Bombing of Rome in World War II — Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-476-2094-17A / Rauchwetter · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Wikimedia Commons

An unknown plane drops four bombs on neutral Vatican City

The Vatican spent the war insisting it was neutral, and then something dropped out of the sky anyway.

Then

An unknown aircraft dropped four bombs on Vatican City, which had kept out of World War II. Rome was bombed several times in 1943 and 1944, mostly by Allied planes and a few Axis ones. Pope Pius XII had tried to get Rome declared an open city. That only happened in August 1943, and by Italian defenders.

Wikipedia · Bombing of Rome in World War II

Now

Pope Leo XIV just welcomed Bob Dylan to the Vatican for a brief visit. Today the biggest worry in the building is a folk singer in the front hall.

PBS · Pope Leo XIV welcomes Bob Dylan to the Vatican in a brief visit

Neutral ground is only as safe as everyone's agreement to respect it. It may be worth watching who shows up at the Vatican gate, and what they carry.

Quick hits

1872

Susan B. Anthony votes and gets fined

Susan B. Anthony voted for the first time, in defiance of the law. She was later fined $100. Midterm results are still being counted; her ballot was one of the first that people argued about afterward.

1862

Lincoln removes McClellan

Abraham Lincoln removed George B. McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan later ran against Lincoln as the Democratic candidate in 1864. After a big election swing, the capital is reordering itself; commanders get replaced when the mood changes.

2013

India launches its first Mars probe

The Indian Space Research Organisation launched the Mars Orbiter Mission, its first interplanetary probe. It reached Mars orbit in 2014 and made India the first Asian nation to do so. NASA's Swift telescope just fell back to Earth after a failed rescue; getting up there is the easy part.

1499

First Breton and French dictionary printed

The Catholicon, compiled in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc, a probable priest, was printed in Tréguier. It had six thousand entries in Breton, French and Latin, and was the first dictionary of both Breton and French. Guy Fawkes Night is a good day to look up a word or two; the plotters would not have had a dictionary this good.

Born today

1913