The Pope and Mussolini (85 page)

6.
“La questione giudaica e il sionismo,” CC 1937 II, pp. 418–31.

7.
CC 1938 I, p. 460. The next month
La Civiltà cattolica
renewed its warning of the Jewish drive for world domination. It contrasted good early Judaism, which had given rise to Christianity, with current Judaism, “in reality a profoundly corrupt religion.” It informed its readers that “the fatal mania for financial and political world domination … is the true and deep cause that makes Judaism a fount of disorder and a permanent danger to the world.” Defensive action was necessary. The best path would be to follow the popes’ traditional blend of charity with “prudence and opportune measures, that is, a form of segregation appropriate to our times.” The next month the journal reminded its readers that “the Jews have brought on themselves in every time, and still today, people’s just aversion with their all too frequent abuses of power and with their hatred toward Christ himself, his religion, and his Catholic Church.” “La ‘teoria moderna delle razze’ impugnata da un acattolico,” CC 1938 III, pp. 62–71, quote on p. 68.

8.
Monsignor Orlandi’s article, “L’invasione ebraica anche in Italia” (
L’Amico del Clero
, vol. 20, no. 3, 1938), is quoted extensively in Miccoli 1988, p. 866.

9.
Mario Barbera, “La questione dei giudei in Ungheria,” CC 1938 III, pp. 146–53. On April 12, 1938, the papal nuncio in Budapest sent Pacelli a report on the new laws, which set quotas for Jewish participation in the professions, in finance, and in business. Concerned, he noted that the new law treated as Jews all those Jewish converts to Catholicism who had been baptized after 1919, along with their children who had been baptized at birth. The University Student Association, to which most Catholic university students in Hungary belonged, had added a clause to its bylaws stating that it “does not view as unconditionally Hungarian the baptized Jew and his descendants.” In early May, Cardinal Pacelli replied to the nuncio, sharing his concern: “The overly general judgment that they would like to give to the insincerity of the conversions from Judaism to Christianity that have taken place since 1919 seems strange and arbitrary and in contrast with the spirit of generosity of the Hungarian people.” Pacelli concluded, “In particular, it is to be hoped that, while protecting the just interests of the Magyar nation, this Government does not stoop to measures of excessive severity against the Jews and that the Hungarian Catholics in these circumstances show reasonable moderation in this work.” ASV, AESU, b. 77, fasc. 57, ff. 6r–9v, Angelo Rotta, nunzio, a Pacelli, Budapest, 12 aprile 1938; ibid., ff. 10r–10v, Pacelli a Rotta, 8 maggio 1938.

10.
Maiocchi 2003; Bottai 2001, p. 125; Gillette 2001, 2002a, 2002b.

11.
At a diplomatic dinner on July 18, Bottai (2001, p. 125) raised the subject of the manifesto with Mussolini, who explained with great emotion, “I’ve had enough of hearing people saying that a race that has given the world Dante, Machiavelli, Raffaello, Michelangelo is of African origin.”

12.
Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, pp. 218–19. Mussolini’s foremost French biographer portrayed Sarfatti as the single most important influence in his postwar conversion to the idea of championing a nationalist revolution led by young war veterans. When he first became prime minister, she helped convince him he could be Italy’s new Caesar. Milza 2000, pp. 257, 354. On Sarfatti’s influence on Mussolini, see also Urso 2003.

13.
Festorazzi 2010, p. 96; Navarra 2004, p. 68.

14.
Ludwig 1933, pp. 69–70. But following Mussolini’s September 1937 visit to Germany and his tightening alliance with the Führer, Italian Jews began to worry that he might try to imitate Hitler’s anti-Semitic campaign. Ciano, receiving agitated requests from Italian Jews, noted that the Germans had never raised the issue with him. “Nor do I believe that it would be in our interest to unleash an anti-Semitic campaign in Italy. The problem does not exist here. They are few and, apart from some exceptions, good.” Ciano 2002, p. 32. As late as February 1938, Mussolini wrote a note for the Italian foreign ministry denying that the government was planning an anti-Semitic campaign. DDI, series 8, vol. 8, n. 162, “Nota n. 14 dell’informazione diplomatica,” 16 febbraio 1938.

