CLAIMS OF VATICAN CITY FOR LOSSES AND DAMAGES CAUSED BY UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES DURING WORLD WAR II

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP59-00224A000100350013-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 30, 2000
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: June 22, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

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~ai niar No.
84T1I CONGRESS SENATE REPORT
2d Session No. 2292
CLAIMS OF VATICAN CITY FOR LOSSES AND DAMAGES
CAUSED BY UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES DURING
WORLD WAR II
Mr. GEORGE, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, submitted
the following
REPORT
The Committee on Foreign Relations, having had under considera-
tion H. R. 10766, to authorize the payment of compensation for
certain losses and damages caused by United States Armed Forces
during World War II, report the same to the Senate and recommend
that it do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the bill is to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury
to pay the sum of $964,199.35 in full and final settlement of all claims
of the Vatican City for losses and damages caused by United States
Armed Forces in the Papal Domain Castel Gandolfo during World
War II. The same amount is authorized to be appropriated for that
purpose.
Castel Gandolfo was accidentally damaged on February 2, 10, May
31, and June 4, 1944, by bombs dropped from United States planes in
raids on nearby military targets. The Foreign Relations Committee
once considered this claim in overall legislation submitted by the
Department of State in 1947. At that time the committee reported
a bill (S. 1605, 80th Cong.) which would have covered the claim but
sentiment developed in the Senate to provide only for adjudicated
claims. Since the Vatican claims were still under investigation they
were dropped from the bill. On December 19, 1948, the Vatican
presented the United States with a claim for $1,523,810.98 in damages.
However, the United States Army Claims Service determined through
a survey that a reasonable assessment would be $964,199.35 which is
the amount contained in the House bill.
71006
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2 CLAIMS OF VATICAN CITY FOR LOSSES AND DAMAGES
The position of the Department of State is set forth in a letter from
the Hon. Robert C. Hill, Assistant Secretary of State to the chairman
of the committee, which is reprinted below.
JUNE 11, 1956.
Hon. WALTER F. GEORGE,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations,
United States Senate.
DEAR SENATOR GEORGE: Reference is made to your letter of June
7, 1956, concerning H. R. 10766, a bill to authorize the 'payment of
compensation for certain losses and damages caused by United States
Armed Forces during World War II.
On July 10, 1043, the Italian campaign then being imminent,
President Roosevelt sent a message to Pope Pius XII, the first two
paragraphs of which read as follows:
"By the time this message reaches Your Holiness a landing in force
of American and British troops will have taken place on Italian soil.
Our soldiers have come to rid Italy of fascism and all its unhappy
symbols, and to drive out the Nazi oppressors who are infesting her
soil.
"There is no need for me to reaffirm that respect for religious beliefs
and for the free exercise of religious worship is fundamental to our
ideas. Churches and religious institutions will, to the extent that it
is within our power, be spared the devastations of war during the
struggle ahead Throughout the period of operations the neutral
status of the 'Vatican City as well as of the Papal Domains throughout
Italy will be respected."
In the course of hostilities against German armed forces, the Papal
Domain Castel Gandolfo was accidentally damaged on February 2, 10,
May 31, and. June 4, 1944, by bombs dropped from United States
planes during; attacks upon legitimate military targets in close prox-
imity thereto.
Communications addressed to the Department of State by the
apostolic delegate in Washington following the first of the incidents
indicate that Vatican authorities considered that such incidents con-
stituted, in the light of President Roosevelt's message, violations of
the "neutrality of Vatican property." On February 4, 1944, the
Department, in reply to one of these communications, said in part as
follows:
"* * * the policy of this Government with respect to Papal
property in Italy as declared by the President in his letter to the
Pope last July remains as expressed therein and Allied forces have
instructions to carry out that policy to the extent that is humanly
possible under conditions of modern warfare."
The Department does not believe that the United States corre-
spondence with the Vatican on this subject. can properly be regarded
as committing the United States to legal liability for damage caused
by accidental bombings. Lack of a legal basis for the Vatican claim
is further shown by the provisions of the Lateran Treaty of 1.929, by
which Italy acknowledged the sovereignty of the Vatican City proper,
but not of various properties outside the Vatican City known as the
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CLAIMS OF VATICAN CITY FOR LOSSES AND DAMAGES
Papal Domains. With respect to the latter, including Castel Gan-
dolfo, article 15 of the Lateran Treaty provides that-
"* * * (the Papal Domains), although forming a part of the
territory of the Italian state, shall enjoy the immunity guaranteed
by international law to the embassies of foreign nations."
