xvi Preface
sent three dozen notes to berlin, drafted by Pacelli, to protest about infringements
of the concordat.
nevertheless, the price of that concordat was high. in Germany a prominent
catholic political organization, The Centre Party, which sought to mitigate Fascist
excesses, was closed down. Pius xi had still not fully realized that sacrificing
catholic political parties in europe destroyed the last bulwarks against totalitar-
ianism. Yet in the last years of his pontificate—and despite a residual sympathy
with Fascism—he made clear his hatred of right-wing tyranny not only in Germany
but also in italy. increasingly in the 1930s he threw his whole-hearted support be-
hind catholic social organizations in italy such as the boy scout movement, as well
as trade unions and a free press. when in 1928 Mussolini banned the scouts and
closed down all offices and charities run by Azione Cattolica, Pius protested in an
open letter criticizing Fascist interference in education and family life and con-
demning Fascist insistence on the swearing of an oath of loyalty to the regime.
Azione Cattolica survived, but only as a non-political organization.
once the concordat was safely signed, Hitler and the nazi press started a hate
campaign against the catholic church. by 1937 Pius realized that he had been
duped and decided to act. in his encyclical ‘Mit brennender sorge’ he denounced
both German actions in breach of the concordat and nazi racial theory, including
anti-semitism, insisting on the permanent value of the Jewish scriptures. Unfortunately
‘divini Redemptoris’, his other encyclical of the same year, denounced communism
in even more absolute language—which did not help the anti-Fascist cause. and
‘interior’ policies and activities within the Vatican remained fraught with intrigue.
Montini, a key player at the curia, had been initially dismissed by Pius xi from his
position as ecclesiastical head of the Azione Cattolica University in response to
criticism from Mussolini, but was brought back as under-secretary of state in 1937
when Pius’s view of Mussolini was changing. Montini’s character was complex,
both before and after becoming pope; not for nothing did he later become known
as the ‘Hamlet’ of the Vatican. it seems he was an efficient ‘civil servant’, but with
perhaps a rather naive view of human nature and with far less influence on Pius xi
than Pacelli. Pacelli on the other hand believed himself to be a competent polit-
ician and diplomat—almost a ‘fixer’—a mistake made by many contemporary (and
later) italian politicians, which badly misled him in his dealings with Germany.
nevertheless, when in May 1938 Hitler visited Rome, Pius deliberately left for
castel Gandolfo. That same year he insisted publicly that no christian could be an
anti-semite since ‘spiritually, we are all semites’. but due to bad health and oppos-
ition in the curia, his intention of publishing a further encyclical, ‘Humani generis
Unitas’, in which he was to denounce anti-semitism much more strongly, was never
published. illness ensured that a further speech denouncing fascism he had hoped
to give to the italian bishops also never appeared. some historians have argued that
if he had tried harder Pius might have prevented italy allying with nazi Germany.
others have countered that even if he had succeeded in keeping Mussolini away
from an alliance with Hitler, an italian army would not have lasted long against the
wehrmacht and Hitler could have taken over italy as easily as he took over austria.
indeed some believe that in certain respects italy did better by initially becoming