Pope Pius XI (1922–39) and Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli (Pope Pius XII, 1939–58) between Morality and Diplomacy

The newly available sources opened by the Holy See in 2003/2006 challenge the traditional view of the relationship between Pope Pius XI and his secretaries of state, Pietro Cardinal Gasparri (1922-1930) and Eugenio Pacelli (1930-1939). Traditional historiography describes Gasparri as a close collaborator of Pope Pius XI, who implemented without argument the pope’s policies towards Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany. This school maintains that when Gasparri resigned, a distraught pope called upon Gasparri’s protégé, Pacelli. Historians who subscribe to this interpretation cannot explain why Pacelli constantly attempted to restrain the pope’s confrontational course; why Pius XI kept Humani Generis Unitas a secret from Pacelli; why Pacelli signed a secret agreement with Fascist Italy that opposed the pope’s policies; or why Pacelli as pope chose to shelve Humani Generis Unitas arguing against racism and antisemitism specifically. The recently opened archives reveal the role of Gasparri in proposing the conciliatory policy that Pacelli would adopt, thus clashing with Pope Pius XI’s position and allowing historians to reinterpret the relationship between the confrontational course of Pope Pius XI and the conciliatory one originated by Gasparri and practiced by Pacelli.