It has been pointed out to Vatican representatives that since the
Papal Domains were not territory of a neutral state, but had the status
of a neutral diplomatic mission located in the territory of a belligerent,
there exists no legal basis on which the Vatican's claim can be paid.
In this connection it is of interest that the destruction wrought on the
embassies of neutrals in Berlin by Allied bombers did not create legal
obligations on the part of the Allies to pay damages.
It is considered that the status of the Vatican City and the Papal
Domains, and the treatment properly to be accorded them by the
Armed Forces, was accurately reflected in a message which the
combined Chiefs of Staff sent to General Eisenhower in December
1943. This reads substantially as follows:
1. The Vatican City is to he treated as an independent neutral
state.
2. Allied troops must avoid violating territory of the Vatican
City.
3. Allied troops must also avoid the Papal Domains which,
although not having international status as neutral territory,
are entitled to full diplomatic immunity. While every precaution
must be taken to avoid violating territory of the Vatican City
during the assault upon Rome, the diplomatic immunity of the
Papal Domains should not be allowed to interfere with military
operations, artillery fire, bombing, etc., during assault.
On December 10, 1948 the Vatican presented to us a claim for
$1,523,810.98 in damages. However, the United States Army Claims
Service determined through a survey of the damage that a reasonable
assessment, based upon the costs of labor and materials as of April
1945 and calculated according to the then prevailing exchange rate of
100 lire to the dollar, would be 964,199.35. It is understood that the
principal reason for the difference between the Vatican figure and the
United States Army figure is that the latter does not take account of
the cultural and artistic value of the destroyed or damaged property.
While the Department agrees with the intent of H. R. 10766 that
payment of an appropriate sum should be made as compensation for
the damage sustained at Castel Gandolfo, it believes that such pay-
ment is a special matter for determination by the Congress, and that
the record should show that the payment is made ex gratia and not
as a matter of legal liability.
The Department has been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that
there is no obl'ection to the submission of this report.
Sincerely yours,
ROBERT C. HILL,
Assistant Secretary
(For the Secretary of State).
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4 CLAIMS OF VATICAN CITY FOR LOSSES AND DAMAGES
II. ]I. 10766 was introduced on April 24, 1956, by Representative
John W. McCormack. A similar bill, H. R. 10767, was introduced
simultaneously by Representative Joseph W. Martin. The first of
these bills, H. R. 10766, was passed by the House on June 5, 1956.
r]I'he Committee on Foreign Relations considered the legislation on
June 12, and received testimony of the Hon. Robert Murphy, Deputy
Under Secretary of State. The committee voted. to report the bill
favorably to the Senate after requesting additional information on the
damage which the United States Army Claims Service assessed at
$964,199.35. The report on this damage is printed in the appendix.
The committee also inquired whether the fact that World War II
operations were conducted jointly with our allies might make it
possible to distribute the costs of these alleged claims. However, in a
number of accidental bombings of neutral territories during World
Warr II, compensation has been made by the Government to which the
aircraft inflicting the damages belonged. For example, when British
bombers accidentally bombed a Turkish island on March 15, 1942,
the British Government expresses' its regrets and offered compensa-
tioln. The British offered similar compensation for damages caused by
their aircraft in Denmark and Switzerland.
In urging favorable action, the committee concurs in the view of the
Department of State that the compensation here approved is not based
upon any principle of legal liability. The committee wishes to
emphasize that its action must not be regarded as constituting a prece-
dent for other claims for damages to neutral property, whether private
or public, which may have been sustained in the course of military
operations. The bill is approved solely as an ex gratia gesture of
friendship. In that spirit the committee recommends its passage by
the Senate.
APPENDIX
[NOTE.--The following letter summarizes the damages which underlie
the authorization contained in the pending resolution.]
OCTOBER .27, 194:9.
