VATICAN spokesmen denied
last week that the visit to the United States of Mgr. Giovanni Battista-Montini, Under-Secretary of State, was connected in any way with the Japanese peace treaty.
Mgr. Montini is on holiday and his visit to America (he has visited both the United States and Canada) is entirely a private one, they said.
The treaty, which is to be signed in San Francisco, is purely a political matter, they pointed out. The Vatican could do nothing but approve the peace objectives it contains.
" Mgr. Montini is on holiday and he paid his own fare just like any other tourist," said a high official of the Secretariat of State. If during his stay he should meet high U.S. officials, this would be due to his rank in the Vatican and such visits would be purely courtesy ones."