal or two or a small reception; d) accompany them to the Vatican for the audience but not into the presence of the Holy Father; e) generally look after them while they are in Rome; f) take them to the Airport on departure.

With this matter under special consideration, would it not be better that the Minister and the Taoiseach should come to Rome before the Taoiseach goes to Canada. It seems now pretty clear that the T. will have to come to Rome no matter what other engagements he has, and a visit would certainly be even more warmly welcomed by the Holy Father if it were the very first visit abroad. Here, at any rate, the visit would be taken as the normal corollary to the attitude taken by the T. towards the Holy See on assuming office. Whatever vulgar tongues may say about the visit being a follow up, no such sentiment will be felt or expressed in Rome. It would be a valuable strengthening of the Pope's position in His fight against Communism. As I said before, it would also help to consolidate our position and prestige in Rome. Normally, I should not recommend July or August for such a visit. The clergy, especially, are inclined to leave for home, and a reception at the Embassy would not have the strong Irish background which would be desirable. But if the T. is definitely committed to going to Canada in August, the advantage of coming first to Rome should be regarded as outweighing all other considerations. I hope the Minister will be able to give me early information about his own and the T.s intentions in this matter.

Finally, I feel very much that the more we take this visit in our stride and do all the normal things, including the invitation to stay, the less noise there will be about it. There must be an answer to the question ... Why was he not invited to the Embassy to stay? Are we not making things much more difficult for ourselves by providing mischiefmakers with the question.