A small picture of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty.

Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty

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An Irish Childhood

When in Rome

The Storm Begins

Vatican City

The White Line

"God's Traveler"

The First Rescues

Enemies

Friends

A Heroic Lady

Bread on the Waters

A Cheeky Priest

Luck of the Irish

Narrow Escapes

"S. Derry, Major"

Subterfuge

Almost Betrayed

The Fearful Days

Desperate Measures

A Request

Liberation!

More Work

After the War

A Race Well Run

The Movie

Links

Bibliography

The Storm Begins.

A picture of Italy's Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini The year 1939 saw two events that would have stood out in importance in O’Flaherty’s mind: in March, Cardinal Pacelli was crowned Pope Pius XII. In September, World War Two began. The Nazis invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany in return. Ireland remained neutral. But Italy’s Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, had signed a “Pact of Steel” with Adolf Hitler. Once Germany went to war, Italy was bound to follow. On June 10, 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain. O’Flaherty, doubly neutral as an Irishman and a priest, found himself in the middle of an Axis country. But he was in the middle of it in a very special way.

The State called Vatican City.

Vatican City, where O’Flaherty lived and worked, has its beginnings in the fourth century A.D., when a basilica was built to honor the tomb of the Apostle Peter. During the 1300’s, the popes began to take up residence in palaces around the basilica. Vatican City became the seat of the Holy See, the central government of the Roman Catholic Church. The pope ruled the Vatican like a king. But as the various Italian cities and states unified into the country of Italy during the 1860’s and ‘70’s, the question arose: who would have power over Vatican City, the pope or the new Italian government? The Catholic Church includes people of all nations and races. In order for the pope to be a true spiritual leader of this Church, he should be independent from any secular government – or shouldn’t he?

The question had only been settled within O’Flaherty’s lifetime. In 1929, Mussolini and Cardinal Gasparri signed the Lateran Treaty, which recognized the “absolute and visible independence” of the pope and gave him “sovereign jurisdiction” over Vatican City. The Vatican would become an independent country, with its own laws, its own money, and its own court system. It would not be subject to Italian laws or taxes. In return, the Holy See promised not to get involved in the politics of Italy or other nations, and to maintain absolute neutrality in all international affairs. This treaty was only a decade old at the outbreak of World War Two.

A map of Vatican City

The White Line.

In accordance with the Lateran Treaty, the Vatican remained neutral when war was declared. But it was a tiny island of neutrality – the Vatican covers only 0.44 square kilometers, or 108.7 acres, and is completely surrounded by the city of Rome. When Italy went to war in 1940, the Vatican was effectively isolated in Fascist territory. In this position, it was vulnerable to the decisions of Mussolini and Hitler; but it was equally vulnerable to British and American bombing raids. Later in the war, the Germans had a white line painted on the cobbles across the opening of St. Peter’s Square. This was ostensibly to keep Axis troops out and show them where their jurisdiction ended; but some also saw it as a way to keep Vatican members in, and show them where their neutral privileges ended.