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The Pope's Last Crusade

Page 24

by Peter Eisner


  15 “What a curious sensation . . .” LaFarge to Margaret, May 3, 1938, LaFarge Papers, GUL, 38-3.

  16 “I suppose he exploded!” Ibid.

  16 “Just as I had anticipated” Ibid.

  16 He was haunted LaFarge, “Europe Revisited,” 215.

  17 “Britain has written off . . .” Robert F. Post, “British Bid Czechs to Give Nazis More,” NYT, May 3, 1938, 13.

  17 “If Great Britain . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 255.

  18 “If I send . . .” LaFarge to Talbot, May 17, 1938, GUL, 21-2.

  Chapter Two: A “Crooked Cross”

  19 “Sad things appear . . .” Carlo Confalonieri, Pius XI, A Close-Up (Altadena, CA: The Benzinger Sisters Publishers, 1975), 303.

  20 The Great War, as World War I was known Arnaldo Cortesi, “Pope Pius Avoids Meeting Hitler,” NYT, April 30, 1938, 31.

  20 The newspaper reported facetiously Confalonieri, Pius XI, 303.

  22 A New York Times reporter said “Pope Canonizes Three Saints,” NYT, April 18, 1938, 1.

  23 “Despite his eighty years . . .” Ibid.

  23 Cardinal Carlo Salotti told him The passage about the pope’s medical treatment comes from Thomas B. Morgan, A Reporter at the Papal Court (New York: Longman, 1937), 287–292.

  24 Milani, a respected physician E-mail correspondence with Alfredo Serangeli, director Archivio Storico “Innocenzo III,” Segni, Italy, February 5, 2012.

  24 The pope’s American Morgan, Reporter at the Papal Court, 288–289.

  24 “we cannot look upon . . .” Confalonieri, Pius XI, xv.

  25 The pope had clashed Frank J. Coppa, “The Papal Response to Nazi and Fascist Anti-Semitism: From Pius XI to Pius XII,” in Jews in Italy under Fascist and Nazi Rule, 1922–1945, ed. Joshua D. Zimmerman (London: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 265–286.

  25 Vatican commentaries . . . censured Nazi regulations Ibid.

  26 The encyclical, With Deep Anxiety Nazism, http://www.vatican.va.

  26 He vowed retaliation Otto Pies, The Victory of Father Karl (London: Victor Gollancz, 1957), 39–40, cited in Joseph M. Malham, By Fire into Light: Four Catholic Martyrs of the Nazi Camps (Brussels: Peeters Publishers, 2002), 160.

  26 “Our brothers were . . .” Arnaldo Cortesi, “Pope Foresees Break with Reich and Plans Appeal to the World,” NYT, June 21, 1937, 1.

  27 The pope planned to broaden Fattorini, Hitler, Mussolini and the Vatican, 51.

  27 Mountain climbing involved The pope’s early years, mountain climbing, and descriptions are based on and quoted from Morgan, Reporter at the Papal Court, 57, 81–83, 111–126. For more on the Alps, see Nicholas Shoumatoff and Nina Shoumatoff, The Alps: Europe’s Mountain Heart (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001).

  32 “There are two crosses . . .” Charles R. Gallagher, Vatican Secret Diplomacy: Joseph P. Hurley and Pope Pius XII (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 75.

  33 The world would know Confalonieri, Pius XI, 303.

  34 “You must be Father LaFarge . . .”Draft copy of article prepared for America, July 1938, GUL 38-3.

  34 His opinion was sought after in Paris, GUL, 21-2.

  34 “It is hard to explain . . .” Anne O’Hare McCormick, “A Human Enigma Casts a Long Shadow,” NYT, May 8, 1938.

  Chapter Three: The Imposition of the Reich

  36 “Bleiben Sie Hier, bitte,” LaFarge Papers, GUL, 38-3, and LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, description of trip from Paris until Rome, 253–284.

  37 “One glance out the window . . .” LaFarge undated notes, LaFarge Papers, GUL, 38-3.

  42 Before dawn that Saturday morning, Edward L. James, “Europe Boiling Again, Czech Election Today,” NYT, May 22, 1938, 59.

  43 “We are living through . . .” Ibid.

  43 When Sir Neville Henderson Robert P. Post, “Rebuff to Britain by Reich,” NYT, May 21, 1938, 34.

  43 All this was going on Description of Czech train ride, LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 264.

  43 “Half paralyzed with fear . . .” Ibid.

  44 LaFarge “slept amid maps . . .” Ibid.

  44 But the Nazi newspaper . . . The Associated Press, “Press Issues an Appeal,” NYT, May 22, 1938, 34

  45 “‘The Führer . . . knows . . .’” David Irving, Goebbels—Mastermind of the Third Reich (London: Parforce Ltd, 1996), 457.

  45 “In all this excitement . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 265, and LaFarge letter to Talbot, May 15, 1938, GUL, 21-2.

  46 “IMPOSSIBLE EXAGGERATE . . .” LaFarge cable, May 27, 1938, LaFarge Papers, GUL, 38-3.

  46 “It has been a common . . .” “Nazi Terror Drive Goes on in Vienna,” NYT, May 23, 1938, 1.

  47 Attending the Eucharistic Congress Frederick T. Birchall, “Catholics Worship in Danube Pageant,” NYT, May 28, 1938, 8.

  48 Jesus, he said . . . Moshe Herczl, Christianity and the Holocaust of Hungarian Jewry (New York: New York University Press, 1993).

  48 LaFarge saw Pacelli LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 265–266.

  48 The medieval citadel The hill is named for St. Gellert who set out to convert Hungarians to Catholicism. Hungarians did not prove to be receptive; in the year 1046, pagans hurled him, his carriage and his horses into the Danube from the hill that now carries his name.

