Zenit news article today.

This article appeared on Zenit today. My comments appear in the text.


Archives Show Church Excommunicated Nazis


Foundation Continues Restoring Reputation of Pius XII


NEW YORK, APRIL 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- An interreligious group trying to discover the facts regarding Pope Pius XII and his efforts to help Jews during World War II has announced the discovery of documents showing how the Church excommunicated Catholics who joined the Nazis.


The New-York based Pave the Way Foundation said that its representative Michael Hesemann found a large series of documents from 1930 to 1933. I presume the reference applies to Archivo Segreto Vaticano which have been opened since 2003.  There are several works which have used the files of these archives. Notable among them are Gerhard Besier (2007) "The Holy See and Hitler's Germany" and Giovanni Sale (2004) "Hitler, la Santa Sede e gli Ebrei".  Neither of them make any references to excommunications.


The documents indicate that any Catholic who joined the Nazi party, wore the uniform or flew the swastika flag would no longer be able to receive the sacraments. There is nothing new here.  The German bishops published a series of statements between 1930-1932 issuing various condemnations of National Socialism.  Within the first months of Nazi rule every episcopal restriction was lifted.


This policy set three years before Hitler was elected chancellor made clear that the teachings of the Church were incompatible with Nazi ideology. Again, nothing new in this. 


“The documents clearly show an ideological war between the Catholic Church and National Socialism already in the pre-war decade," Hesemann explained. "The German bishops and the Roman Curia considered the Nazi doctrine not only as incompatible with the Christian faith, but also as hostile to the Church and dangerous to human morals, even more than Communism."


Among the documents is a handwritten letter from a leading member of the Nazis, Hermann Goering, requesting a meeting with Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pius XII), which was flatly refused.  This has been known by historians since the opening of the archives.  What is its relevance to excommunication?  BTW - Goering was not a Catholic.


There are also documents asking for a removal of the excommunication, which was also denied.  Evidence is needed.  What excommunication is being dealt with here?  What are the archival references for this?


Gary Krupp, president of Pave the Way, characterized these documents as "very significant."


"Michael Hesemann has been diligent in researching the open archives and has been discovering new important documents with every visit," he said. "His research tells a very different story of Eugenio Pacelli or Pope Pius XII than is commonly known."  I am not convinced by the credentials of Michael Hesemann whose area of research tends towards UFOs and relics.  Hesemann has not, to the best of my knowledge, presented any published work on this or any related areas.


When asked why this information is not currently known by many historians, Pave the Way chairman Elliot Hershberg noted that "according to the archives sign-in sheets, most of these historians and scholars have simply not come to the open archives to research 65% of Pacelli’s ministry.”  Who are "most of these historians"?  Perhaps one reason lies in the simple fact that the ASV will email documents on request.  I did all my research work on the Germany files via email and found the ASV to be amongst the most reliable and prompt of any archive I consulted.  I find Mr Hershberg's comment rather strange.

The Zenit article really tells us nothing we have not already known, and known for years.  The German bishops issued several statements proclaiming Catholicism and Nazism incompatible, but the support for Hitler crossed denominational lines.  Catholics were proportionally represented across all Nazi organisations including the Party, SA, SS and the Nazi organisations for the professions.


Apart from the reference to Pacelli refusing a meeting with Goering, what has this to do with him?  He was Secretary of State from 1930 and 1939 and so privy to all the news from Germany.  Unfortunately, this article creates a false impression.


Any suggestion that mainstream historians have ignored relevant material is risible.