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Soc (2014) 51:408414DOI 10.1007/s12115-014-9801-2
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Was Pius XII Hitlers Pope? The Concordat of 1933
John Rodden & John P. Rossi
Published online: 9 July 2014# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract An unfortunate admixture of history-blinding presentist bias, exacerbated by todays sound bite culture, academic overspecialization by scholars and professional historians, and polarizing polemics have led to a consensus regarding the topics of Pius XIIs conduct toward European Jewry during the fascist era. In the wake of the eightieth anniversary of the July 1933 Reichskonkordat between the Vatican and the Third Reich, the moment is timely to revisit the main issues. This essay re-examines the key arguments, introduces overlooked historical evidence, and considers the reports on Pius XII by prewar and wartime contemporaries.
Keywords Pope Pius XII . Cardinal Pacelli . Adolf Hitler . Benito Mussolini . Rolf Hochhuth . Pope Pius V . Queen Elizabeth I . John Oesterreicher . Karl Thieme . Pope Francis . Mit Brennender Sorge . 1933 Reichskonkordat . Pope Pius XI
The Pius War: Back to the Barricades
The 80th anniversary of one of the landmark moments in the recent history of the Catholic Church recently passed without much fanfare: the signing in 1933 of a concordat between the Vatican and Hitlers Nazi regime. What makes this event so significant is that it constitutes the starting point for the bitter accusations regarding the Catholic Churchs alleged failure to condemn the tyrannical, totalitarian Third Reich and, most especially, the Holocaust that flowed from it. Ever since the appearance of Rolf Hochhuths play, The Deputy (1963), the Catholic Church and Pope Pius XII have been excoriated for their silence before the horrors of the Holocaust. Subsequent research by
scholars and journalists, based on interviews with a Romanian spymaster, indicate that Hochhuth may have been the dupe of a clever KGB plot to undermine the influence of the Vatican after World War II.
But the fact of Hochhuths shoddy polemics hasnt shaken the dominant consensus in the secular press that Pius XII is guilty. For the last half century, Hochhuths charge has put the Vatican on the defensive, particularly during the last five years, when a firestorm of international controversy accompanied Pope Benedict XVIs approval in 2009 of the Vaticans Congregation...