10. THE SECRET HISTORY OF POPE PIUS XII - HITLER'S POPE
by: Unknown
"Hitler's Pope" written by John Cornwell New York: Viking, 1999
Julia wrote this to Stewart; it was the only other answer he got from his original
"email request for responses," on his own with no help, where he posted
it. (The other was Chris Turner's response shown previously).
From reading Mein Kampf, my impression was always that the Jews
were not viewed as a weaker race, but as a scheming, evil race, just as strong
as the Aryans in their own way, but skewed and maniacal, not possessing their
own culture and bent on dominating others. This is quite different from a weaker
race, no?
Julia
Stewart's "answer" to Julia was to simply post a review of a book
that some author (unknown) wrote.
Hitler's Pope documentation:
Hitler's Pope documents sainthood candidate's Nazi collaboration
Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, by John Cornwell New York:
Viking, 1999, 430 pp.This is a remarkable book on Eugenio Pacelli, who was Pope
Pius XII from 1939 to 1958. Written by a Catholic scholar originally intending
to defend Pacelli, the book presents a Catholic insider view of Pacelli.
The pope is the top authority in the Catholic religion and by
tradition he has resided in Rome, Italy. Currently the place where he resides
is called the Vatican, a place that other countries treat as a tiny country
into itself. Cornwell, the author, has examined Vatican documents regarding
Pacelli at a time when the Catholic Church is considering naming him a saint,
in a process called beatification. Vatican documents generally stay secret for
75 years; (p. 372) although the Vatican claims to have released a complete collection
in regard to World War II.
Cornwell concludes that Pacelli was "no monster," (p. viii) but
he was "Hitler's pope," an easy pawn to handle.(p. 297) Based on the details
presented by Cornwell, Pope Pius XII must be counted amongst the most evil men
of the twentieth century. -Aside from his role of perpetuating a religion that
is a diversion from scientific and ideological clarity about this world, he
supported a deliberate division of the human race based on a figment of the
imagination known as "God."
Yugoslavia and the Croats
Cornwell's material with the most contemporary flavor concerns
the bloodletting in ex-Yugoslavia. In the case of enemies of the Serbs, it was
Catholic Croat fascists who declared an independent Croatia and initiated massacres
of Serbs in the wake of Hitler's invasion of eastern Europe. Cornwell fully
admits the Catholic role and points out that the Pope condoned the massacres
of non-Catholics in the wake of Hitler's victories: "Even by comparison with
the recent bloodshed in Yugoslavia at the time of this writing, Pavelic's onslaught
against the Orthodox Serbs remains one of the most appalling civilian massacres
known to history."(p. 249)
In fact, the Croats had managed a rare feat—to be included by
Hitler in his idea of the Aryan race as Aryans.(p. 248) The Serbs, along with
most peoples in the world, were slated for extermination by Hitler—a fact increasingly
lost in capitalist propaganda seeking to whitewash racism and equate Hitler's
Nazism with communism and both as "totalitarianism." Hitler only regarded the
Jews as his most fit internationalist enemy and the most convenient scapegoat
for German unity purposes. There were only 2 million Orthodox Christian Serbs,
and the Croats led by Catholic priests(p. 254) managed to kill 487,000 between
1941 and 1945 in addition to 27,000 Gypsies and 30,000 out of 45,000 Jews. (p.
253)
The reason Pope Pius XII condoned the massacres by the Ustashe
is that it made it easier to spread Catholicism in the region. "Mass conversions"
of Orthodox Christian Serbs and massacres of those same Serbs became difficult
to separate, because the reasons for the two were the same. For this reason,
Pacelli held joyous greetings for Croatian police and young Catholic fascists
in Rome.(p. 260).
While it is well-known that the Jews suffered a holocaust, what
the people do not realize is that the Vatican had its own genocidal fascism
to account for all by itself—without tailing behind Hitler or Mussolini. The
Serbs and Gypsies were just two more peoples that faced genocide by fascists.
As it turns out, Pacelli also had a role in fanning the historical hatreds in
the Balkans that led to the genocide of World War II.
World War I
Of all the evil ruling class figures during the 20th
century, Pacelli's claim to infamy comes largely from the fact of having an
important role to play for so long. Before he became pope, he was the number
two person in the Catholic hierarchy, the Secretary of State. As a diplomat,
in World War I, Pacelli was involved in the most vexing European ethnic conflicts,
most of which remain unresolved today, thanks to Pacelli's type of politics.
As it turns out, Pacelli was there for the beginning of World
War I in 1914. Four days before the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand that
started World War I, Pacelli maneuvered a diplomatic deal with Serbia that embarrassed
Austria-Hungary.(p. 48) Pacelli had cut a deal with the Serbs to protect Catholicism
and allow the Pope more absolute authority over Catholics in Serbia. His so-called
"Serbian Concordat" was another straw piled on the camel's proverbial back.
