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

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

Despite the anti-Judaism prevalent in church circles, which the Holy See often tolerated if it did not sanction, (27) Pius XI early-on rejected Gaspari's advice not to combat Nazism and its principles unless they attacked the Holy See. The pope, instead, felt the need to assume a public opposition to racism, denouncing it in the first year of his pontificate by emphasizing that "Christian charity extends to all men whatsoever without distinction of race...." (28) Later he censured Charles Maurras's anti-Semitic Action Francaise, (29) and in 1928, condemned anti-Semitism when the Holy Office suppressed the Friends of Israel. (30) In 1929, Pius XI concluded an agreement with Mussolini's Italy, (31) but then anti-Semitism had not been adopted by the regime.In fact, knowing of the Pontiffs visceral reaction to anti-Semitism, the Duce warned the Fuehrer in April 1933 not to fall prey to its allure. (32) Hitler did not heed Mussolini's advice, while proclaiming his desire to establish a cordial relationship with the Holy See. (33) In fact, the initiative for a Reich concordat, which Eugenio Pacelli had sought and failed to obtain from the Weimar Republic during his tenure as nuncio there (1920-30), came from Nazi Germany when the Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen visited Rome in April 1933 and suggested an accord. (34) Von Papen, like Pacelli and Gasparri, sought to establish a legal basis for the rights of the Catholic Church in the Third Reich. (35) The secretary of state immediately seconded the proposal that promised to fulfill a goal Gasparri had long envisioned and Pacelli had pursued since 1919.36 Any written agreement, Pacelli believed, would provide a better basis for even a temporary coexistence with the Nazi regime. (37) The pope remained skeptical. Suspicious of the Nazis and distressed by their "pagan philosophy," Pius XI offered a less enthusiastic response. He suspected that Hitler sought international legitimacy and political leverage rather than reconciliation with region.

The of pope reconsidered signing a concordat with the Reich at the behest of Pacelli who stresse&its importance in protecting the faithful in the Reich. (38) Scandalized by the dismantling or some Catholic social and political groups, (39) the pope feared that other church organizations and activities might also be targeted. Determined to preserve Catholic youth groups and safeguard- the church in the Reich, Pius XI reluctantly sanctioned negotiations. (40) Nonetheless, the pope was less than happy with the raid conclusion of the concordat creating a certain tension between himself and his secretary of state. (41) The papal secretary of state, aware of the pope's ambivalence, confessed that the Holy See deplored the anti-Semitism of the German government, its violations of human rights, and its rein of terror. It signed the accord, he explained, because it appeared tore the sole means of preventing the destruction of the Catholic Church and its lay organizations in Germany. (42) On paper, the agreement provided broad concessions to the Holy See, with more than two-thirds of its thirty-three articles offering it assurances. (43) An additional protocol guaranteed the right of the church to collect funds in the Reich. (44) Pacelli, large y responsible for its successful conclusion was congratulated for his achievement by his predecessor and mentor, Carnal Gasparri. (45) For Pacelli, its preservation took priority for over two decades, a preoccupation not shared by the pope.