15.
Grandi 1985, pp. 443–44. But Rauscher (2004, p. 225) asserts that during Mussolini’s 1937 visit to Germany, he let Hitler know he would soon be introducing anti-Semitic measures in Italy.

16.
Many works discuss the question of how Mussolini’s 1938 anti-Semitic campaign came about. Fabre (2005) argues that Mussolini was always anti-Semitic. But De Felice (1981, pp. 312–13) maintains that he never really was an anti-Semite; only with the Ethiopian war did he become convinced that an international Jewish conspiracy was organizing against him, whereupon he began down the path of a “political” anti-Semitism. For other perspectives, see Israel 2010, pp. 159–70; Matard Bonucci 2008; and Vivarelli 2009, p. 748.

17.
CC 1938 III, pp. 275–78.

18.
The
Civiltà Cattolica
writer was Father Angelo Brucculeri. Among the other Catholic publications republishing Bruccleri’s praise of the new racial policy was
La Settimana religiosa
, the diocesan weekly of Venice. Perin 2011, pp. 200–1.

19.
“Il fascismo e i problemi della razza,” OR, 16 luglio 1938, p. 2. On the Brucculeri article, see Miccoli 1988, p. 871. Manzini was the editor of
L’Osservatore romano
from 1960 to 1978; De Cesaris 2010, p. 139. The Roman Catholic Church’s embrace of anti-Semitism is heatedly debated. Many seek to draw a sharp line between the Church’s religiously based “anti-Judaism” and the racially based “anti-Semitism” that led to the Holocaust; I deal with this debate in Kertzer 2001.
La Civiltà cattolica
and the rest of the Italian Catholic press in these years commonly referred to Jews as a “race.” Typically, in a pastoral letter for Easter 1938, the patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Adeodato Piazza, branded the Jews as a “race” collectively responsible for having murdered Jesus. Condemned to wander the earth, he claimed, they were “implicated in the shadiest sects, from masonry to Bolshevism.” Quoted in Perin 2011, pp. 216–17.

20.
A government wiretap picked up the call. ACS, MCPG, b. 166, wiretap n. 5102, Roma, 14 luglio 1938. The conversation was in German.

21.
Examples of German press enthusiasm for the new Italian racial campaign, reported to the Italian Holy See desk, can found at ASMAE, AISS, b. 102, “Servizio speciale,” Monaco, 15 luglio 1938.

22.
ACS, MCPG, b. 151, ministro di cultura popolare a Mussolini, 19 luglio 1938.

23.
Curiously, in 1933 the interviewer Emil Ludwig, upon seeing Mussolini close up, thought of the resemblance he bore to Borgia: “Now he sat facing me across a table. The condottiere Cesare Borgia, whom I had once portrayed in a Roman palace, the hero of the Romagna, seems to have been resurrected, though he wore a dark lounge suit and a black necktie.” Ludwig 1933, p. 23.

24.
The pope’s instructions were conveyed to Borgongini through Pacelli. The Borgia pope had previously been the subject of vigorous Vatican attempts at censorship. In 1934 the pope learned that the play
Caterina Sforza
, which portrayed Alexander VI in all his corruption, was to open in Rome in April. He dispatched Tacchi Venturi to stop it. The government had the playwright entirely cut the first scene and radically cut another that was deemed offensive to the Church. ASV, AESI, pos. 855, fasc. 549, ff. 4r–24r.

25.
ASV, ANI, pos. 47, fasc. 2, ff. 124r–129r.

26.
Ibid., ff. 132r–134r, Tacchi Venturi a Tardini, 15 giugno 1938.

27.
Pacelli’s letter, sent to Borgongini, expressed his pleasure at receipt of such good news.
   ASV, ANI, pos. 47, fasc. 2, ff. 135r–136r, Pacelli a Borgongini, 22 giugno 1938. Catholic Action continued to play a major role in alerting police to books, magazines, plays, and films that the Church deemed objectionable. The national organization sent the diocesan morality secretariats detailed instructions on how to operate a network of informants, to ensure that no offensive work escaped police attention. ASV, AESI, pos. 773, fasc. 356, ff. 104r–115r. As for the publisher Rizzoli, he would survive and go on to create a publishing and bookstore empire—and in the postwar years would again run afoul of the Vatican. In 1960 he produced a film,
La Dolce Vita
, directed by Federico Fellini, that would be condemned by
L’Osservatore romano
and initially censored in Italy.

