Front Our Own Correspondent
ROME.
What was said behind the closed doors of the Pope's library during the hour and five minutes' conversation between Pius XII and Ribbentrop has not been made public, but according to a highly-placed Vatican official, Ribbentrop's main motive in asking for an audience was to secure, if possible, assistance from the Pope in persuading the Poles to accept the Nazi regime.
It was noticed that the German Ambassador to the Holy See accompanied Ribbentrop and suite to the Papal ante-rooms, but there turned back and went off alone to his house. Many people thereupon deduced that the Concordat which is supposed to safeguard Catholic life in Germany was not even one of the points discussed, and that the discussion concerned wider issues.