much of his work being documented in the eleven volumes of the Vatican's wartime documents, Actes et Documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. After falling under Nazi occupation, Lithuania appealed to the Vatican to reintegrate its dioceses into the country and replace its bishops, to which Maglione responded, "The government of Kaunas should appreciate, that the Holy See cannot run behind armies and change bishops as combatant troops occupy new territories belonging to countries other than their own." Cardinal Maglione died a year before the war's end in his native Casoria, from neuritis and circulatory ailments. Upon his death, Pius XII assumed the duties of the office himself, with assistance from Domenico Tardini and Giovanni Battista Montini (who later became Pope Paul VI). He vigorously defended Pius XII's wartime diplomacy, once declaring, "If you ask why the documents sent by the Pontiff to the Polish bishops have not been made public, know that it seems better in the Vatican to follow the same norms, the Polish bishops themselves follow...Isn’t this what has to be done? Should the father of Christianity increase the misfortunes of Poles in their own country?" The relationship between Maglione and the Pontiff was so close that Italians were known to joke that whenever Pius XII went out without his maglione (Italian for "sweater"), he caught cold. Notes References Pierre Blet, Pius XII and the Second World War, London, Boston, 1997 Catholic-Hierarchy.org biographical details Mary Gloria Chang, "The Vatican and the German Resistance During World War II: 1939–1940" The Catholic Social Science Review 14 (2009): 385–406 External links 1877 births 1944 deaths People from the Province of Naples World War II political leaders 20th-century Italian cardinals Apostolic Nuncios to France Apostolic Nuncios to Switzerland Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alumni Cardinal Secretaries of State Members of the Sacred Congregation of the Council Cardinals created by Pope Pius XI Almo Collegio Capranica alumni Roman Catholic titular archbishops of Caesarea