Vatican City During World War Ii Information
Vatican City pursued a policy of neutrality during World War II, under the leadership of Pope Pius XII. Although the city of Rome was occupied by Germany from 1943 and the Allies from 1944, Vatican City itself was not occupied.
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Background
The Vatican City came into existence in 1929, only a decade before World War IIThe Lateran Treaty of 1929 with Italy recognized the sovereignty of Vatican City. It declared Vatican City a neutral country in international relations, and required the pope to abstain even from mediation unless requested by all parties. In 1939, the city state was recognized by thirty-eight nations, with a diplomatic corp of thirteen full ambassadors and twenty-five ministers.[1]
The prevailing view in the Vatican was that the treaty's clause prohibiting the pope from entering Italian politics prohibited the condemnation of Italian military aggression, visited on Albania on Good Friday 1939.[2]
Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Pope Pius XIIPublic statements
Despite intense behind the scenes actions, Pius XII was resolved not to issue any public pronouncement that took sides in the conflict; this first manifested itself in a refusal to explicitly condemn the German invasion of Poland.[3] Early on, Pius XII believed that the "rapid destruction of Poland meant the end of the war".[4] The pope's first encyclical of the war Summi Pontificatus, promulgated in October 1939, exemplified both "the hesitancy and the care" of the pontiff.[5]
20 July plot
Joseph Müller, German Catholic priest, contacted Ludwig Kaas, hoping to use the pope as an intermediary to allow members of the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler to contact the British.[6] Kaas put Müller in contact with Father Robert Leiber, who personally asked the pope to relay the information about the German resistance to the British.[7] After more than a day of "quiet reflection", Pius XII agreed to pass the information along to the British.[7] However he refused to pass the information along to the French or even to his own Secretariat of State.[8]
Pius XII met personally with British envoy, D'Arcy Osborne, telling him that he knew the names of the involved German generals but did not wish to share them.[9] Pius XII insisted to Osborne that he was merely passing on a message and that "he did not wish in the slightest degree to endorse it or to recommend it".[9] When Osborne pressed the pope on the vagueness of his message, Osborne reported that Pius XII replied "perhaps, after all, it was not worth proceeding with the matter and he would therefore ask me to return his communication to me as not having been made".[9] The pope further declined Osborne's request to guarantee the good faith of the generals, or whether they could accomplish their goal.[9] In a second meeting, Pius XII flashed a typed, four-page letter in German in front of Osborne, but declined to let him read it or have a copy.[10]
Mediation attempts
Polish ambassador to the Vatican, Kazimierz Papée, was critical of Pius XII's pre-war mediation efforts.Pre-war
As early as April 1939, Pius XII announced a plan for peace, hoping to mediate a negotiation between the major European powers on the brink of war.[11] The first leader contacted was Benito Mussolini, via Pius XII's usual go-between, Jesuit Father Tacchi Venturi.[12] With Mussolini's approval, the next day Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Maglione contacted the nuncios in Paris (Valerio Valeri), Warsaw (Filippo Cortesi), and Berlin (Cesare Orsenigo) and the Apostolic Delegate in London (William Godfrey).[12] The proposed Vatican meeting accomplished very little of substance: if there was any coherent position espoused by the Vatican among its various communications, it was that of appeasement.[13] In particular, the pope attempted to get Poland to accept the secession of the Free City of Danzig to Nazi Germany, a position Polish ambassador Kazimierz Papée (the former High Commissioner of Danzig) and the Polish government could not accept.[14]
British historian Owen Chadwick draws four themes from the Vatican mediation attempts:[15]
- a particular closeness to Mussolini, to the point of sending correspondence of his drafting, from the period May–August 1939
- British and Polish disinterest in Vatican proposals, which were suspected of being pro-Italian and pro-German, respectively
- major European powers viewed the pope as "no minor pawn upon their chessboard"
- and, above all, Pius XII wanted to ensure compromise between the Western powers to prevent Russian territorial gains
Mid-war
In late 1942, senior Italian officials first approach the Vatican with peace feelers.[16] In the eyes of the Vatican, "the neutrality of the Vatican, achieved at such cost, was paying a dividend at last".[17] When Mussolini sent his son-in-law, Count Ciano, as ambassador to the Vatican in 1943, the Germans and others speculated about the possibility of Ciano negotiating a separate peace.[18] The British for their part doubted any such intentions and wanted nothing to do with Ciano.[19]
Military history
The closest thing the Vatican had to troops were the Swiss Guard, eponymously of Swiss national origin; the sympathies of the Swiss varied widely, and the Vatican prohibited them from talking about politics in December 1940.[20]
Extraterritorial status
With the German occupation of Rome in 1943 after the fall of Mussolini came rumors of a plot to kidnap the pope; modern scholars are still at odds over the authenticity of such allegations.[21] The Vatican City itself was never occupied; in fact, the chief concern within the Vatican was the potential for lawlessness between the German and Allied occupation, not the potential for German occupation.[22] Ultimately, there was no interval between the occupations, although there was a period of reduced policing.[22]
Bombing of Rome
Main article: Bombing of Rome in World War IIOne of Pius XII's main diplomatic priorities was to prevent the bombing of Rome; so sensitive was the pontiff that he protested even the British air dropping of pamphlets over Rome, claiming that the few landing within the city-state violated the Vatican's neutrality.[23] Before the American entry into the war, there was little impetus for such a bombing, as the British saw little strategic value in it.[24] After the American entry, the US opposed such a bombing, fearful of offending Catholic members of its military forces, while the British then supported it.[25] Pius XII similarly advocated for the declaration of Rome as an "open city", but this occurred only on August 14, 1943, after Rome had already been bombed twice.[26] Although the Italians consulted the Vatican on the wording of the open city declaration, the impetus for the change had little to do with the Vatican.[27]
Prisoners of war