As the war went on, Pacelli also learned to fake his anti-militarism.
None other than the German Kaiser told him he should show concern for the troops
in World War I, because it often seemed to the troops that only socialists and
communists were concerned about their well-being!(p. 68)
Mussolini
While Pacelli's greatest evil came from working with Hitler, both
Hitler and Pacelli took their cues from Mussolini first. Mussolini came to power
as a fascist in Italy before Hitler and he also signed a treaty with the Pope
before Hitler. While Pacelli was the senior diplomat in the Vatican, Pope Pius
XI called Mussolini "'a man sent by Providence.'"(p. 114) Rather than upbraid
Pope Pius XI, Pacelli named himself in the same line.
We find it reprehensible that so many Christians today live in
denial regarding Christianity's role in propping up Hitler and Mussolini. The
Vatican's endorsement of Mussolini is especially damning. The Vatican went so
far as to dissolve a Catholic party and urge voters to support Mussolini
and his party!(p. 116)
As the one to break the ice in Europe, Mussolini bears much of
the responsibility for the fascist infection of all of Europe after World War
I. The Vatican in turn bears responsibility for Mussolini.
Hitler
Most dialectical materialist analysis of the rise to power of
Hitler focuses on the social-democrats and their influence in the communist
ranks. The original reason for this focus is that it used to be obvious that
the Catholics and other Christians were ready fodder for Hitler; in contrast,
the split in the working-class was much more interesting. It was often thought
that a united German working-class under proletarian leadership could change
world history decisively.
Now with capitalist media-induced amnesia, the youth grow up thinking
that Hitler was simply a "statesman." Hence, the trouble that Cornwell goes
through to prove that Catholics but not socialists supported Hitler is
important. Catholic Father Paul Collins pointed out that the version of papal
authority accepted was more strict than anything put forward by communists or
fascists.(p. 39)
From the point of view of dialectical materialism, it is obvious
that Christianity dulls the scientific sensibilities of the masses, because
it teaches them poor logic—"to argue from authority." No matter how well respected
the authority, a statement is not true because an authority says so. Any argument
along the lines that "God says so" is in fact "argument from authority" and
should not be applied to anything in the real world, lest an elementary
mistake in logic be made. This is not the same thing as saying that people may
not submit to authorities as anarchists are likely to say. There may be good
reasons to follow an authority. Logic only says that the truth is independent
of its speaker.
Aside from the countless German Christian leaders who named Hitler
"Christ reincarnated," Christianity prepared the masses for fascism by teaching
"argument from authority" in place of logic. Religious efforts to water down
scientific education also contribute to making the masses ready for fascist
leaders appealing to their emotions—especially anti-Semitism in the case of
Catholics.
Cornwell adds that Hitler was the perfect counterpart to Pacelli,
because Pacelli opposed democracy and needed an authoritarian leader to negotiate
with. Hitler was willing to impose a nation-wide deal that others had a hard
time negotiating with various local authorities and political constituencies.
Pacelli had failed to obtain from Germans what he wanted for Catholic
schools. Hitler granted Catholic schools and recognition of papal authority
over all Catholic clergy in exchange for removing the Catholics from politics.
In practice, this meant that Hitler succeeded in paralyzing possible Catholic
opposition to himself. Every time the masses or lower levels of the Church rose
against Hitler, Pacelli was there to urge reconciliation with Hitler until well
into World War II.
As in the case of starting World War I, and helping Mussolini
in power, Pacelli was right there when Hitler needed a pivotal push to power.
It is a great irony of history and previously unknown to this reviewer that
Pope Pius XII made right-wing German Chancellor (1930-1932) Heinrich Bruning
look like a radical leftist. Catholic Bruning urged Pacelli not to make deals
with Hitler. Bruning's Catholic Center Party was one of the last possible sources
of opposition to Hitler.
Instead of opposing Hitler, the Catholic Center Party followed
Pacelli's advice and facilitated Hitler's rise to power. Crucially, it voted
for Hitler's so-called "Enablement Bill."(p. 135) Already by the time of March
1933, Hitler had succeeded in banning the communists and their elected
representatives. The social-democrats voted against Hitler's power-grab, but
the Catholic Center Party voted for it and dissolved itself. It would be hard
to think of a more timely yet evil single act in the 20th century.
Bruning rightly called the "Enablement Bill" "'the most monstrous resolution
ever demanded of a parliament.'"(p. 135) Unfortunately, Pacelli had his way,
not Bruning! Only 14 out of 76 Catholic delegates had the courage to oppose
Pacelli and side with Bruning, so the entire Catholic bloc voted for Hitler.
