The papacy, the Jews, and the Holocaust

6. The “Silence” of Pius XII and His Crusade against Communism

6 THE “SILENCE” OF PIUS XII AND HIS CRUSADE AGAINST COMMUNISM The Pope at times cannot remain silent. Governments only consider political and military issues, intentionally disregarding moral and legal issues in which, on the other hand, the Pope is primarily interested and cannot ignore . His Holiness said.l.l.l. How could the Pope, in these present circumstances, be guilty of such a serious omission as that of remaining a disinterested spectator of such heinous acts, while all the world was waiting for his words?* TOWARD THE END OF PIUS XI’S PONTIFICATE, a dual specter haunted the Vatican. There was the fear that relations between Rome and the fascist dictators would deteriorate to the point that the concordats would collapse, and there was the fear that a new world war would erupt, with disastrous consequences for the Church. Those who sought to avert these plagues counted upon the leadership of the politically astute Eugenio Giovanni Pacelli, who had been nuncio in Munich and Berlin and knew Germany well. Expected to pursue a more diplomatic, less confrontational course than his 180 * RDHSWW, . predecessor, Pacelli did not disappoint those who elected him.1 Pacelli, by family background, training, and personality, seemed admirably suited to confront the emerging diplomatic crisis. Entering the Vatican secretariat of state in , his career was from the first more diplomatic than pastoral . Even more than Pius XI, he preferred concordats to reliance on political parties.2 In  Pacelli was dispatched by Benedict XV (–) as envoy to Franz Josef, and two years later was transferred to Bavaria as nuncio and entrusted with the pope’s peace effort in Germany.3 During the Spartacist rising in Munich, communists led by Jews burst into the nunciature brandishing revolvers. Although these revolutionaries left without inflicting much physical damage, the incident left a psychological scar on Pacelli, and some believe it made him not only anticommunist but anti-Semitic.4 A protégé of Cardinal Gasparri, Pacelli was named apostolic nuncio to the Weimar Republic in  and dispatched to Berlin in , remaining there until the end of , when he was recalled to Rome and given the red hat. He left Germany with some regret and remained a staunch Germanophile throughout his life. In  he replaced Gasparri as secretary of state, supporting Pius XI’s policy of concordats by negotiating agreements with a number of German states.5 His brother, Francesco, was one of the architects of the Lateran Accords, signed with Mussolini’s Italy in . In the summer of  Eugenio was instrumental in the conclusion of the controversial concordat with Hitler’s Third Reich. Deemed an“ignoble bargain” by some, critics condemned Pacelli for negotiating with a monster for ecclesiastical advantage and for providing moral sanction to the The “Silence” of Pius XII and His Crusade against Communism 181 . See Renato Moro, Chiesa e lo sterminio degli ebrei, –. . Pacelli’s great-grandfather had been minister of finance under Pope Gregory XVI (–), while his grandfather held the post of undersecretary of the interior under Pius IX (–). On Pacelli’s diplomatic skills, see his letters to the Germans bishops (–) in ASV, SS, Rapporti con gli stati, AS, AAES, Germania, –, posizione Scatole, ; Phayer, Catholic Church and the Holocaust, . . See ASV, Archivio della Nunziatura Apostolica in Monaco, Mons, Eugenio Pacelli (–, nunzio), buste –; and SS, Rapporti con gli stati, AS, AAES, Baviera, posizione , , fascicoli , –. . A number of communist leaders in post–World War I Germany were Jewish, including Rosa Luxemburg in Berlin, Eugene Levine in Munich, and Otto Bauer in Vienna. On the Spartacist rising and its effect on Pacelli, see John Cornwell, Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII (New York: Viking, ), – . Bavaria (), Prussia (), Baden (), and Austria (). odious Nazi regime.6 Neither Pope Pius XI nor Pacelli believed this was the case, but our actions do not always have the consequences we intend. Although Pius XI and Pacelli had markedly different personalities and temperaments, they collaborated in the pursuit of concordats. The two men complemented rather than mirrored each other, sharing the conviction that Catholic interests could best be assured by formal agreements that guaranteed the Church’s freedom of action, even with regimes otherwise hostile to Christian principles. In fact, following the conclusion of the Reich concordat, both looked forward to the conclusion of an accord with Yugoslavia.7 Divisions between the two arose on how best to respond to the flagrant violations of these “contracts” by the dictatorial regimes...