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

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

Convinced of his responsibility to alert the faithful to the evil of racism, the pope commissioned an encyclical demonstrating its incompatibility with Catholicism. (80) Pius XI outlined the topic, its treatment, and its underlying principles for La Farge. (81) "Simply say what you would say to the entire world if you were pope, Pius confided to him. (82) Aware that Pacelli was not alone in his opposition to such a pronouncement, Pius XI swore La Farge to secrecy. (83) He had perforce to alert the head of his order, Father Vladimir Ledochowski. Informed of the papal desire to have the encyclical as soon as possible, Ledochowski suggested that La Farge recruit two fellow Jesuits, the Frenchman Gustave Desbuquois and the German Gustav Gundlach to assist him in the urgent task.

Meanwhile, the pope continued his personal campaign against racism and the regimes that espoused it, invoking a spiritual defense of human rights. Firmly rejecting the insinuation that Mussolini's anti Semitism was inspired by clerical anti-Judaism, (84) he denounced Italy's Aryan Manifesto of 14 July 1938 as a "true form of apostasy" and urged Catholics to combat it, initiating a chorus of opposition to the racism of the totalitarian regimes. (85) At the end of July, during an audience to the students of the Propaganda Fide, the pope praised their universal mission in opposition to the racism infecting so many states, reminding the students that humanity consisted of one great, universal family the theme of the encyclical he had secretly commissioned. (86) Dunn the last two years of his pontificate, Pius XI publicly characterized racism as a heresy and totalitarian tendency in violation of natural law as well as the Christian creed. He anxiously awaited the arrival of the encyclical against anti-Semitism, which he perceived as the capstone in his crusade against Nazi and Fascist racism.

Responding to the papal sense of urgency, the three Jesuits collaborated from July to mid-September; in late September, following protocol, they placed their draft entitled Humani Generis Unitas (The Unity of the Human Race) in the hands of Father Ledochowski, for transmission to Pius XI. Perhaps most disconcerting to those who counseled moderation, the encyclical called for overt and sustained ecclesiastical action against racism. "It is the task and duty of the Church, the dignity and responsibility of the Chief Shepherd and of his brother Shepherds whom the Holy Ghost has placed to rule the Church of God, that they should point out to mankind the true course to be followed, the eternal divine order in the changing circumstances of the times." (87) It was a mandate directed not only against the Nazis and Fascists, but also against those in the church who counseled a cautious silence to preserve good relations with the fascist regimes.

Understandably, the latter group would have found the tone and message of Humani Generis Unitas confrontational and potentially dangerous for the church's future in the Reich. This prompted Ledochowski to assign a fourth Jesuit to tone down the draft without informing the authors or the pope of his action. When the three authors received no papal confirmation or reaction to their draft, Gundlach wrote La Farge, who had returned to the United States, that he suspected "an attempt to sabotage ... for tactical and diplomatic reasons the mission entrusted to you by [the Pope]." (88) Gundlach attributed this delay to the bloc in the Vatican who feared that disastrous consequences would follow a break with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. (89) Although he did not mention Pacelli's name in his warning letter, the secretary of state clearly belonged to that bloc.