A study on Papal reactions
Paper delivered at the International Conference
"Pius XII and the Second World War: Assumption and New Archival
Evidence" at the Universitá degli Studi Guglielmo Marconi, Rom, 2. Oktober
2014
One key to understand Pius XII reaction on the holocaust – his hesitation to name
both, murderers and victims, and his dedication to save as many lives as
possible – is the Vatican’s diplomacy during World War I, is Benedict XV (1914-22)
unsuccessful attempt to save the Armenians during the genocide of 1915-18 by an
open protest.
I came to this conclusion after studying about
2000 pages, entitled “persecuzioni contra gli Armeni”, in both, the Archives of
the Apostolic Delegation in Constantinople and the Secretary of State in the
Vatican Secret Archives for an upcoming book
[1], many of them for the first time.
[2]
There is no doubt that Eugenio Pacelli was
extremely well informed about this darkest chapter of World War I.
Since 1914 he was Secretary of the Department of Extraordinary
Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State and became
Undersecretary of State when Benedict XV. named Cardinal Gasparri as Secretary
of State. In this position he had prime access to all information on the
Armenian genocide and indeed we find his characteristic handwriting on several
documents dealing with it. Being responsible for several Papal relief
initiatives during the War, he was rather well-informed about it. In several
cases, the Apostolic Delegate in Constantinople, Msgr. Angelo Dolci,
addressed Pacelli directly in his letters and reports to the Holy See.
Later, when Pope
Benedict XV. appointed Pacelli as Nuncio to Bavaria, Pacelli was involved in a
diplomatic intervention to prevent further massacres after the Russian retreat
from Northeastern Turkey following the Brest-Litovsk treaty.
Indeed, all biographers of Pius XII agree that the wartime
diplomacy of Pope Benedict XV served as a model for Pius XII actions during
WW2, when the “Pope of Peace”
served as his role model,
especially in his stress on the Vatican’s “impartiality”.
But what did Pius XII learn from his experience
with the Armenian genocide?
Read the whole article
HERE
