Newspaper Clippings Related to the Vatican

The Christian Century, Chicago--several weeks ago. vatican Envoy Soon To Return A WHITE HOUSE announcement says that Myron C. Taylor may soon return from Rome to this coun- try. Presidential Secretary Charles G. Ross underscored the statement that, if Mr. Taylor does return, "it will be on leave." This suggests that President Truman is seri- ously considering a continuation of the anomalous repre- sentation of this country at the Vatican which was ini- tiated by President Roosevelt. Mr. Roosevelt circum- vented the constitutional problem involved in appointing an ambassador to the head of a religious organization by making Mr. Taylor his personal representative. Now President Roosevelt is dead, but his appointee continues in office. Mr. Ross hinted at a new basis for this repre- sentation by referring to Myron C. Taylor as "the Presi- dent's personal representative." Does this mean that the Vatican embassy has been raised from the status of per- sonal representative of Mr. Roosevelt to personal repre- sentative of the office of the President, regardless of who may be in office? If that is true, the difference between such an embassy and the embassies maintained in the capitals of the nations with which we have diplomatic relations has vanished. Mr. Taylor's Vatican embassy has then in fact become a fully accredited organ of the government of the United States, and the fears are justi- fied of those who suspected that the status originally given Mr. Taylor was intended to be the entering wedge for a permanent representation of the United States at the court of the pope. We hoped that President Truman would firmly put an end to a diplomatic anomaly which never represented the desires of more than a small mi- nority of the American people. If the White House an- nouncement means that he not only intends to continue it but to make permanent the status of the Vatican embassy, it is time for Congress to act.