The freedom of the Osservatore Romano

By early April 1940 everyone expected a German invasion of France soon and the real European war to begin; and everyone saw that if Hitler invaded France, and especially if he prospered in invading France, Mussolini could hardly fail to join the Germans. He was tied to Hitler by too many public commitments, and would seem to the world to be the sham that he was, all pugnacity of speech and no fight. Experts who knew something of Italian armour, who studied Italian industry, and were aware of the Italian economy, knew that Italy could only fight a war as a very junior partner and even then the war must be short. But everyone saw that unless the French, with British aid, defeated the German armies easily, Mussolini had to go to war. And dictators can only live from one resounding success to another. The Fascist dictator must be seen to win another war; or at least, to sit with the victors at the peace conference, so that he could gain what he wanted from the French – Savoy, Nice, Corsica, Tunis, Djibouti.

By March 1940, still more in April, the threat of Italy joining the war came nearer; in proportion as the German invasion of the West came nearer.

A difference of view appeared between the British ambassador to the Quirinal and the British Minister to the Vatican.