pius xii was trained as a papal diplomat. he deeply internalized the doctrine that papacy functioned best as a neutral force but can the papacy really be neutral in the face of naziism? six months after his election the nazis invade poland. and world war ii is officially declared in europe. the ni invasion ofoland in september 1939 is catastrophic for cath likes. poll sand is a catholic country. polish catholic likes were dealt with harshly. priests were murdered on the spot. with women raped. the vatican received reports of this. and cries for help. this was a war against religion, against jews, against
in his christmas address broadcast internationally on vatican radio, pope pius xii makes one of his only public statements about the war. in it, he speaks for human rights and against racism. but he fails to mention hitler, the nazis, or the jewish people by name. he made a very generalized statement about the rights of people, that he thought was all he needed to say about the jewish question. the bottom line was even after violence against jews, the decision in rome was we re not going to name the nazis and we re not going to name jews. we re just going to offer universal love and charity. so, it s another opportunity that was missed and a critical one. he worried a lot about the consequence of speaking out. one wonders did he think about the consequences of not speaking out?
despite pius xii s public neutrality. hitler s march towards world domination reaches the pope s doorstep. in september of 1943 hitler invades rome. it was a situation where the pope thought that they had an operating agreement, did not think that was going to happen. but about 2,000 jews were rounded up. the day of the round up, the pope says he doesn t want to have to come out and condemn explicitly nazi behavior. it s obviously a veiled threat to do precisely that. but he says he doesn t want to do it. so the threat of a public condemnation is dangled which tell us in fact that he and his men understand the power be and the value of the pope s words. and repeatedly, consistently even as people are being rounded up, he declines to utter that clear word.
for having given something. part of the deal was that the church was to remain outside of politics. with church opposition out of the way, mussolini s facist government flourishes. the lattern treaty, it s a major step in the consolidation of the dictatorship. mussolini can turn to the population that is largely peace and show he has made piece with the spiritual leader of the church. while mussolini and the church mutually benefit from piece in italy, adolph hitler is elected chancellor of germany and naziism becomes the law of the land. jews were a target almost immediately. january 30th, adolph hitler becomes chancellor of germany, the first anti-jewish law is
in the two years after pope pius xi releases his anti-racism encyclical, the vatican remains publicly silent about hitler s growing facist regime. and on the eve of november 9th, 1938, nazi violence against the jews reaches a fever pitch. crystal nacht was the night of shattered glass. it s the night when the nazis went to the jewish businesses, the synagogues, and smashed everything. 30,000 jewish meant were sent to a concentration camp. it was a very public violent attack on jews. and after that it was game over. bishops from all over europe write to the vatican s secretary