The papacy, the Jews, and the Holocaust

3. Pio Nono and the Jews: From Reform to Reaction, 1846–1878

3 PIO NONO AND THE JEWS From Reform to Reaction, 1846–1878 The Roman Pontiff can and ought to reconcile and harmonise himself with progress, with liberalism, and with modern civilization.* GIOVANNI MARIA MASTAI-FERRETTI was elected pope on  June , assuming the name Pius IX (Pio Nono), in honor of Pius VII, who had issued the dispensation that allowed the epileptic Giovanni to enter the priesthood.1 Ordained in , he received holy orders not to make a career but to serve as a pastor of souls. His first assignment as a priest was at a Roman orphanage , where he remained until . From  to  he accompanied the apostolic delegate to Chile and Peru, in a venture he initially thought would be more missionary than diplomatic.2 Following his return from Latin America, Giovanni was appointed director of the Hospice of San Michele in Rome. Named Archbishop of Spoleto in , he served there until , when he was appointed Bishop of Imola, where he remained until , even though Gregory XVI had brought him into the College of Cardinals six years earlier. 77 * The th Proposition condemned in the“Syllabus of Errors”of Pope Pius IX, found in Frank J. Coppa, The Papacy Confronts the Modern World (Malabar, Fla.: Krieger Publishing, ), . An earlier version of this chapter was published in CHR , no.  (): –. . See ASV, SS, Morte di pontefici e Conclavi, Pio IX. . “Breve relazione del viaggio fatto al Chili dal Canoninco Giovanni Maria MastaiFerretti di Sinigaglia,” Memorie. Viaggio al Chile, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Latina, no. , sala studio manoscritti, –. In his various pastoral posts and ecclesiastical positions, he had little interaction with Jews, as is attested by the biographers of his prepapal career , and for most of these years he was little known in Rome.3 That he had friends and acquaintances in the liberal and nationalist camp led some to judge him as more progressive than conservative. Rumors circulated that, unlike his predecessor, he was not opposed to “progress,” and word spread that in  he had outlined a reformist program for the Papal States.4 Although his fifty-eight-point program, set forth in his “Thoughts on the Public Administration of the Papal State,” did not include the civil emancipation of the Jews, Giovanni’s liberal reputation flowed largely from his social interactions with reformers and his call for administrative change and a cautious modernization of the Papal States. Those who favored political , Jewish, and national liberation saw a glimmer of hope. The pontificate of Pio Nono (–), the longest in history, opened with an air of expectation that was reinforced by the amnesty of July , earning Pius a liberal image at home and abroad.5 Liberals, nationalists, and Jews hoped that the new pope would reconcile liberty and religion, unite Italy, and ameliorate the position of the Jews in the Papal States. Initially Pio Nono seemed to fulfill this mission, emerging in the eyes of many as the pope-liberator prophesied by the Piedmontese priest Vincenzo Gioberti in his work On the Civil and Moral Primacy of the Italians (). Following the revolutionary upheaval of –, however, the pope who had been hailed as a liberal was denounced as the high priest of reaction and chief protagonist of the Counter-Risorgimento. Thus, while Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour were respectively dubbed the “heart,” “sword,” and “brains” of unification, Pio Nono emerged as the “cross” of liberals, nationalists, and Jews. In the year , when John Paul II beatified Pius IX, the pope who 78 Pio Nono and the Jews . See Alberto Serafini, Pio IX, Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti dalla giovinezza alla morte nei suoi scritti e discorsi editi e inediti, vol. , Le vie della Divinia Provvidenza (–) (Vatican City: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, ); and Carlo Falconi, Il giovane Mastai (Milan: Rusconi, ). . “Pensieri relativi alla Amministrazione pubblica dello Stato Pontificio,” in Serafini, Pio IX, :–. . “Amnistia accordata dalla Santità di nostro Signore Pio IX nella Sua exaltazione al Ponificato,”  July , in Atti del Sommo Pontefice Pio IX, Felicemente Regnante. Parte seconda che comprende I Motu-proprii, chirografi editti, notificazioni, ec. per lo stato pontificio (Rome: Tipografia delle Belle Arti, ), :–. convoked Vatican I (–) and waged war against the modern world, alongside John XXIII, who convoked Vatican II (–) and sought an accommodation with it, there was a trinity of opposition from liberals, Italian nationalists, and Jews. Many knew of Pio Nono’s fierce opposition to Italian unification and his role in the Counter-Risorgimento, which aroused nationalists, as well as his war...