Peter Onesta, Johannesburg
Pope Pius XI, against the advice of then Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, issued the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (With Burning Concern) to be read in all churches, much to Hitler’s anger. The encyclical condemned breaches of the 1933 Reichskonkordat agreement signed between the German Reich and the Holy See.
Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, soon after becoming Pius XII, showed that he was to be very different to his predecessor, which pleased Mussolini and Hitler.
One of Pius XII’s first actions was to re-establish relations with the right-wing Action Française, in response to its leader, Charles Maurras, reversing Pius XI’s ban. Maurras was France’s foremost anti-Semite.
In 1939, Pius had written a “secret encyclical” against racism, which Pius II seized; it was only released by the fine Pope John XXIII.
On 7 April that year, Mussolini invaded Albania. “Not one word from his mouth about this bloody Good Friday,” wrote prominent French Catholic Emmanuel Mourier.
Mussolini was encouraged by the report of the Swiss papal runcis, who said that the atmosphere in the Vatican was like “a breath of fresh air”. The pope spoke with “much sympathy for fascism and with sincere admiration for the Duce”.
It is thus disturbing to hear of an ongoing process for Pius XII’s beatification; he hardly merits it.
