Support for Greece by Former Pontiffs

5. Moreover if you reflect but a short time you will discover the same goodwill in Our predecessors as in Ourselves, who never neglected anything in their power which seemed to be of benefit for your nation. Thus, as history attests, Pius V, belonging to that alliance of Christian princes who triumphed so magnificently in the Echinades Islands, wished not only to defend Italy but also to free all of Greece. To this end did this most holy Pontiff toil for the state and well being of Greece. And if hope eluded both the man and his undertakings, nonetheless it was certainly a great undertaking full of love, and it was not his fault that it was not successful. Moreover in much more recent memory, when your fathers were laboring to expel a foreign master and claim their own rights, the Roman states offered a safe refuge to all those complelled at the time to abandon their native soil. Nor could they have been received in a more open-handed manner than they were by Pius V II, who bade the territories he ruled to be open to the refugees and was eager moreover to come to their aid with every resource and in every fashion. These events are recalled now for no other reason than to reveal from this accustomed manner of acting the fraternal nature of the goodwill and the true desires of the Roman Pontificate. Will not prejudiced opinions, which lamentable occurrences in the distant past have implanted so strongly, gradually, and with God's help give ground to the truth? The true nature of things must surely appear to those who judge with equity and integrity, namely, that the oriental peoples have nothing to fear if the union with the Roman Church should be restored: nothing whatsoever would be lost to Greece of its dignity, its fame, and all its adornments; nay, more, no little reinforcement of its glory would accrue. The age of Constantine was not deficient as far as the florishing state of the nation is concerned. What did the times of Athanasius or Chrysostom leave wanting? And yet in those times the authority of the Roman Pontiff was held sacred by all. Both east and west, to the agreement and profit of the souls of both, gave allegiance to the same as to the legitimate successor of blessed Peter and, in consequence, to the supreme ruler of the Christian Church.