204
country." The Pope replied that he would censure Germany only for her treatment of the Church, but that he would not condemn her on other grounds, as he did not want to "create the impression that the Church favors the enemies of Germany." The Pope had good reason to say that.
In the late evening of June 20, 1941, Ribbentrop saw the Papal Representative in Berlin at a private meeting, after which the Papal Nuncio, Mgr. Orsenigo, immediately got in touch with the Vatican, where the lights shone throughout the whole night of June 20/21.
At last, on the morning of June 21, 1941, the news which the Pope had received officially the day before and for which the Vatican had worked and made so many sacrifices during many years was announced to the world. The Nazi armies had invaded Soviet Russia.
Once more the first five peace proposals were remembered, especially the first, dealing with the rights of small and great nations; but this time it would have been too much to expect the Pope to condemn the aggression against Soviet Russia. As usual, the Pope remained silent: he could not "officially" compromise himself. Moreover, Hitler had not as yet asked the Pope for help, although the Nuncio in Berlin, Mgr. Orsenigo, had promised Ribbentrop that "the Catholic Church would, in time, provide Germany with all the moral support of which it could dispose." For the time being, however, Hitler did not need the support of the Church. His armies could, he said, conquer Soviet Russia within the space of four months.
But as the Nazi armies cut deep into Russian territory, the Catholic Church began to organize a holy crusade against Soviet Russia, although in an "unofficial" capacity. It wanted to make it clear that it was on the side of the victor, so that it would be able to bargain with Hitler for the "co-ordination of spiritual matters." It was thus that the Vatican sent advice to the various National Catholic hierarchies all over the world to "support the military campaign against Godless Russia, not only passively, but also actively in the moral field." (Letter by the Secretary of State.) And so the Catholic World and the Catholic hierarchies, even in Allied countries, organized a campaign against Communism and Russia.
205
Of course, this was but the recrudescence of a campaign that had been going on for years.
This is not the place to quote in length the statements made by the Pope, by cardinals and bishops all over the world, inciting people and nations against Russia. We shall merely quote a few declarations, taken at random, by the German Hierarchy which show that the Catholic Church had for years been preparing the German people to fight Bolshevism and Russia. The incitement of the German Hierarchy had begun even before Hitler came to power, and after that event it was carried out with still greater gusto.
We have already quoted several attacks by the Pope and Cardinal Pacelli against Russia. On New Year's Eve, 1936, Cardinal Faulhaber said in Munich that he was oppressed with two great anxieties, the first of which was to "overthrow Bolshevism," and the second "the protection of the Church inside the Reich." Shortly afterwards, in April 1937, he declared:
All the civilized world, but especially the Catholic nations, must unite into a holy crusade against Atheist Russia, and crush Bolshevism wherever it may be found.
In 1936, the pastoral letter of the Bavarian bishops protested because certain Nazis were stating that Nazism must destroy two enemies: the Catholic Church and Communism. The bishops declared that they, no less than the Nazis, were enemies of Bolshevism, and that it was therefore very painful to hear such assertions:
We must request that it no longer be put about among young folk and the people in general that after the overthrow of Bolshevism, Public Enemy No. 1, the next on the list is the Catholic Church, as Public Enemy No. 2.
Also in 1936, the Bishop of Munster, Count von Galen, said:
It is the duty of every Catholic, and of every civilized nation, to defeat and crush Godless Communism, embodied in Atheist Soviet Russia.
The German bishops at the conference at Fulda issued, on August 20, 1936, a pastoral letter which was read in all German Catholic churches at the end of the same month. It declared that:
206
the danger from Bolshevism in many other countries demands peace, union, and complete support of Hitler and the Nazi regime within Germany [but that such peace was made impossible] by non-Christian propaganda, by interference with ecclesiastical privileges and, above all, by the suppression of the Catholic Press, whose main task is to prepare the German people for a final fight against Bolshevism.
