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Added Francis E. McMahon, Notre Dame professor of philosophy and head of the Catholic Association for International Peace: "As the Crusaders once stormed Jerusalem to rescue the Holy Land from the infidel, so American flyers bombed Rome to drive out the Fascists."
The Bombed and the Unbombed. Elsewhere the comment varied too. In much-bombed Malta, under chalked up exhortations to "Bomb Rome," joyful Maltese scrawled: "Thanks." In bomb-ridden Chungking the Catholic Social Welfare exhorted Italians to "wake up and live." In unbombed Dublin Eamon de Valera's Irish Press thought the bombs would "sadden many." London's official attitude was: "regretful, yes; apologetic, no." Unofficial London: "It's about time." Madrid and Lisbon were noncommittal, Rio de Janeiro generally approved; Buenos Aires frowned.
At week's end, Vatican Radio again went on the air. "The Holy Father is very willing to believe that the bombs were not intentionally dropped on the basilica. . . . His words were not intended to incite to anger and hatred, but ... it must be emphasized that Rome is indeed something without equal. ... It would have been possible to make Rome an open city. . . . The Holy Father is also not unaware that other towns have suffered terribly . . . that injuring of the mystical body of Christ weighs heavier than the destruction of stone houses of God."