Last week without undue ceremony Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, trusted Secretary of State to Pope Pius XI, left Vatican City, drove to Rome's railroad terminal, boarded a train for Genoa. There, next day, he embarked on the S. S. Conte Grande for South America. Last month it had been announced that on the first leg of his trip Cardinal Pacelli would formally inaugurate Vatican City's $1,500,000 railroad system, abuilding since 1929. This plan was abandoned. But the departure of the erudite Cardinal-Statesman was epochal enough.
He was the first Secretary of State to leave Italy since...