In a New Year Pastoral, at the beginning of 1937, Archbishop Grober, of, Freiburg, summarized the grounds for complaint of the German Catholics against Nazism. Amongst other things, he said:
... Is the Catholic Church ... to be repeatedly (if sometimes covertly) branded as Public Enemy No. 2, and treated as the sworn associate of Bolahe. *ism? ... Is the German nation as a whole to be prepared for a possible conflict with the Godless world of Bolshevism, which might, though God forbid it should, be forced upon us from outside, by concealing the essential and irreconcilable contradiction between the basic principles of religion and those of Russian Atheism? Are we preparing wisely for such an eventuality when the deification of Man and of the Nation and the denial of the immortality of the soul bring us perilously near to a cultural handshake with Communism itself? Is all this, I ask, to give the lie in an irresponsible fashion to the solemnly pledged word of our Fuehrer?
Later, in 1937, the same Archbishop declared:
Marxism is not dead, as we have been told. It is more alive than ever. We as Christians and Catholics and as Germans, must crush it, wherever it is. Let us prepare for our task against the Godless neighbor [Russia], against whom all the civilized world one day will have to fight (May 1937).
In a pastoral of September 4, 1938, the Bavarian bishops, while protesting against Hitler's orders forbidding members of religious institutions to give convent education to girls, declared that Nazism should not antagonize the Catholic Church, for, after all, the Church was the greatest enemy of Communism and would help Hitler to fight it. From its many comments we quote the following:
Is it not an intolerable contradiction that such schools as these should today be destroyed and rooted out from our homeland, just as has so recently been done in Bolshevist countries ... and that at a time when the German nation conceives it as its historic task to combat anti-Christian Bolshevism and appeal to the rest of the Christian world to aid it as comrades in the fight? ... How long will the State continue to reject the co-operation of the Church and of her religious Orders in carrying out the German national task of to-day: the fight against Communism?
207
After Russia was attacked, the German bishops, while complaining about the disharmony still existing in the Reich, were emphatic on one point-namely, in inciting the German people against Russia. "A victory over Bolshevism would be equivalent to triumph of the teaching of Jesus over that of the infidels," they solemnly declared (1942).
It would be possible to go on ad infinitum quoting such declarations by the German Hierarchy against Russia and Communism, they continued their campaign of hatred, not only before, but Russia was attacked, and even after the Nazi armies had re treated and were finally defeated. Although the Vatican at this (end of 1942 to 1944) gave instructions to the German Hierarchy "to be cautious and to speak against Godless Bolshevism only bishops," the attacks went on to the very end of the war.
But when the Nazi armies were halted before Leningrad and Moscow and defeated before Stalingrad, things had already changed. Vatican had become more cautious than ever in its official declarations, but, at the same time, had intensified its campaign to Hitler all over the world. Preparations had been made in various Catholic Fascist countries to enlist fighting units for the Eastern Front. These Catholic units began to take shape and to be dispatched to fight against Russia.
By the autumn of 1941 anti-Communist Legions were formed in the Catholic countries: Portugal, Franco's Spain, Pertain's France, Belgium (from the Rexist Catholic Party). All the volunteers were enlisted to "fight against Godless Soviet Russia, and thus save Catholicism." Catholic countries which could not send soldiers sent money and organized meetings and nation-wide propaganda against Soviet, all these activities being supported and blessed by the Catholic Church in the countries concerned. While the Vatican, in its official capacity, did not compromise itself, it instructed cardinals and bishops in many nations of -the world to speak against Soviet Russia and launch anathemas on Moscow, asking for volunteers to fight the "Bolshevik Dragon."
From all over the Catholic world, from Italy to Ireland, from North and South America, volunteers and money were dispatched continually to fight side by side with the Nazi armies which, after the first great onslaught into Russia, had halted before the great of Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad. Despite that, the
208
Vatican thought that Nazi Germany had suffered only a momentary military check, and that "Atheist Russia could be counted as officially destroyed." The Soviet military -and political might was no longer a factor which should be taken seriously.
