Il Duce urged opposition to Hitler
ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Even as he was forming an alliance with Adolf Hitler, former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was urging the Vatican to step up opposition to the German ruler and even excommunicate him, secret Vatican archives have shown.
"It's absolutely amazing since it seems to fly in the face of facts, but the proof is there in the archives," Emma Fattorini, a professor at Rome's Sapienza university, told Reuters on Friday.
Fattorini, a historian who has been studying the Vatican's archives on relations with pre-war Germany since they were opened to scholars in February, said the documents show Mussolini was playing a "double game."
Although in his adult life Hitler was not a practicing Catholic and was critical of the religion, he had been baptized a Catholic by his mother.
In April of 1938, Mussolini told Holy See representative Pietro Tacchi Venturi the Vatican should adopt harsher measures against Hitler such as excommunication, according to Venturi's own account of their talks.
Venturi reported to Pope Pius XI after the meeting with Mussolini and his account was written down and recorded in the Vatican archives.
"The head of the government told P. Tacchi Venturi in a private meeting that with Hitler it would be advisable to be more energetic, without half measures; not now, not immediately, but waiting for the best time to adopt these more energetic measures, for example excommunication," the record says.
Fattorini said Mussolini was apparently trying to take advantage of Pope Pius XI's antipathy to Hitler to have his too-powerful ally reined in a bit.
"He wanted the Holy See to put Hitler off, to rein him in," she said. "He was saying 'seeing that you're already angry, why don't you use the tools you have and do something about it'."
By October 1936, Mussolini was already talking about a Rome-Berlin axis but in March 1938, Hitler annexed Austria and became an obvious threat to Italian security -- especially in Italy's German-speaking northern region.
Mussolini signed a military alliance with Germany in 1939 and joined the war a year later. But when the tide turned in Europe, Mussolini was dismissed and Italy fell temporarily into the hands of occupying German troops.
It is not clear if the Church ever seriously considered excommunicating Hitler, especially as Pope Pius XI died in 1939 and his successor, Pius XII, took a much more cautious approach to relations with Hitler.
The Vatican archives relating to pre-war Germany were opened ahead of schedule in a bid to counter charges that the Vatican did not do enough to prevent the Holocaust. But questions will likely remain until the files from 1939 and on are opened.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe...eut/index.html
ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Even as he was forming an alliance with Adolf Hitler, former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was urging the Vatican to step up opposition to the German ruler and even excommunicate him, secret Vatican archives have shown.
"It's absolutely amazing since it seems to fly in the face of facts, but the proof is there in the archives," Emma Fattorini, a professor at Rome's Sapienza university, told Reuters on Friday.
Fattorini, a historian who has been studying the Vatican's archives on relations with pre-war Germany since they were opened to scholars in February, said the documents show Mussolini was playing a "double game."
Although in his adult life Hitler was not a practicing Catholic and was critical of the religion, he had been baptized a Catholic by his mother.
In April of 1938, Mussolini told Holy See representative Pietro Tacchi Venturi the Vatican should adopt harsher measures against Hitler such as excommunication, according to Venturi's own account of their talks.
Venturi reported to Pope Pius XI after the meeting with Mussolini and his account was written down and recorded in the Vatican archives.
"The head of the government told P. Tacchi Venturi in a private meeting that with Hitler it would be advisable to be more energetic, without half measures; not now, not immediately, but waiting for the best time to adopt these more energetic measures, for example excommunication," the record says.
Fattorini said Mussolini was apparently trying to take advantage of Pope Pius XI's antipathy to Hitler to have his too-powerful ally reined in a bit.
"He wanted the Holy See to put Hitler off, to rein him in," she said. "He was saying 'seeing that you're already angry, why don't you use the tools you have and do something about it'."
By October 1936, Mussolini was already talking about a Rome-Berlin axis but in March 1938, Hitler annexed Austria and became an obvious threat to Italian security -- especially in Italy's German-speaking northern region.
Mussolini signed a military alliance with Germany in 1939 and joined the war a year later. But when the tide turned in Europe, Mussolini was dismissed and Italy fell temporarily into the hands of occupying German troops.
It is not clear if the Church ever seriously considered excommunicating Hitler, especially as Pope Pius XI died in 1939 and his successor, Pius XII, took a much more cautious approach to relations with Hitler.
The Vatican archives relating to pre-war Germany were opened ahead of schedule in a bid to counter charges that the Vatican did not do enough to prevent the Holocaust. But questions will likely remain until the files from 1939 and on are opened.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe...eut/index.html
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