Vatican, January 21, 1939 THE POPE TRACKED down the encyclical in mid-January despite Ledóchowski’s efforts to conceal and delay its delivery. Pius directed Pacelli’s subordinate, Domenico Tardini, to tell Ledóchowski that he knew he had the encyclical and that the Holy Father wanted it immediately. Without further recourse, Ledóchowski delivered a version of the encyclical on January 21, 1939, almost exactly four months after he had received it from LaFarge. Ledóchowski’s cover letter to the pope admitted that he had held back the original. The superior general said that the prominent Jesuit editor Enrico Rosa had begun rewriting the encyclical before he became ill. Ledóchowski gave no explanation of why the matter had languished four months, including the two months since Rosa had died. He now proposed redrafting the encyclical from scratch and discarding LaFarge’s version altogether. I take leave to send immediately to Your Holiness the draft by Father LaFarge concerning nationalism and the various notes made by him.
