Pope Pius XII: His Role with the Vatican in WWII Kevin Crafton
aegis 2008 56
Leading up to and during the Holocaust the Vatican knew about the Nazis’ intentions and later their acts of atrocities against the Jewish people. What did the Vatican think of all this going on within their continent? The reign of Pope Pius XI was waning in the 1930’s. He took a far stronger moral stance against the rise of Nazism up until his death in February1939. His successor, Pope Pius XII on the other hand, undermined the decisions that Pius XI made and found himself aligned with the Nazi party. In the mid-1930’s the Catholic Church had a far stronger stance against National Socialism and Fascism. What caused the change of view in 1939? Pope Pius XII caused the Church to stray from its moral values during the time of the Holocaust in favor of forging a stronger diplomacy throughout the world. Pope Pius XI was the Pope during the rise of National Socialism in the 1930’s. He took a strong stance against the party, as well as the Fascist regime in Italy that sympathized with the Nazi party. In 1938, some events took place which indicated his confrontational attitude toward fascist racism. First, in the spring of 1938 the Nazi’s seized Austria which was known as the Anschluss. In this, Cardinal Theodore Innitzer rang the bells of the church and flew a Nazi flag for the return of Hitler to his hometown of Vienna. Following this display, Pius XI directly reprimanded Innitzer, “which was communicated in detail through diplomatic channels to the United States so that world government would know where the Vatican stood regarding Hitler’s Germany.”1 Later that year the Fascist leader of Italy Benito Mussolini adorned the Nazi flag in the streets for a visit from Hitler. On account of this, Pius XI left the city, refusing to meet with the two leaders as is customary during a head of state visit. In September, 1938 Pius XI told a crowd of Belgium Catholics that they were all children of Abraham and that spiritually they were all Semites referencing the commonality between Judaism and Christianity. Pius XI’s claims were motivated by a desire to create a bridge between the two faiths and show how ignorant it is to be anti-Semitic. Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich, a Jewish leader believed that if that ideal had taken root in the Christian tradition predating the Holocaust, “it may have been prevented or diminished in its fury.”2 November, 1938 was when the famous Kristallnacht3 took place. Following this atrocity Pius XI remained silent even though in the months prior he had spoken out vehemently against such actions. The reason for his silence is a matter of debate, but Phayer believes it could be in part due to Pius’s waning health and Eugenio Parcelli. There is some credence in this speculation. Parcelli, who would soon take over the post of Pope, could have foreseen his succession in the wake of Pius XI’s deteriorating health and may not have wanted to upset these governments. Parcelli was more of a bureaucratic-minded person as opposed to the moralistic Pius XI. While serving under Pope Pius XI, Eugenio Parcelli was the Vatican Secretary of State which afforded him, “responsibility for foreign policy and state relations throughout the world during a period when Pius XI was plagued by illness and entrusting more and more on his favorite cardinal.”4 This also allowed him to create many Concordats
