Between morality and diplomacy: the Vatican's "silence" during the holocaust

Journal of Church and State, Summer, 2008 by Frank J. Coppa

The conclave of March 1939, which opened as Europe was on the brink of Another war, sought a peacemaker and mediator in contrast to the last pope. Thus, on the third ballot of a short one-day conclave, the conciliatory majority quickly elected Pacelli, the most talented disciple of Gasparri, who, like his mentor, favored conciliation rather than confrontation vis a vis the Nazis regime, to succeed Pius XI. The new pope did not disappoint them, and was seen to rely on two instruments i or governing relations between church and state: canon law and diplomacy. (101) Some complained that he allowed the letter to prevail over the former. The record reveals that Pacelli, who became Pope Pius XII on 2 March 1939, immediately opened a diplomatic initiative to improve relations with the Nazi state, receiving the German Ambassador on 5 March, before all others. Another of his first actions was to assemble the German Cardinals--Faulhaber from Munich, Bertram from Breslau, Schulte from Cologne and Innitzer from Vienna--together, presenting his intention to send a personal letter to Hitler announcing his accession, and did so on 5 March making Hitler the first head of state informed of his election. He also ordered the editors of the Osservatore Romano to cease their criticism of events in Nazi Germany. (102) Subsequently, in an audience of 23 April 1939, speaking to a group of German pilgrims, Pius XII avoided the condemnations of his predecessor, instead substituting protestations of sympathy for Germany, whose people and culture he admired, and among whom he found his own penchant for precision and perseverance.

Pius XII openly expressed his pro-German proclivities, reflected in the fact that his housekeeper, private secretary, and confessor all hailed from the Reich. "We have always loved Germany, where We were able to spend many years of Our life, and We love Germany even more today," he told a group of German pilgrims, (103) virtually ignoring the racist policies, belligerent stance, and aggressive ambitions of Hitler's Germany. The new pope took other steps to effect reconciliation with the dictatorial regimes. Not surprisingly, he decided to shelve both his predecessor's encyclical against racism and critique of Fascist Italy, confiding to the Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano his intention to pursue a more conciliatory policy towards the Reich. (104) He also assured the German Ambassador Diego von Bergen that friendly relations would be restored between the Reich and the Vatican. (105) In fact, the ambassador immediately sensed a relaxation of the tension that had accelerated during the last year of the pontificate of Pius XI, and his visit with the new pope on 5 March 1939 represented the first in a series of steps leading to detente. (106) The German Ambassador applauded the new path Pius XII pursued, delighted by his abandonment of his predecessor's confrontational policy. (107) Critics such as Hochhuth complained that this pope, pope's predilection for everything German" led him to overlook the evil of the Nazi regime to the detriment of the German people and the Holy See's moral authority. (108)