The honorable the SECRETARY OF STATE.
DEAR MR. SECRETARY: Reference is made to the letter from the
Secretary of War to the Secretary of State, dated August 27, 1947,
and to the letter from the Secretary of State to the Secretary of the
Army, dated March 30, 1949, file L/C 411.00 war damages/12-748,
concerning the claim of the Vatican City State. Compensation is
claimed for damages resulting from operations of the United States
Army against the enemy in Italy during World War II, causing damage
to its property, injury and death to Vatican employees, and injury
and death to others.
The claim, in the amount of 190,956,998 lire, or approximately
$1..523,810.98, computed at various rates of exchange, was presented by
a memorandum, dated December 10, 1948, to the personal representa-
tive of the President of the United States to His Holiness, Pope Pius
X1 I, by the Director General of the Administrative and Economic
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CLAIMS OF VATICAN CITY FOR LOSSES AND DAMAGES 5
Services of the State of the Vatican City and also by a letter, dated
December 23, 1946, from the said Director General to the Army
Claims Service. Copies of these communications are attached.
The claim relates to damages as indicated below:
(a) Property damage on February 2 and 10, May 31, and
June 4, 1944 to the Papal Estates and dependencies at Castel-
gandolfo;
(b) Property damage on February 2 and 10, 1944, to the
College for the Propagation of the Faith at Castelgandolfo;
(c) Damages arising from the death and injury of persons
within the Papai Estates and college property on the dates
mentioned above;
(rl) Damage to vehicles used in the transportation of foodstuffs
on Italian roads on unspecified dates; and
(e) Damages arising from the death and injury of Vatican
employees on duty with the vehicles mentioned in (d) above.
The Papal Estates and dependencies and the College for the Propa-
gation of the Faith, properties of the Vatican City States, located at
Castalgandolfo, Italy, were damaged at the times mentioned. Such
damages were incurred as it result of accidental and incidental aerial
and ground action of the military forces of the United States while
engaged in lawful combat, with the enemy as a part of certain attacks
upon legitimate military targets outside of the property of the Vatican
City State. A fair and reasonable assessment of the damage appears
to be as follows:
Lire
Papal estates and dependencies----_ --------------------------------- 43,
652,
935
College property----------------------------------------------- 52,
7:37,
000
Total------------------------------------------------ 96,
419,
935
These figures are based upon the costs of labor and materials during
the month of April 1945. The items of the claim, in an unliquidated
sum, for the deaths and personal injuries of the persons indicated, and
the damages, in the amount of 6,500,000 lire, to the vehicles mentioned,
have not been supported by evidence of record.
The properties damaged at Castelgandolfo were located within ter-
ritory of Italy, a nation belligerent to the United States. The claim
of the Vatican City State for compensation is based, in part at least,
upon the ground that, by reason of the Lateran Treaty, a portion of
the property at Castelgandolfo enjoyed, under international law, the
immunities afforded the seats of diplomatic agents, or the embassies
of foreign nations. International law, however, does not appear to
recognize that the seat of a diplomatic agent, or the embassy of a
foreign nation, is, in law, effectively integrated with the territory of
the state from which the mission emanates. The properties damaged
were not located within neutral territory. Therefore, no violations of
the sovereignty of a neutral state were involved in the incidents
mentioned.
Under international law, no legal liability appears to exist on the
part of the United States to make compensation for the claims here
presented. Therefore, the Department of the Army finds no legal
basis on which to recommend the payment of the claims heretofore
presented by and on behalf of the Vatican City State, its dependencies,
agents, institutions, or inhabitants for damage to the Papal Estates,
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61 CLAIMS OF VATICAN CITY FOR LOSSES AND DAMAGES
the College for the Propagation of the Faith at Castelgandolfo, and for
injury or death resulting from the bombardments on February 2, and
10, May 31 and June 4, 1944, and all claims of a related nature, in-
eluding the claims for damages to its vehicles in Italian territory, and
for injury or death of its employees on duty with such vehicles prior
to June 5, 1944.
For your information, there is enclosed a copy of the memorandum
of the judge Advocate General to this office, upon which the foregoing
conclusions are based.
Sincerely yours,
GORDON GRAY,
Secretary of the Army.
O
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