The Pope at War, page 53
Having added millions of people to the Reich in the previous year, concluded the Italian ambassador, Hitler needed a period of peace to fully absorb them. “Those, therefore, from outside Germany who believed they would find in the January 30, 1939, speech the germs and the signs of new ‘adventures’ will have to agree that, after all, the Führer’s speech is, taking into account, I repeat, the man, a pacific one.” Attolico, Berlin, to Ciano, January 31, 1939, DDI, series 8, vol. 11, n. 130.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 11
This is a story I tell in The Pope and Mussolini (Kertzer 2014).
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 12
Bergen to Secretary of State Ernst von Weizsäcker, Berlin, July 23, 1937, telegram, PAAA, GRk, R103252, 16–18.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 13
Pignatti to Ciano, December 12, 1938, n. 152, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 14
Pignatti to Ciano, January 4, 1939, n. 41, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95. In his recent weighty two-volume study, Coco (2019) offers a rich analysis of the dynamics of Mussolini’s relations with Pius XI and Pacelli throughout the years in which Cardinal Pacelli served as secretary of state.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 15
Phillips to FDR, January 5, 1939, FDR Library, psfa 400, p. 102.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 16
Phillips 1952, p. 188. Ciano’s meteoric rise predictably provoked jealousy among his colleagues in the foreign service. As one sniped, “The presence in that high position of an immature and arrogant boy, with his obscene thirst for power, spoiled by unearned honors, and with unlimited impunity, possessing a monstrous power, dominated by likes and hatreds, slave of a morbid impressionability and a morbid boastfulness, represented the clear obliteration of over a half century of tradition, of responsibility and prestige of Italian diplomacy.” Di Rienzo 2018, pp. 161–62.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 17
Phillips to FDR, January 5, 1939, FDR Library, psfa 400, pp. 101–3. The text of Phillips’s memo to the president is also found in FRUS vol. 2, pp. 57–60. On January 26, President Roosevelt wrote back to Phillips: “I have read with a great deal of interest your letter of January 5 and the accompanying memorandum of your conversation with Mussolini concerning the Jewish refugee situation. Although I was naturally disappointed that the Duce was not receptive to my suggestion concerning the settlement of refugees on the East African plateau, I am gratified that he at least appreciates the desirability of finding a real solution of the refugee problem and that he indicated a willingness to be helpful in this connection. I have taken note of his expressed willingness to give sympathetic consideration to a specific plan.” FDR Library, psfa 400, p. 100.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 18
Edda Mussolini 1975, pp. 40–50, 103.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 19
Bottai 1989, p. 141, diary entry for February 4, 1939; Navarra 2004, p. 46; Bosworth 2017, pp. 96–97; Gagliani 2015.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 20
“La situazione religiosa nel Reich,” OR, January 22, 1939, p. 2; “Dopo il discorso del Cancelliere del Reich,” OR, February 3, 1939, p. 1.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 21
Sottosegretario di stato per gli affari esteri to Pignatti, January 22, 1939, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 102; Pignatti to Ciano, January 24, 1939, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 102.
In fact, only a week earlier Pignatti had sent Ciano a long report pointing to the importance of a conclave to elect a new pope, one that, given the parlous condition of the pope’s health, seemed not far off. “I fear,” confided the ambassador, “that there is not much to hope for as long as the current pontificate lasts.” As, he recalled, he had told the Duce himself, “The Holy Father is tenacious in his ideas and this, his stubbornness, has only been aggravated by his age and by the illness that afflicts him.” But Pignatti remained hopeful. “I am convinced that the next pontificate will differ markedly from the present one.” Pignatti to Ciano, January 14, 1939, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95. For the details of this story, see Kertzer 2014. Tardini’s note is quoted in Coco 2019, p. 1155. The ellipsis is in the original.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 22
The fullest examination of the project for the encyclical, Humani Generis Unitas, is provided by Passelecq and Suchecky 1997. The Vatican archives opened since that book was published, however, offer new insight on the project. See the documents at ASRS, AA.EE.SS., Pio XII, parte 1, Stati Ecclesiastici, posiz. 664 A, B, C. Two other sets of documents on the “hidden encyclical” have not to date been made available to researchers at the Vatican (posiz. 664 D and E).