Four days after becoming pope in 1939, Pacelli issued a positive
statement to Hitler asking for reconciliation again. He also arranged for an
ostentatious birthday for Hitler's 50th on April 20th,
1939.(p. 209)
Seven months later in 1939, a right-wing plot involving the Pope
arose in Germany to kill Hitler. (p. 235) Thus far, historians have treated
this plot as legitimate and not a concoction of German Nazi counter-insurgency.
Eventually it's leaders did die in the attempt. It is one of the few proofs
that Pacelli was not completely a Hitlerite himself, merely a Nazi collaborator.
In the plot to kill Hitler, it was the role of Pacelli to approach England and
France to ask for good peace terms in exchange for the rebels' killing of Hitler.
While Pacelli was thus willing to see Hitler assassinated in the
late 1930s or early 1940s, his own agenda still overlapped with much of the
Nazi agenda. He preferred Franco fascism to Hitler fascism. Franco in Spain
was also ardently authoritarian, but Franco believed his work was on behalf
of the Pope, while Hitler was more likely to encourage others to think he was
the messiah himself. Pacelli hoped for a Franco style fascism all across Europe.
Pacelli opposed both majority rule by bourgeois rules and communism.
The Jews
The single issue most scandalous to John Cornwell is how traditional
Catholic anti-Semitism played right into Hitler's program of genocide against
the Jews, what Cornwell calls "the greatest crime in human history."(p. 293)
Pacelli's admirers include Jews who credit him with saving 860,000 Jewish lives
during the war, (p. 378) but Cornwell shows how numerous stories regarding the
pope's role in resisting Hitler's genocide were simply false, an attempt to
protect Pacelli's image. It is Cornwell's efforts in the historical archives
on this question that set much of history straight.
The pope's negative role decreased as the war went on, but even
at the very end when German troops occupying Rome were afraid of Italian revolt,
partly because Mussolini had been sent packing, Pacelli did not manage to speak
out against the murder of over 1000 Roman Jews by a few determined SS troops.
Thanks to Stalin's leadership success of the Soviet Red Army, the situation
was so weak for the Nazis that Hitler had to concede that he did not have the
power to kidnap even the defenseless pope in a city occupied by Nazi troops
in late 1943. (p. 315)
Meanwhile the Nazi diplomats to the Vatican secretly turned against
their government and begged the pope to stop the massacre of Jews just by speaking
out against the demoralized and potentially heavily outnumbered SS. (pp. 302,
304) So it was that even sectors of the Nazi ruling class were beginning to
look good compared to Pacelli. Hence, even with Allied troops advancing and
the Italian people carrying out armed resistance and near the boiling point
against a losing Nazi army, Pacelli still did not take a correct stance, and
one reason was his ardent anti-communism (i.e., Atheism) and fear of an Italian
Revolution.
Rather, during most of World War II once England and France declared
war on Germany, Pacelli could be found agitating for "universal city" status
for Rome—by which he meant freedom from Allied bombardment by airplane. As the
leader of the world's half a billion Catholics, Pacelli was a provincialist
putting his locale first while taking weak stances on the fascist atrocities
inside Rome and around the world. Also under Pacelli's rule, the death of Hitler
found the Cardinal Archbishop of Berlin in mourning and ordering all priests
"'to hold a solemn Requiem in memory of the Fuehrer and all those members of
the Wehrmacht who have fallen in the struggle for our German Fatherland, along
with the sincerest prayers for Volk and Fatherland and for the future of the
Catholic Church in Germany.'"(p. 317)
Black (African) troops
While Pacelli had little to say about specific war atrocities
when he had the chance regarding the Jews, Gypsies and Serbs, he did speak out
twice against the use of Black troops as occupation forces. According to Pacelli,
Black troops are more likely to rape European women than other troops.
Hence, we see that Pacelli was willing to get into minute ethnic
details when it suited him. He specifically asked the USA not to allow any Blacks
to occupy Rome.(p. 95)
Conclusion
John Cornwell provides a good example of how to write an historical
account without resorting to airy ideological principles. He provides examples
of where Catholic resistance (to eugenics (p. 153), to euthanasia (p. 198) or
German atrocities in Italy) made a big difference and proved that Hitler was
not unstoppable. He also demonstrated from other periods of history what was
possible, what the masses should have expected the Pope to be able to do on
behalf of justice—since much of the argument concerning Pacelli is with regard
to just how much power he had to bring to bear in various situations.
"Hitler's Pope" is a well-organized book with a clear sense of
moral logic and direction that is increasingly lacking in the contemporary academic
world. It answers many of the questions that we should want answered about Pope
Pius XII. Perhaps more than any reactionary leader this century, Pope Pius XII
was at the right place at the right time doing the wrong thing.
End of Review.
Copyright 1999-2004 by Unknown