First of all I would like to thank the Executive Committee of Pax Romana and the Chairman for allowing me to address you here to-day and to speak to you about the position in Germany. You know that the German Catholics are not officially represented at this Congress, and I would like to stress the point that my credentials to speak on their behalf consist in nothing but the simple fact that I am a German Catholic myself, and that I was in Germany and in contact with some of the most eminent German Bishops, priests and laymen until the end of 1943.

The theme of our discussion to-day is Relief and Reconstruction. It concerns the tasks, with which Pax Romana will have to deal in the near future. I must, therefore, ask your indulgence if, before talking about what lies before us, I shall refer at some length also to the past. There are two reasons why I should like to do this: first, that if you want to find the remedy, you must first know the disease. The problems of Relief and Reconstruction are thus of necessity to some extent retrospective. Second: Pax Romana will have to decide—and I hope that will be some time soon—whether it is going to re-admit as constituent members German University Federations. Monsieur l’Abbés Gremaud has told me—and I am painfully aware how right He is—that the spirit of Pax Romana has found only very few faithful witnesses among the Germans—students and graduates—and that the great question of the future would be how to make sure about the trustworthiness of any new federations that might be formed.