28.
NARA, M1423, reel 1, n. 991, William Phillips to U.S. secretary of state, Washington, “Physical Fitness Tests for High Fascist Party Officials,” July 7, 1938.

29.
Petacci 2010, pp. 131, 370.

30.
In particular, Pacelli told Pignatti, nothing should be done to prevent a marriage between a Catholic convert from Judaism and another Catholic. Pacelli had reason to worry, because the 1935 Nuremberg Laws had instituted just such a measure in Germany. Pacelli quoted the language of the concordat, which specified that Church marriages were to be regarded as civilly valid, and he reminded Ciano that “Canon Law recognizes as valid marriage between baptized individuals (Canon 1012) regardless of any other consideration.” ASMAE, AISS, b. 102, Pignatti al ministro degli affari esteri, 20 luglio 1938.

31.
ASMAE, APSS, b. 40, Pignatti, “Notizie sulla salute del Pontefice,” telespresso n. 1818/678, 11 luglio 1938. Pucci based his description of the pope’s health on his conversation with Father Gemelli, who had recently visited the pope.

32.
DDI, series 8, vol. 9, n. 336, Pignatti a Ciano, 26 luglio 1938.

33.
Ibid., n. 337, Pignatti a Ciano, 26 luglio 1938.

34.
“La parola del Sommo Pontefice Pio XI agli alunni del Collegio di Propaganda Fide,” OR, 20 luglio 1938, p. 1, republished in CC 1938 III, pp. 371–76.

35.
ASV, AESI, pos. 1054, fasc. 732, f. 19r.

36.
Ciano 2002, p. 113 (July 30, 1938). Borgongini told Italy’s ambassador to the Holy See that the Church had always discouraged interracial marriages, recognizing that the “crossbreeds” who resulted “combine the defects of both races.” As for the anti-Semitic campaign, what upset the pope was not the prospect of government action against the Jews but that Italy might follow Germany in treating Catholic converts as if they were Jews. Pignatti made no direct response, simply reassuring the nuncio that the Italian racial campaign would be different from the Nazis’. ASV, AESI, pos. 1054, fasc. 728, ff. 46r–48r, Borgongini a Pacelli, 2 agosto 1938. The next day Borgongini recounted the conversation directly to the pope.

37.
ASMAE, AISS, b. 115, Pignatti a Ciano, 31 luglio 1938.

38.
Quoted in Papin 1977, p. 62.

39.
“In recent memory,” Ledóchowski noted, “there was no case of a pope who had lost his reason.” ASMAE, Gab. b. 1186, Pignatti a Ciano, 5 agosto 1938.

40.
Ibid.

CHAPTER 23: THE SECRET DEAL

1.
CC 1938 III, pp. 377–78.

2.
ASV, AESI, pos. 1007c, fasc. 695, ff. 70r–75r, “Progetto di una lettera del S. Padre a Mussolini circa Ebrei e Azione Cattolica,” agosto 1938.

3.
Eager to placate Pignatti, Pacelli told him that the pope had just sent Tacchi Venturi with a message for Mussolini. While it lamented the recent violence against Catholic Action, it did so respectfully, with “expressions of great admiration and deference for the Duce.” ASMAE, AISS, b. 102, Pignatti a Ciano, 6 agosto 1938.

4.
From Pignatti’s August 8, 1938 report, quoted by Casella 2010, pp. 268–69.

5.
The piece quotes Mussolini justifying the anti-Semitic campaign at length, including his remarks that “to say that Fascism has imitated someone or something else is simply absurd.… No one can doubt that the time is ripe for Italian racism.” The journal offered no comment on the Duce’s remarks. CC 1938 III, pp. 376–78.

6.
The Jesuits worked best, advised Pignatti, when they were able “to exercise that secret action of which they are masters.” ASMAE, AISS, b. 102, Pignatti a Ciano, 7 agosto 1938.