Hitler's Pope?

Dateline: November 17, 1999

Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, by John Cornwell. (1999 Viking/Penguin Group). Reviewed by Jim Baysinger.

Personality

The quirks in his behavior manifested themselves in numerous ways. Three of his basic personality traits were his love of form over substance and function, his egotism, and a sort of thinly concealed misanthropism.[1] It is easy to see how these three basic character traits combined to make Pius XII the kind of man who could gaze silently from his high eyrie upon the calculated slaughter of millions of people.

Cornwell reveals that Pius XII valued form over function, and this is clearly shown in his love for ritual as contrasted with his often less-than-saintly behavior. An outstanding example of this trait was his negotiation of the Reich Concordat treaty with Hitler, a diplomatic instrument designed to formally ensure the Catholic Church's position in Germany and strengthen Vatican control over the German congregations. In reality, however, it had the opposite effect in both regards, with both the German Church and the Pope's prestige being greatly weakened.

It is this tragic miscalculation - creating a less diverse and weakened Catholic voice in Germany in exchange for more direct papal control over what Catholic expression there was - which ultimately forms the cornerstone of Cornwell's critique. Had Pacelli acquiesced to less papal authority and thus allowed for greater local Catholic autonomy, things might have turned out very differently.

Attitudes

As Pius XII, he was in the habit of blessing the world's inhabitants in formal declarations while at other times making it clear that he considered the bulk of its population, including dissident Catholics, to be ultimately damned to hell. It didn't matter if you hated Pacelli's guts, or vice versa, as long as appearances were maintained.

His preference for form over substance is perhaps more understandable in light of the fact that he was trained to be a curial lawyer and was never actually a parish priest. Indeed, one of his most enduring legacies to the modern Church was his crucial role in drafting the Code of Canon Law (adopted in 1917) which confirmed the absolutist nature of the papacy and has effects to this very day.

Ego

Pacelli's ego was a grandiose monstrosity that required frequent feeding from lavish public and petty private displays of power. Although Pacelli's outward goal was the promotion of the papacy's primacy in all matters, Cornwell makes it plain that he was at least as dedicated to his own self-aggrandizement. Seldom since the Medici popes has a more self-involved Machiavellite ever sat on the chair of St. Peter. As the new Pius XII, he staged one of the most munificent coronations ever seen in Rome, rivaling even the greatest triumphs of the Roman emperors. He did not accept consultation from anyone, made all decisions by himself in solitude, and watched like a hawk that every form of protocol relating to his own exalted status was scrupulously observed even before he became a cardinal, much less the Pope.

Cornwell shows that Pius XI was "scandalized" upon hearing of archbishop Pacelli's extravagant travel arrangements when he left Italy for Germany in 1917, and the "impression of beady-eyed alertness to appropriate levels of deference" that Pacelli conveyed in a letter he wrote back to Italy that year.

Misanthropism

Pacelli's barely disguised misanthropism is revealed in the pages of "Hitler's Pope." His conviction that everyone but a relatively small group of sycophantic Catholics were doomed to perdition is an obvious example, but even his private habits demonstrated a basic dislike of other human beings. He had few personal friends throughout his life, and as Pope no one could be counted as his intimate or confidant.

His domineering housekeeper, the somewhat sinister nun Pasqualina, regularly doused Pacelli's handkerchief and hands with an antiseptic to prevent contamination from physical contact with other humans. The Vatican gardeners were even required to hide in the bushes if the Pope approached them during his solitary walks. He seemed to only feel comfortable around people in carefully structured settings where strict protocols governed everyone's behavior and prevented any sort of intimacy or familiarity, as well as guaranteed the observance of Pacelli's own exalted status.

Authority

When Pacelli was appointed papal nuncio to Germany in 1917, he developed a liking for some of the more unsavory aspects of contemporary German Kultur, like worship of authority, particularly hereditary authority, and flaming anti-Semitism. Although these traits appear to have been ingrained in his character before he ever went to Germany, he found much positive reinforcement for them there, particularly in Catholic Bavaria. For example, Pacelli's anti-Semitism was originally theological, based on the Catholic Church's traditional idea of the Jews as Christ-killers; but Cornwell insinuates that he evidently absorbed some racist anti-Semitism from his Aryan hosts.

From his time aiding in the formulation of the new Code of Canon Law onwards, Pacelli devoted himself to upholding the authority of the Pope over that of the local bishops, and over the local congregations' prerogative to choose those bishops. It had long been a tradition for bishops to be locally chosen in Germany, but Pacelli helped put a stop to all that anti-papal democratic nonsense, and even engineered the appointment of bishops who were openly made unwelcome by their flocks - bishops who were, unsurprisingly, more in favor of strict papal supremacy than the congregations' own candidates.

But it was later, as Cardinal Secretary of State in the Vatican, that Pacelli began to deal with the devil in earnest. In pursuance of his goal to reinforce Papal authority over every affair, large and small, within the Church, he helped destroy one of the major opposition groups to Hitler's rise to chancellor of Germany, the German Catholic Center Party, and then proceeded to dicker with Hitler himself over the Pacelli-written Reich Concordat.

Seeing the Catholic Center Party as an independent force outside the Pope's control and an obstacle to his precious Concordat, Pacelli cheerfully helped destroy it, paving the way for Hitler's ascent. It wasn't that he disagreed with the party's policies or with their opposition to Hitler - it was simply that he couldn't deal with a Catholic force not ultimately under Vatican control, regardless of how much good they might be doing.

In spite of his personal distaste for Hitler, he found dealing with a psychopathic dictator more palatable than risking anything like seeking a democratic consensus. Hitler himself, outdoing Pacelli by several degrees in cynical opportunism, was enthusiastic about the elimination of one of the most powerful forces opposing him in Germany and liked the idea of dealing with the Catholics through the Vatican, distant and quasi-alienated from its German constituency. The result of the Pacelli-Hitler machinations was not just the dissolution of the Center Party, the strongest organized opposition to Hitler at the time, but also the virtual banning of all organized Catholic activity in Germany, as well as the open persecution of priests and prominent laity,including mob actions, beatings and murders.

Despite his mild misgivings about the oppression of fellow church members in Germany, Pacelli felt that Catholic interests in general were better served by a centralized Church bureaucracy, over which he was gradually gaining more authority as Pope Pius XI's health failed and his grip on affairs loosened. Pacelli could well have been hopeful of his own accession to a papacy which he himself was building up in doctrinal and diplomatic control. Ironically, however, his successes at consolidating papal power and negotiating the Reich Concordat ultimately undermined the papacy's influence and prestige, a process that quickened and deepened during his own reign.

Needless to say, the persecutions of the Jews under Hitler's fledgling regime were passed over in silence by Cardinal Pacelli, despite pleas from Jews and non-Jews alike for his intervention. "The Jews can look after themselves," a direct quote, became Pacelli's motto even before the war, and remained so throughout it even as the Jewish body count ran into the millions.