From then on, Nazi Germany was going to be the dominating Power of Europe. The Vatican lost itself in speculations about the future-a future to be shaped by Nazi Germany. The Vatican radio launched a campaign on the prospects of "Peace within the bounds of the New Order."
The Pope attaches great importance to moral values. Rulers who plan for peace should remember that.... Only on this basis can the international atmosphere be cleared. Strength must become the source of rights and not oppression.
Another thing that has to be drastically reorganized in the world is the free right to raw material. No nation should have the sole right over the goods which God has given them.
The New Order can thus be established in the Christian world.
Those were the words and that was the tone of the Vatican broadcasts at that stage; and it should be remembered that at that time (May 1942) Hitler was shouting about the necessity for a New Order and for Lebensraum and raw materials for Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Both could be found in Russia.
Then, in June 1942, the Osservatore Romano published a series of articles expressing the Pope's ideas for the post-war world. In them the Pope demanded that ". . . the Church be allowed to fulfill, unhampered, her lofty mission in the world." The Catholic Church, the argument runs, has the right to participate in the political and public life of the nations, on the ground that religion is not only the teaching of the life of the people, but also a political and social science whose purpose it is to save souls and help the nations in accordance with a uniform system based on a uniform idea which should guide the individual, the family, and the nation.
But then, as the Nazi armies seemed to have stopped, and as the defeated "Atheist Russia" gave more and more signs of being alive and ready to counter-attack, the Vatican was again assailed by fears and doubts. While preaching peace, the Pope began a great diplomatic campaign in the various capitals of the belligerent countries. The goals of the campaign were two: (1) To prevent
209
United States of America and Great Britain from giving active help to Bolshevik Russia; (2) To find a means of preventing Russia advancing westwards.
The best means of reaching these two fundamental aims was to attempt a negotiated peace between the Allies and the Axis. The Vatican had been in close touch with Hitler for months on this point, and once it had certain assurances from Berlin, it contacted London and Washington. The German Ambassador at the Vatican had secret audiences with the Pope and the Secretary of State daily. The gist of the Vatican's exertions was that, for the benefit of all concerned (namely Christian Europe), peace should be concluded; the Allies and Germany should unite and fight against Russia; to this end Hitler was ready to come to an agreement with Britain and the United States of America, provided "he could save his face"; a negotiated peace would be the salvation of Europe. Great Britain and America, however, rejected the proposals (May-June, 1942). The Vatican made persistent remonstrances, saying that Britain and America should compel Russia to go so far, but no farther, in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, for "far-reaching assurance must be given to the people of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe to save them from the rapacity of Bolshevik Russia." As Great Britain and the United States of America failed to give such assurances, the Pope made it understood that in due time "the Catholic body in the United States of America, with the co-operation of the anti-Soviet forces there and elsewhere," would see to it that "pressure should be brought forth to stir the foreign policy to healthier goals."
President Roosevelt had to send his representative, Myron Taylor, to the Vatican, promising that Great Britain and the United States of America would ensure that the Bolshevik troops would not overstep the borders drawn up by them. On his way home, Taylor had an interview with the devout Catholic Salazar, in which he stated that "after an Allied victory in Europe, Allied troops will protect, arms in hand, anti-Communist States against Bolshevik transgressions. A Soviet domination of Europe is entirely out of the question" (Lisbon, October 6, 1942). The Vatican, however, would not be assured, and continued to contact various capitals, with a view to detaching Britain and the United States of America from Russia and enabling Hitler to make a compromise peace with the former.
