Pope Pius XII and World War II
author: Scott Porter
On March 12, 1939, German forces moved into position to execute the Fuehrer’s desire to invade and take control of Czechoslovakia, while, in Rome, white smoke and church bells signaled the election of Eugenio Maria Giovanni Pacelli as Pope Pius XII, the 260th successor of St. Peter. Pope Pius XII’s papacy was unlike his predecessors’ papacies, marked by the conflagration of the Second World War. Pope Pius XII asserted the influence of his uniquely prominent office to combat Nazi fascism, Soviet communism, and anti-Semitism, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, all while landlocked by Benito Mussolini’s Italy. The actions taken by Pope Pius XII during the Second World War continue to provoke sharp controversy amongst historians like John Cornwell, Michael Phayer, and others who criticize Pope Pius XII and his actions, or alleged inaction, during WW-II, especially in response to the Holocaust. These historians base their arguments on recently publicized Vatican documents and additional historical data, both long established and recent. These same sources are cited, in combination with testimony of Holocaust survivors, by Rabbi David G. Dalin, Jose M. Sanchez, Ronald J. Rychlak, and other historians to demonstrate that Pope Pius XII worked to effect a diplomatic solution for peace in war–torn Europe, which aimed at saving numerous Jews from Hitler’s Final Solution. An analysis of the arguments against Pope Pius XII, through examination of newly released and older sources, will demonstrate that Pope Pius XII attempted not only to bring peace to Europe but to protect the Jewish people from the Holocaust.
The pontificate of Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli on 2 March 1876, in Rome, was preceded by that of Pope Pius XI, who signed the Lateran Treaty of 1929, with Italy’s Prime Minister Mussolini, and spoke out against the Nazi government in his 1937 encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge.[1] Pius XII, who held three doctorates, was fluent in seven languages, and taught “canon law and ‘diplomatic style’ at a papal academy for young diplomats,” officially took the papal office on 2 March 1939, his 63rd birthday.[2] In his first year as pontiff, Pius XII, with the rest of the world, witnessed the terrible news “that the dread tempest of war is already raging despite all…efforts to avert it,” prompting him to speak out against the Nazi invasion and occupation of Poland in his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, on 20 October 1939.[3] As the Second World War started to escalate, involving more nations, Pope Pius XII, like his predecessor Benedict XV during World War I, declared that the Catholic Church would remain neutral for the duration of the war.
The idea that the spiritual leader of the largest and oldest Christian religious institution would declare neutrality during a horrific war might seem perplexing. Pius XII’s declaration of neutrality makes sense in light of the fact that the former Cardinal was placed in charge as the Vatican Secretary of State under Pope Pius XI. As Secretary of State, Cardinal Pacelli negotiated concordats between the Vatican and various European nations. These treaties included a provision similar to one found in the Lateran treaty:
With regard to her sovereignty in the field of international relations, the Holy See declares that she wishes to remain extraneous to all disputes concerning temporal affairs between nations, and to international congresses convened for the purpose of settling such disputes, unless the contending parties call upon her to serve as the mediator of peace. Nevertheless, she reserves the right to exercise her moral and spiritual power in every case. As a result of this declaration, the Vatican State will always be considered neutral and inviolable territory.[4]
This and other concordats declaring Vatican neutrality make sense, considering that the Vatican is a city-state based on a religious institution, guarded by only a handful of Swiss Guards, and has no standing military divisions.[5] Even though Pius XII and the Vatican declared themselves to be neutral parties in disputes amongst nations, they retained license to execute the Church’s moral and spiritual works against perceived evils.
Since its inception, Communism continues to be considered an evil system in the light of Roman Catholic theology. Pope Pius XI spoke out against it in his 1937 encyclical Divini Redemptoris, which was originally drafted by the former nuncio to Germany, Cardinal Pacelli.[6] While this encyclical propounded the incompatibility of Communism and Christian teaching, Pius XII interpreted his predecessor’s encyclical as inapplicable to Catholics’ supporting the Soviet Union militarily during the Second World War. Despite this interpretation, which brought criticism, Pius XII sought to fight Communism in other ways.
Pope Pius XII committed himself to fight Communism during and after the Second World War. In attempts to thwart Communism towards the end of, and after, the war, Pius XII met with Winston Churchill in August, 1944, at the Vatican, to discuss their mutual concerns about the danger of Communism spreading through Europe under the influence of the Soviet Union and the advancing Red Army.[7] During this meeting, Churchill relayed a question Stalin posed to him at the Tehran conference: “How many divisions has the Pope?” Pope Pius XII responded to Stalin through Churchill, “Tell my son Joseph he will meet my divisions in heaven.”[8] In other words, the Holy Father was going to continue to stand firm against Stalin, who the Holy Father regarded as the “new Attila the Hun,” and Stalin’s communist ideals during and after the war, even without the aid of a physical army.[9]
After the war, Pius XII demonstrated his continued fight against Communism through his 1949 decree of “excommunication for Catholics who joined the Communist Party, and he forbade Italian Catholics under pain of excommunication to vote for the Communist slate in the 1948 elections.”[10] Pius XII’s actions before, during, and after the Second World War made him “one of the world’s leading spiritual fighters against Communism.”[11] These and prior efforts to combat Communism have led some to argue that Pope Pius XII was more concerned with combating Communism than with denouncing or thwarting Nazi fascism and the Holocaust.
Page 1 - Footnotes
[1] Ronald J. Rychlak, Hitler, the War and the Pope (Columbus: Genesis Press, 2000), 3.