After the Italian surrender, Allied prisoners guarded by Italians were released, and many headed for Vatican City.[28] The Vatican feared such an event would compromise its neutrality and gave strict instructions to the Swiss Guard to prevent any such person from entering the city state; a system of identity cards was instituted to prevent non-Vatican personnel from entering St. Peter's.[29] Some Vatican officials, however, did act independently to assist such persons; the most famous example is Hugh O'Flaherty, whose exploits were made famous in the film The Scarlet and the Black.[30]
Financial activity
Bernardino Nogara, the chief Vatican financier during the war| This section requires expansion. |
Media
Osservatore Romano
The Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's newspaper, published in Italian, was the only newspaper in Italy not censored by the Italian government.[31] Despite its relatively moderate content, the paper was lionized by the British and French press and vilified by the Italian Fascist press.[32] By May 20, 1940, the paper ceased publishing any articles about the war not authored by the "official Italian war communique" per an agreement with the Italian government.[33] By August 1940 its weather reports were also eliminated when the Italian government protested that they might aid British aircraft.[34]
Vatican Radio
The Vatican Radio was in a similar situation; for example, it ceased news about prisoners-of-war, which the Italian government worried would hint at the location of ships.[35] It also ceased reporting on the weather, for the same reason.[35] After Cardinal August Hlond issued a fiery, Polish-language message to Poland over the radio (which could scarcely be picked up in Poland), "nothing like this broadcast was ever allowed to happen again".[36] After German complaints, the radio ceased any discussion of the situation in Poland, and later ceased discussing the situation of the church in Germany.[37] Pius XII personally spoke over the radio on several occasions, most notably during his 1942 Christmas address.
The Holocaust
Main article: Pope Pius XII and the HolocaustChurch organization
Cesare Orsenigo (left, with Hitler and von Ribbentrop), nuncio to Germany, also served as de facto nuncio to Poland. Main article: Reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War IIOccupying powers often requested that Pius XII reorganize conquered Catholic dioceses. Although such reorganization was generally refused, the decision of Pius XII to appoint German apostolic administrators to occupied Poland was "one of his most controversial decisions".[38] These actions were the primary justification of the Polish Provisional Government for declaring the Concordat of 1925 null and void in 1945, an act that had tremendous consequences for post-war Polish-Vatican relations. There was no Apostolic Nuncio to Poland between 1947 and 1989.
Immediate postwar aftermath
Further information: Ratlines (history) and Alperin v. Vatican BankThe Allies entered Rome on June 4–5, 1944.[39] The pope was the greatest celebrity on the Italian peninsula during this period, and—given the tarnishment of the King of Italy with fascism—there was even talk of extending the temporal power of the papacy.[39] The pope granted audiences with Allied soldiers and leaders, which were prominently photographed.[40]
Pius XII had refrained from creating cardinals during the war. By the end of World War II there were several prominent vacancies: Cardinal Secretary of State, Camerlengo, Chancellor, and Prefect for the Congregation for the Religious among them.[41] Pius XII created 32 cardinals in early 1946, having announced his intentions to do so in his preceding Christmas message.
References
- ^ Morley, 1980, page 8
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 58-59
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 79-81
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 82
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 83
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 86-87
- ^ a b Chadwick, 1988, p. 87
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 88
- ^ a b c d Chadwick, 1988, p. 90
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 91-96
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 61
- ^ a b Chadwick, 1988, p. 62
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 62-74
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 75-76
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 77-78
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 246-47
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 248
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 248-49
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 249-50
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 160
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 275-76
- ^ a b Chadwick, 1988, pp. 290-91
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 222
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 222-32
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 232-36
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 236-44
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 244-45
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 291
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 292
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 293-99
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 104-07
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, pp. 111-12
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 113
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 114
- ^ a b Chadwick, 1988, p. 142
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 143
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 145
- ^ Blet, 1999, p. 72
- ^ a b Chadwick, 1988, p. 301
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 302
- ^ Chadwick, 1988, p. 304
Sources
- Alvarez, David J., and Graham, Robert A. 1997. Nothing sacred: Nazi espionage against the Vatican, 1939-1945
- Blet, Pierre, and Johnson, Lawrence J. 1999. Pius XII and the Second World War: According to the Archives of the Vatican. Paulist Press. ISBN 0809105039
- Chadwick, Owen. 1988. Britain and the Vatican During the Second World War. Cambridge University Press
- Kent, Peter. 2002. The Lonely Cold War of Pope Pius XII: The Roman Catholic Church and the Division of Europe, 1943–1950. Ithaca: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2326-X
- Morley, John. 1980. Vatican diplomacy and the Jews during the Holocaust, 1939-1943. New York : KTAV Pub. House. ISBN 0870687018
- Phayer, Michael. 2000. The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930–1965. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33725-9
- Phayer, Michael. 2008. Pius XII, The Holocaust, and the Cold War. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34930-9
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Categories:
- Neutral states in World War II
- Pope Pius XII and World War II
- World War II by country
- World War II national military histories
- Wars involving Vatican City
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