210
The Soviet armies' great success the following year made the Vatican even more frantic in its quest and in its accusations against Soviet Russia. Roosevelt told them that the Allies had decided to crush Nazi Germany, and that it was therefore necessary to put up with the advance of Soviet Russia. The Vatican should open negotiations with Moscow in order to safeguard the interests of those Catholics who were in the countries "liberated by Russia,"
Roosevelt contacted Stalin personally on at least three occasions, with the view of bringing about a rapprochement between the Vatican and Russia. But the Pope continually refused. Early in 1943 Roosevelt therefore dispatched to the Vatican a great and intimate friend of the Pope, Mgr. Spellman, Archbishop of New York, to try to persuade him to follow Roosevelt's suggestions.
Spellman's task was "to persuade the Vatican to adopt a more indulgent attitude towards the Soviet Union in general, and in particular towards the future position of Russia in Europe" (Die Tat, Zurich, February 24, 1943). He began his mission by having a long meeting with Roosevelt. Then, on reaching Europe, the first thing he did was to meet Franco. He had several private meetings, both with Franco and with the Primate of Spain.
When in Rome, Spellman was received by the Pope and occupied much of the Pope's time for days. Their meetings lasted from 5 p.m. to 8 and sometimes 9 p.m. every day. They were so private that even the Pope's Chamberlain was not admitted, nor, very often, notified of them (February 20-23, 1943).
When Mgr. Spellman was not seeing the Pope he was in close touch with Bishop Evrainoff, head of the Vatican Information Bureau, or with Mgr. Ottaviani, Assessor to the Congregation of the Holy Office, one of the most influential personages at the Vaticanbut, most of all, Mgr. Spellman saw the Spanish and the Nazi Ambassadors at the Vatican, and, at the end of his stay, had a long private meeting with the Nazi Foreign Minister himself (Ribbentrop), on March 3, 1943. The following day, having flown to Spain, Mgr. Spellman met the British Ambassador, Sir Samuel Hoare, and then returned to the United States of America, where he handed President Roosevelt a personal letter written by the Pope.
What plan did Mgr. Spellman take to the Pope? What plan did the Pope convey to Roosevelt? And, above all, what agreement was reached between the Vatican, Washington and London?
211
The fear entertained by the Pope regarding Soviet Russia's success, and her advance Westwards, finally reached Washington and London. All three Powers began to look with dismay at the advance of the Soviet armies, fearing that they would go too far Westwards before the Allied armies could enter the field to stop them. The three Powers looked ahead of the Soviet military victory; they saw, in the advance of the troops, the advance of an inimical ideology; and as the Pope saw in the soldiers of Bolshevism the arch-enemies of Catholicism, so the United States of America and Great Britain saw in them the enemies of their own social, economic, and political systems.
Some means had to be found to stop the Bolshevik advance. Once more the Vatican was there to help. It had been in close touch with 'Hitler, and had made him understand that if he climbed down on his territorial ambitions, the hope of a negotiated peace was in "the realm of possibility" (January 1943). Hitler made it known to the Pope that he "desired" peace: a peace which would be of advantage to the Western Powers, to Germany, and to the Catholic Church. He asked that the Allies should not open a Second Front, but should leave Germany to fight Soviet Russia. Thus Germany would be able to stabilize her Eastern frontiers and become "an impregnable Bulwark to the flood of Bolshevism." The Pope wrote to President Roosevelt that "radical changes in the formation of the Nazi Government would occur if the Allies approved of the proposal.
Roosevelt made the Vatican understand that there was no possibility of a negotiated peace while Hitler was in power; therefore the Vatican had better come to some understanding with Soviet Russia, and thus safeguard the interests of -the Catholic Church in the countries invaded by the Soviet armies. Once more the Vatican refused. It was then that Roosevelt sent Mgr. Spellman to Rome on the task of persuading the Vatican to change "its attitude towards the Soviet Union."
But once in Rome, Mgr. Spellman was told what the Vatican thought of the Allies' demand for unconditional surrender of the Axis. Further, the Pope informed him that he could not "accept the ','request of President Roosevelt to call on the Catholic world to fight Germany . . . because the Vatican is unable to identify itself the war aims of any group of belligerents" (February 21, 1943).
