The newly discovered letter, written by a German Jesuit to Pope Pius XII’s personal secretary, suggests that the pope knew of Hitler’s atrocities but chose to remain silent.
My impression is that the Church wasn’t of one mind about whether fascism was cool. On the one hand, Mussolini was their bro. On the other, they had decided racism wasn’t cool already sometime before that point.
I think that number might be high, though, Wikipedia suggests hundreds, which is reasonable considering how big a place it is.
Pretty big discovery. Not that it was widely assumed that the pope must’ve known, but having actual black on white proof is very important for the historical record.
Not condoning this at all, but could it be because the Vatican was literally surrounded by Hitlers biggest ally and thought it would be unwise to provoke the Axis?
No reason not to come out with this information afterwards though.
The new pope and Mussolini essentially rose to power together, forming an alliance. The church’s open embrace of the Fascists was critical to the government’s power and to ending the enmity between the church and secular authorities.
The pope was also jaw-dropping antisemitic. Jews did not have many friends in the Catholic Church.
The Vatican embraced the nazis before mussolini did, and the fact that cardinals were directly involved with the rat lines shows it can’t just be about immediate threat. The reichskonkordat doesn’t just precede the pact of iron BTW, it precedes the Stresa front. Mussolini was openly contemptuous and opposed to Hitler when it was signed.
That's generous, some clergy actively participated.
Miroslav Filipović also known as "Brother Satan" was a military chaplain and Franciscan friar. He was expelled from the Franciscan order during the war for his participation, but it didn't stop him wearing the robes, which he even wore to his execution. He was the Chief Guard of Jasenovac concentration camp, the third largest in Europe, which killed up to 100k people. It was run by the Ustaše who were very involved with the Franciscans. There were forced conversions too in the camp, even if the local Bishop didn't approve and actively had participating priests arrested. Even the Nazis thought Jasenovac was too cruel.
The Pope later gave the Ustaše leader protection at the Vatican and helped him to flee to Argentina. He knew. They all knew. The Vatican was even sued in California for it and the looted gold the Ustaše took to the Vatican is probably still there too.
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