A World War II mystery: Who dropped bombs on the Vatican?

As a neutral territory, Vatican City was largely spared from major bombing during World War II, while Rome was the target of raids by both Allied and Axis forces during Nazi Germany’s occupation of the city.

Except for one autumn night, around 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, 1943, when an unidentified plane dropped five bombs on the Vatican — four of which detonated — one narrowly missing St. Peter’s Basilica.

Luckily, no one was killed, but who dropped the bombs and why has it been shrouded in mystery ever since, with one historian offering a likely theory only in 2010?

What happened Longtime Vatican archivist and World War II researcher Johan Ickx spoke to EWTN News about the event and other aspects of life at the Vatican during World War II.

Rome at the time was part of the Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state led by Benito Mussolini, and the Nazis had seized control of the capital nearly two months prior.

Ickx said it’s difficult to know exactly what life was like in the Vatican during that period. There were certainly fewer personnel, who were all priests, in the Secretariat of State.

And we know, the war historian said, that at a certain point, Pope Pius XII ordered…