212
The declaration of Casablanca, which demanded the unconditional surrender of the Tripartite Powers, is completely incompatible with Christian doctrines.
The Vatican's view at this juncture was that the Allies, by insisting on their formula of unconditional surrender, were compelling the German and Italian nations to fight to the end, giving -them no chance to come to an understanding with the Allies-an understanding which was becoming each day more urgent in view of the advance of the Soviet armies in Western Europe.
We have already seen what the Vatican's proposals were at this stage (see chapter on Italy and the Vatican), and how the Western Powers agreed that, while overthrowing the Fascist and Nazi regimes, the main foundations on which they were based should be preserved, thus avoiding a most dangerous vacuum in Italy, Germany, and throughout the rest of Europe. The results of this agreement were soon to be seen with the sudden downfall of Mussolini, the taking over of the Government by King Victor and Marshal Badoglio, and finally with the surrender of Italy and the consequent dispersal of German troops which had to be rushed to the Italian Peninsula at a moment when the Germans should have concentrated all their forces in readiness for the great attack.
After the surrender of Italy, as the defeat of Germany became more and more obvious, the Pope, although continuing his attempts for a negotiated peace, swung over to the Allies. Immediately after the liberation of Rome he began to receive Allied soldiers and officers by the thousand, making speeches in which he advocated a "moderate peace" and "peace without revenge"--although he continued, as ever, to speak -and act against Soviet Russia.
While the Vatican was thus in touch with the Allies, it at the same time was trying to persuade Hitler to disappear, giving him to understand that, as the war was lost, it would be better for Germany if he "retired into obscurity." Hitler was stubborn, continually repeating that the Pope should persuade the Western Allies to fight on his side against the Soviets.
At last the Pope told the Nazi Ambassador that all the Vatican's efforts to persuade the Allies to make a negotiated peace with Germany were useless while Hitler was in power. It would have been a " great deed" for Hitler to have cleared the way for a German Government whose task would have been to make peace with the Western
213
Allies and thus prevent the Bolshevik armies from occupying Germany. If Germany had to be occupied, it should be by the Western Powers, not by Bolshevism.
In June 1944 Hitler informed the Pope that he was ready to accept suggestions, as forwarded by the Holy See. He wanted to know something more concrete, however, about "what the Allies would do with Germany." The Vatican immediately informed Roosevelt, and Roosevelt sent to Rome Mr. Henry Stimson, United States Secretary of State for War, and Mr. Myron Taylor, the United States special Envoy to the Vatican. Both men had long interviews with the Pope.
Before and after the arrival of these two Americans the Vatican was beginning another of its peace offensives. The Osservalore Romano came out with articles headed:
End slaughter-Why go on fighting?
Why are they fighting? (one article exclaimed]. It is not the first time this question has been asked, but it has come up again after five years of horrifying war.
Let us hasten peace. It is the sole benefit on which we still count
But the discussions on the resignation of Hitler and on a negotiated peace ended abruptly. Something else, meanwhile, was going on behind -the scenes. The Nazi Ambassador to the Vatican, Baron Von Weizsaecker, had been seeing the Pope and his Secretary of State very frequently, and when Myron Taylor visited the Vatican he saw him as well (June/July 1944). The Baron was a close co-operator with Ribbentrop, and during attempts by the Pope for a nego. tiated peace he had always distinguished himself by his genuine desire to co-operate with the Holy Father to agree on some peace proposal.
Cardinal Maglione, Mr. Taylor, the Nazi Ambassador, and the British Ambassador had frequent and very secret meetings (May/June). What was the cause of all this secret activity? The decision to repeat the happenings of Italy and "thus pave the way to the cessation of hostilities."
Such a decision had to be put into action quickly if the new plan was to succeed. For with the Nazi Armies rolling back before the Russians, the exit of Italy from the war, and the impending Allied