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 23
Baudrillart 1996, p. 947, diary entry for February 5, 1939; Charles-Roux 1947, p. 242. Word of the pope’s ill health began to spread through Rome, leading the Vatican to put out stories that the pontiff was suffering simply from a minor indisposition. “The Pontiff has a light cold,” read the February 8 headline in Regime Fascista. The front-page story in the next day’s edition of Milan’s Catholic daily offered the reassuring headline “The Pope’s health is fully satisfactory.” “Il Pontefice leggermente raffreddato,” RF, February 8, 1939, p. 2; “Le condizioni di salute del Papa sono pienamente soddisfacenti,” L’Italia, February 9, 1939, p. 1.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 24
Ciano 1980, p. 250, diary entry for February 10, 1939; Cianfarra 1944, p. 20; Bottai 1989, p. 142, diary entry for February 9, 1939.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 25
“In morte del Sommo Pontefice Pio XI,” OR, February 12, 1939, p. 1; “Il Gran Consiglio saluta la memoria del Pontefice,” PI, February 11, 1939, p. 1.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 26
G. Sommi Picenardi, “Il Papa della pace,” RF, February 11, 1939, p. 1.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 27
Such a picture would not be one that Mussolini would like to see in circulation. A note on the back of the original photo in the Vatican archive reads: “This photograph of His Excellency Count Galeazzo Ciano…before the Body of His Holiness Pius XI, in the Sistine Chapel, was withdrawn at the request of His Excellency the Ambassador of Italy, Count Pignatti, who was acting by the order of his Government, and any public dissemination of it was forbidden.” AAV, Segr. Stato, 1939, Stati, posiz. 60, ff. 5rv. Ciano’s telegram (n. 1963) is found at ASDMAE, APSS, b. 45; Ciano 2002, pp. 250–51. Mussolini’s own newspaper, Il Popolo d’Italia, in reporting news of the pope’s death, included a large front-page photograph of Ciano standing alongside Cardinal Pacelli in the Sistine Chapel where the pope’s body lay, with the headline “Representing the Fascist government, Ciano renders homage to the corpse.” “Ciano rende omaggio alla Salma in rappresentanza del governo fascista,” PI, February 11, 1939, p. 1.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 28
Ciano 1980, pp. 251–52, diary entries for February 11 and 12, 1939.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 29
Appunto Tardini, February 15, 1939, AAV, Segr. St., 1939, Stati Ecclesiastici, posiz. 576 PO, fasc. 607, ff. 164rv; Ciano 1980, p. 252; Pacelli to Ciano, February 13, 1939, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95; ASV, AESS, posiz. 576, fasc. 606, ff. 147r–53r. Tardini (AAV, Segr. St., 1939, Stati Ecclesiastici, posiz. 576 PO, fasc. 607, ff. 147r–153r) documented the text of what Pius XI planned to be his speech to the bishops on Feburary 11; Fattorini (2011, pp. 210–15) provides the English text of the pope’s planned remarks. “The speech that the dead Pope was supposed to read to the Italian bishops who had come to Rome for the tenth anniversary of Conciliation,” Pignatti reported to Ciano on the 22nd, “was read and discussed in one of the cardinals’ first meetings. The cardinals unanimously decided not to have it released…. The cardinals took this decision because the contents of Pius XI’s speech seemed too polemical and too strong, and also because it would have tied the hands of the future Pope.” Pignatti to Ciano, February 22, 1939, n. 23, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95. Cardinal Baudrillart’s diary entry of two days later, shortly after he arrived in Rome for the conclave, provides further evidence that Pacelli discussed the matter with the cardinals. Known for his Fascist sympathies, the French cardinal was clearly relieved at the decision to bury the pope’s speech: “Everywhere, here, one keeps repeating how providential it is that Pius XI was not able to give his speech to the Italian bishops. It would have embarrassed his successor. The speech has been printed, but kept secret.” Baudrillart 1996, pp. 968–69, diary entry for February 24, 1939.
