LECLASSIEU Authority Stateletter uh2 8: MAHAR Cate 24 18 have studied and taken cognizance of these social changes and have reached the conclusion that each nation must choose for itself whether these changes are to be effected by evolution or revolution.
In the case of Costa Rica, felt that the process fortunately could be worked out by a process of evolution and recognize the social laws passed by the present Government as part of this evolution.
My reconciliation with Mora and his followers consider as my contribution, as a patriotic citizen, towards this process and as a Costa Rican feel indeed proud that our little country is able to squarely face the problem and accomplish through evolution what in so many other countries has been and is being accomplished through revolution.
Further evidence of the liberal views of the Archbishop is also implicit in the third paragraph of his letter of June 14, 1943 to Mora. In this paragraph Monsignor Sanabria brought out the fact that while irreconcilable differences of principle between the Roman Catholic Church and the Communist Party made it imporative for him to denounce Communism, there were none the less desires and tendencies of that group and those of the representatives of the Church which coincided.
Believing in the good faith of Mora and his party in changing from an international Communist group to a new national party, the tenets of which did not conflict with the ideals of the Church, the Archbishop would naturally be unable to condemn Catholics who joimed it.
Given this background it is the belief of the Embassy that the Archbishop approval of Catholics joining the new political party of Vanguardia Popular is due chiefly to his personal liberalism. The fact that the President of the Republic, Señor Calderón Guardia, has presented his social reforms to the Costa Rican Congress and the Costa Rican people as being based on the Papal Encyclical, is no doubt a contributing factor. This aspect of the situation was in fact also brought out by the Archbishop in his letter of June 14, 1943 to Manuel Mora when the Archbishop stąted that the new party was based on existing Costa Ricam problems the solution of which is contemplated in the social program of the President of the Republic.
The above reference to the social program of President Calderón Guardia gives substance to the opinion generally held in Costa Rica that the Archbishop took his far reaching step only after prolonged and urgent pleading on the part of the President. It is my belief that the Archbishop would not have taken this action without consulting the President, whose devotion to the Church is well known. The latter tendency to make almost desperate personal appeals has been reported frequently to the Department, and given the difficulties in which his Administration now finds itself, his cooperation with and dependence on Manuel Mora and the consequent necessity of obtaining some approval of the new