690 American bombers hit Rome; 9,125 bombs fall on San Lorenzo, killing 1,500
Rome had already been bombed once before, on May 16, 1943, but the July 19, 1943 raid was by far the largest and most destructive to that point. That morning, 690 USAAF aircraft dropped 9,125 bombs on the San Lorenzo district, aiming for a freight yard and steel factory. Bombs also struck apartment blocks and the Papal Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, killing 1,500 people. Pope Pius XII walked through the wreckage that same day, and photographs of the visit spread across Italy.
American Catholics reacted immediately, and Catholic newspapers condemned the raid on the Eternal City. Pius XII wrote directly to Roosevelt asking that Rome be spared, and Roosevelt's reply, that aviators were "specifically instructed to prevent bombs from falling within Vatican City," became the American government's public defense for a bombing campaign many of its own citizens found hard to accept.
QWhy does an image of Mary hang untouched at the Vatican's Holy Office building?
When six bombs from a British plane struck Vatican City on March 1, 1944, they caused damage to the Holy Office building and killed one person. But a devotional image of Our Lady mounted on an interior wall came through without a scratch. Vatican staff took it as a sign, and guardian angel sculptures were later installed at the site in response. The building's broken glass was replaced; the image never was.
QWho did Vatican officials suspect orchestrated the November 1943 bombing?
Roberto Farinacci, a hardline Italian Fascist official, was rumored inside the Vatican to have arranged the November 5, 1943 raid himself, with the suspected aim of knocking out Vatican Radio, which Farinacci believed was transmitting military information to the Allies. Monsignor Domenico Tardini, who witnessed the bombing firsthand, documented the near-misses on Vatican Radio and the diplomatic residences in detail. No official Allied or Fascist responsibility was ever definitively established for that particular raid.
QWhat did an American general privately admit about the Vatican bombing?
Monsignor Walter S. Carroll recorded a confidential conversation with an American Chief of Staff, who said the November 5 bombing of Vatican City was probably the work of an American pilot who had simply lost his way, a claim supported by another Allied pilot who reported seeing a plane drop its load over the Vatican. The general offered his regret and promised stricter precautions, an admission that never became public at the time.
