How the Holy See and the United States sought peace during World War II - The impossible collaboration

Even if the Holy See and the United States were on good terms during the First World War, their relations were no more than proper and never cordial. Proposals for discussions came only from the Vatican or from American Catholics, never from the White House. Benedict XV was relying on the American President's in order to achieve his peace policy, but he ran consistently into a dead end. He certainly had more confidence in the will and capacity for action of the American President than the latter had in his regard. Wilson saw the Pope more as a competitor than as a spokeman whose only goal was world peace. In point of fact, the two men represented values and systems which were intrinsically different and even opposite. If the Pope attempted to break through this wall of misunderstanding, the American President, perhaps overly convinced that he alone could achieve peace, and certainly on guard in his dealings with the Holy See, took care not to favour any possible agreement between Washington and the Vatican.