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Chapter 2: The Conclave
On the Vatican’s view of Pignatti, see Maglione, Paris, to Segreteria di Stato di Sua Santità, May 9, 1935, ufficio cifra n. 509, AAV, AESI, Segr. Stato, b. 985/658, f. 23r.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 1
Pleased to hear this, the Italian ambassador suggested that it would help their cause if in the coming days the German government did what it could to foster the atmosphere needed to elect a “moderate” pope. The German press, he advised, should begin showing more respect toward the Vatican. Pignatti’s second piece of advice to Bergen focused on the role the sizable group of German cardinals would play at the conclave. If they were to tell their colleagues that reaching an agreement with the German government was impossible, “all will be lost.” Bergen replied that he, too, had heard many expressions of sympathy for Germany in the Vatican in recent days, something that had been notably lacking in the last years of Pius XI’s papacy. Pignatti to Ciano, February 18, 1939, n. 21, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95.
Following their meeting Bergen sent an urgent plea to Berlin: The government should prevent the German press from taking any more “swipes against the person of the late Pope and other individuals in the Curia.” “Indeed,” he added, “calling Pius XI a ‘political adventurer,’ as happened in the ‘Angriff’ [a Nazi newspaper] on the 10th of this month…should be strictly avoided.” Bergen to Weizsäcker, February 18, 1939, tel. 19, PAAA, GRk, R29814, 90.
Meanwhile Pignatti sought the help of the influential superior general of the Jesuit Order, Wladimir Ledóchowski. The two men had regularly commiserated in the past, sharing their alarm at Pius XI’s increasingly hostile attitude toward the Italian Fascist regime. Pignatti’s goal was to interest the Jesuit general in having a helpful word with the German cardinals. He was confident, he later told Ciano, that Ledóchowski would do just that. Pignatti to Ciano, February 21, 1939, nn. 21 and 22, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 2
Pignatti to Ciano, February 26, 1939, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95. Ciano’s copy to the Italian ambassador in Berlin is found at ASDMAE, APSS, b. 63. Among the bits of evidence coming to Mussolini and his entourage giving them confidence about the friendly attitude Pacelli would adopt was a police informant report of March 1. It offered details on a conversation with Cardinal Angelo Dolci, a big booster of Pacelli’s candidacy. Were Pacelli not elected, the cardinal concluded, it would be “a serious error, because Pacelli is such a good person, a good Italian, and is sympathetic to the Regime.” ACS, MCPG, b. 170.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 3
Pignatti to Ciano, February 27, 1939, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 4
Baudrillart 1996, p. 965, diary entry for February 22, 1939; Charles-Roux to Paris, March 1, 1939, MAEN, RSS 576, PO/1, 1031; Charles-Roux 1947, pp. 266, 272.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 5
The report that the Italian ambassador in Lisbon sent on February 27, 1939, to Ciano was then forwarded to Pignatti. Tel. 207233, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 105.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 6
Baudrillart 1996, pp. 973–74, diary entry for March 1, 1939; Papin 1977, pp. 60–61.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 7
Baudrillart 1996, pp. 975–76, diary entry for March 2, 1939; Charles-Roux to Paris, March 2, 1939, MAEN, RSS 576, PO/1, 1031.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 8
Rhodes 1974, pp. 222–23; Baudrillart 1996, p. 732, diary entry for January 17, 1938.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 9
Ventresca 2013, pp. 50–51; Schad 2008, pp. 9, 24–29.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 10
The quote is from the diary of Bella Fromm, a German Jewish journalist. Schad 2008, pp. 42–43. See also Tittmann 2004, pp. 92–93.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 11
Lehnert 2014, pp. 25–26; Cornwell 1999, p. 101.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 12
