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"On 5 November 1943, the Vatican is bombed by a lone unidentified aircraft. Confusion and counter-accusation abound as the Allies and Axis point the finger at each other.

An eyewitness account will be written in 1944 by Monsignor Domenico Tardini:

“It was a very clear and cloudless evening. The moon made visibility excellent. For over half an hour an aeroplane was heard circling insistently over Rome and especially the Vatican. At about 8:10, while an Allied squadron passed over the Vatican, the aeroplane that until then had been circling over Rome dropped four bombs and flew away… They caused considerable damage… There were no human casualties.”

All of the major powers immediately deny responsibility. All sides have sought to prevent any bombing of the Vatican, even by accident. But the situation is incredibly muddy. The aeroplane reportedly used British bombs, and there was a flight of British bombers operating north of Rome at the time of the attack.

But the British point out that almost anyone could make use of a small number of their bombs to implicate them. Still, despite the public denials, the British are worried that there might have been an unfortunate error. Harold Macmillan, British Minister Resident in Algiers, will write on 8 November: “I think we probably did bomb the Vatican”.

The Germans certainly have a stock of captured British weaponry to draw on. Research conducted long after the war will point to a pro-German Italian fascist named Roberto Farinacci. Two theories exist as to motivation. One that Farinacci believed the Vatican was providing military intelligence to the Allies via radio. The other that the operation was a German false-flag to discredit the Allies in the eyes of Catholic Argentina, thereby hoping to prevent Argentina from breaking off relations with the Reich. This would explain the use of British bombs and the raid coinciding with Allied aircraft operating near Rome.

Still, these are only theories. Likely the world will never truly know who bombed the Vatican today."