[2] “Urbei et Orbi,” Time Magazine. December 14, 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-1,00.html
[3] Pope Pius XII, Summi Pontificatus. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html
[4] Rychlak, Hitler, the War and the Pope, 41.
[5] “Urbei et Orbi,” Time Magazine. December 14, 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-1,00.html
[6] Rychlak, Hitler, the War and the Pope, 92.
[7] Rychlak, Hitler, the War and the Pope, 226.
[8] “Urbei et Orbi,” Time Magazine. December 14, 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-1,00.html
[9] Michael Phayer, Pius XII the Holocaust and the Cold War (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001), 63.
[10] Jose M. Sanchez, Pius XII and the Holocaust: Understanding the Controversy (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2002), 21.
[11] “Urbei et Orbi,” Time Magazine. December 14, 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-1,00.html
The pontificate of Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli on 2 March 1876, in Rome, was preceded by that of Pope Pius XI, who signed the Lateran Treaty of 1929, with Italy’s Prime Minister Mussolini, and spoke out against the Nazi government in his 1937 encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge.[1] Pius XII, who held three doctorates, was fluent in seven languages, and taught “canon law and ‘diplomatic style’ at a papal academy for young diplomats,” officially took the papal office on 2 March 1939, his 63rd birthday.[2] In his first year as pontiff, Pius XII, with the rest of the world, witnessed the terrible news “that the dread tempest of war is already raging despite all…efforts to avert it,” prompting him to speak out against the Nazi invasion and occupation of Poland in his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, on 20 October 1939.[3] As the Second World War started to escalate, involving more nations, Pope Pius XII, like his predecessor Benedict XV during World War I, declared that the Catholic Church would remain neutral for the duration of the war.
The idea that the spiritual leader of the largest and oldest Christian religious institution would declare neutrality during a horrific war might seem perplexing. Pius XII’s declaration of neutrality makes sense in light of the fact that the former Cardinal was placed in charge as the Vatican Secretary of State under Pope Pius XI. As Secretary of State, Cardinal Pacelli negotiated concordats between the Vatican and various European nations. These treaties included a provision similar to one found in the Lateran treaty:
With regard to her sovereignty in the field of international relations, the Holy See declares that she wishes to remain extraneous to all disputes concerning temporal affairs between nations, and to international congresses convened for the purpose of settling such disputes, unless the contending parties call upon her to serve as the mediator of peace. Nevertheless, she reserves the right to exercise her moral and spiritual power in every case. As a result of this declaration, the Vatican State will always be considered neutral and inviolable territory.[4]
This and other concordats declaring Vatican neutrality make sense, considering that the Vatican is a city-state based on a religious institution, guarded by only a handful of Swiss Guards, and has no standing military divisions.[5] Even though Pius XII and the Vatican declared themselves to be neutral parties in disputes amongst nations, they retained license to execute the Church’s moral and spiritual works against perceived evils.
Since its inception, Communism continues to be considered an evil system in the light of Roman Catholic theology. Pope Pius XI spoke out against it in his 1937 encyclical Divini Redemptoris, which was originally drafted by the former nuncio to Germany, Cardinal Pacelli.[6] While this encyclical propounded the incompatibility of Communism and Christian teaching, Pius XII interpreted his predecessor’s encyclical as inapplicable to Catholics’ supporting the Soviet Union militarily during the Second World War. Despite this interpretation, which brought criticism, Pius XII sought to fight Communism in other ways.
Pope Pius XII committed himself to fight Communism during and after the Second World War. In attempts to thwart Communism towards the end of, and after, the war, Pius XII met with Winston Churchill in August, 1944, at the Vatican, to discuss their mutual concerns about the danger of Communism spreading through Europe under the influence of the Soviet Union and the advancing Red Army.[7] During this meeting, Churchill relayed a question Stalin posed to him at the Tehran conference: “How many divisions has the Pope?” Pope Pius XII responded to Stalin through Churchill, “Tell my son Joseph he will meet my divisions in heaven.”[8] In other words, the Holy Father was going to continue to stand firm against Stalin, who the Holy Father regarded as the “new Attila the Hun,” and Stalin’s communist ideals during and after the war, even without the aid of a physical army.[9]
After the war, Pius XII demonstrated his continued fight against Communism through his 1949 decree of “excommunication for Catholics who joined the Communist Party, and he forbade Italian Catholics under pain of excommunication to vote for the Communist slate in the 1948 elections.”[10] Pius XII’s actions before, during, and after the Second World War made him “one of the world’s leading spiritual fighters against Communism.”[11] These and prior efforts to combat Communism have led some to argue that Pope Pius XII was more concerned with combating Communism than with denouncing or thwarting Nazi fascism and the Holocaust.
Page 1 - Footnotes
[1] Ronald J. Rychlak, Hitler, the War and the Pope (Columbus: Genesis Press, 2000), 3.
[2] “Urbei et Orbi,” Time Magazine. December 14, 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-1,00.html
[3] Pope Pius XII, Summi Pontificatus. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html
[4] Rychlak, Hitler, the War and the Pope, 41.
[5] “Urbei et Orbi,” Time Magazine. December 14, 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-1,00.html
[6] Rychlak, Hitler, the War and the Pope, 92.
[7] Rychlak, Hitler, the War and the Pope, 226.
[8] “Urbei et Orbi,” Time Magazine. December 14, 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-1,00.html
[9] Michael Phayer, Pius XII the Holocaust and the Cold War (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001), 63.
[10] Jose M. Sanchez, Pius XII and the Holocaust: Understanding the Controversy (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2002), 21.
[11] “Urbei et Orbi,” Time Magazine. December 14, 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-1,00.html
