Popes Pius XI and Pius XII Respond to Nazism: From Confrontation to Conciliation

Pope Pius XI has long been depicted as a mentor as well as precursor to Eugenio Pacelli, who served as his Secretary of State and followed him to become Pope Pius XII. It is true that both favored concordats and have been described as popes who coddled the dictatorial regimes of Mussolini, Hitler and Franco. A few historians, noting their different responses to Nazism, challenged this widely accepted interpretation. Early-on, I joined this minority, and produced a series of articles on Pope Pius XI’s “secret encyclical” against anti-Semitism, shelved by his successor. Peter Kent, author of the 1988 article “A Tale of Two Popes: Pius XI, Pius XII and the Rome-Berlin Axis” (Journal of Contemporary History 23:4), focused on the differences between the two men, to be followed by Emma Fattorini, author of Pio XI, Hitler e Mussolini. La solitudine di un papa (2007).  Although their stance was initially resisted, the opening of the papers of Pius XI in the Vatican Secret Archives and this year’s publication of Volume I of the I "Fogli di Udienza" del Cardinale Eugenio Pacelli Segretario di Stato (The Pages or Records of the Audiences of Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli Secretary of State, 1930) confirms the minority position explored in this presentation.