Sister Pascalina quickly gained an enemy in Pacelli’s younger sister, Elisabetta. When Elisabetta and her brother were young, they had been quite close, and Elisabetta would occasionally accompany Eugenio’s violin with her mandolin. In recent years, while Sister Pascalina had seen Pacelli every day, Pacelli’s sister had rarely gotten to see him. Married to a Vatican functionary, she had never left Rome, and now that he had finally returned, she was not pleased to see that another woman was closer to him. To those who would listen, she shared her view that the nun her brother was so attached to was, as she put it, “authoritarian and very cunning.” Schad 2008, pp. 53, 62–63; Coppa 2013, pp. 21, 40–41.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 13
Charles-Roux 1947, pp. 74–75; Tardini 1961, pp. 51, 60, 66; Carnahan 1949, pp. 19, 30. For a rich description of the great care Pacelli took in preparing his speeches, see Coco 2020. The pope, observes the prominent church historian Emma Fattorini (2007, p. 54), saw in Eugenio Pacelli all that he was not, “tall, solemn, noble, expert command of languages and able preacher, truly a man of the Curia, of exquisite manners.” She provides an excellent, succinct portrait of Pacelli and the complementarity of his relationship with Pius XI.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 14
Pignatti to Ciano, March 2, 1939, n. 32, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 15
Ciano 2002, p. 195, diary entry for March 2, 1939.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 16
“Pace unita alla giustizia,” CS, March 3, 1939, p. 1. Farinacci wrote: “The election of Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli as Supreme Pontiff has been greeted with unanimous pleasure.” The German papers, he claimed, were also singing the new pontiff’s praises. “Il Pontefice Pio dodicesimo,” RF, March 4, 1939, p. 1. Mussolini’s ambassador to the Third Reich happened to be in the office of German state secretary Ernst von Weizsäcker in Berlin when news of the new pope’s election came in. Having read the reports his own ambassador had been sending him from Rome, Weizsäcker showed little surprise. “It is observed here,” wrote Mussolini’s ambassador, “that Cardinal Pacelli is, after all, not only a very fine diplomat, but contrary to what is commonly thought, he is not a man with a particularly large or strong will. Thus, he is not, by nature, prone to taking actions that are too politically extreme.” Weizsäcker would soon get further support for his cautious optimism from the head of the Reich’s Vatican Affairs Department. Following the many years that the new pope had spent in Germany, the department head reported, he could properly be described as a Germanophile, eager to establish friendly relations with the Reich. He added, “Pacelli has always been in favor of good relations with Mussolini and with Fascist Italy.” Attolico to Ciano, March 3, 1939, tel. 207459, ASDMAE, AISS, b. 95; Friedländer 1966, pp. 3–5.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 17
Lehnert 1984, p. 87; Schad 2008, pp. 24–29, 63–65.
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Chapter 3: Appealing to the Führer
Hitler’s “personal message” to the pope, judged Milan’s Catholic daily, contained “expressions that are especially reverent and cordial.” “Il nuovo Pontefice e la situazione religiosa in Germania,” L’Italia, March 12, 1939, p. 1.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 1
Bergen to Foreign Ministry, Berlin, March 5, 1939, PAAA, GPA, Beschränkung der diplomatischen Beziehungen zwischen dem Reich und dem Vatikan auf das Altreich, R261178, 02–20. Also published in DGFP, series D, vol. 4, n. 472.
BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE 2
The pope’s message to Hitler read:
To the illustrious, Herr Adolf Hitler, Führer and Chancellor of the German Reich!
Here at the beginning of our pontificate we wish to assure you that we remain devoted to the spiritual welfare of the German people entrusted to your leadership. We implore God the Almighty to grant them that true felicity which springs from religion.
We recall with great pleasure the many years We spent in Germany as Apostolic Nuncio when We did all in our power to establish harmonious relations between Church and State. Now that the responsibilities of our pastoral function have increased our opportunities, how much more ardently do We pray to reach that goal.
May the prosperity of the German people and their progress in every domain come, with God’s help, to fruition!
As the pope pointed out later to Bergen in emphasizing the importance he gave to this message, he broke with protocol by signing not only the formal Latin note to the Führer but also a German version, which he had prepared himself. Bergen to State Secretary Weizsäcker personally, March 18, 1939, n. 35, PAAA, GBS, R261178, 04.