  48 The candlelight shimmered LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 266, and Birchall, “Catholics Worship,” May 28, 1938.

  49 “A city and a nation . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 266.

  49 He prayed for peace “The Pope’s Broadcast to Budapest,” The (London) Times, May 30, 1938.

  49 As he spoke those words Reuters in The (London) Times, May 30, 1938.

  Chapter Four: The Pope’s Battle Plan

  50 “The story isn’t told . . .” Anne O’Hare McCormick, “A Human Enigma.”

  51 “to all races and conditions . . .” LaFarge, Interracial Justice, 194.

  52 “Magnificent slogans . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 270–272.

  53 “You know, we were having . . .” Ibid., 270.

  53 “Nothing I had seen . . .” Ibid., 271.

  53 “Mosquitoes have been abolished . . .” Ibid.

  53 Mussolini’s construction projects Borden Painter, Mussolini’s Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 94.

  54 On Wednesday, June 22 “Memo on Conversation with Holy Father, June 25, 1938,” LaFarge Papers, GUL, 38-3.

  54 McCormick had asked Ibid.

  55 McCormick and LaFarge entered “Visit to Castel Gandolfo, June 22, 1938,” LaFarge Papers, GUL, 38-3.

  55 Then two days later “Memo on Conversation with Holy Father, June 25, 1938,” LaFarge Papers, GUL, 38-3.

  56 LaFarge was overwhelmed John LaFarge, “The New Holy Father Will Face Grave Problems,” America, February 25, 1939, 490.

  56 “I was mystified . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 272.

  56 “a sense of wonder . . .” Ibid.

  58 After a while, an attendant An account of the meeting is in LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 272–274; also see Jim Castelli, “Unpublished Encyclical Attacked Racism, Anti-Semitism,” National Catholic Reporter, December 15, 1972, 8; memos June 22, 1938, and June 25, 1938, GUL, 38-3; and memo of LaFarge to Talbot, July 3, 1938, GUL 38-3; Edward S. Stanton Collection, BLBC.

  59 “a natural vigor . . .” LaFarge, “The New Holy Father Will Face Grave Problems,” America, February 25, 1939, Ibid.

  59 LaFarge went further LaFarge, Interracial Justice, 11.

  62 “The Rock of Peter . . .” Memo of LaFarge to Talbot, July 3, 1938, 38-3.

  63 Pius XI envisioned Herbert Matthews, “Papal Summer Home Nearly Completed,” NYT, February 5, 1933, E2.

  64 “Always the twentieth century . . .” Popular Mechanics 56, no. 5 (November 1931): 722–727.

  65 “This is the first . . .” Arnaldo Cortesi, “Pope Speaks to World in Greatest Broadcast,” NYT, February 13, 1931, 1.

  65 The pope’s first words “Latin Text of Pope’s S
peech,” NYT, February 13, 1931, 14.

  65 “Listen all people . . .” “Text of Pope’s Radio Talks,” Washington Post, February 13, 1931, 5.

  65 When he was done The Associated Press, “Pope’s Talk Translated,” NYT, February 13, 1931, 14.

  65 “Listeners in the United States . . .” “150 Stations Carry Program to Nation,” NYT, February 13, 1931, 15.

  66 “Few events in the history . . .” New York Herald, February 13, 1931, http://www.vatican.va/news_services/radio/multimedia/storia_ing.html.

  67 During Hitler’s visit to Rome The Associated Press, “Führer and Duce Political Talks Ended,” NYT, May 7, 1938.

  Chapter Five: The Flying Cardinal

  68 President Roosevelt was keenly interested For a discussion of Phillips as undersecretary of state and of other U.S. diplomats dealing with Germany during the period, see Erik Larson’s In the Garden of the Beasts (New York: Crown Publishers, 2011).

  69 Like so many others For a look at State Department treatment of Jews in the period, see Peter Eisner’s “Bingham’s List: Saving the Jews from Nazi France,” Smithsonian Magazine, March 2009, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Binghams-List.html.

  70 News media had been calling John Cornwell, Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII (New York: Penguin, 2008), 177.

  71 The White House reported “Pacelli Lunches with Roosevelt,” NYT, November 6, 1936.

  71 The president recalled the meeting The FDR anecdote is from Charles R. Gallagher, Vatican Secret Diplomacy: Joseph P. Hurley and Pope Pius XII (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 87.

  72 Two days later “Cardinal Pacelli Departs for Rome,” NYT, November 8, 1936, 1.

  72 Suddenly, Pope Pius XI The Associated Press, “The President’s Speech,” NYT, October 5, 1937.

  72 Even if “the Pope . . .” Owen Chadwick, Britain and the Vatican During the Second World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 17–19.

  72 Eugenio was born in 1876 Cornwell, Hitler’s Pope, 19.

  73 “I am of average height . . .” Ibid.

  73 He began his religious studies Ibid., and Hubert Wolf, Pope and Devil. The Vatican Archives and the Third Reich (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2010), 33–37.

  74 “was a devotee of [Richard] Wagner’s . . .” Unpublished notes of Bishop Joseph P. Hurley Papers, ACDSA.

  76 Pius, who never conducted business on the telephone Chadwick, Britain and the Vatican, 50.

  77 “National Socialism is more menacing . . .” Dorothy Thompson, “On the Record,” Washington Post, February 13, 1939, 9.

  77 “Perhaps your Holiness . . .” Fattorini, Hitler, Mussolini, and the Vatican, 65.

  78 Divinis Redemptoris did criticize See http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/

  documents/hf_pxi_enc_19031937_divini-redemptoris_en.html.

  78 Your Holiness, he told the pope Fattorini, Hitler, Mussolini and the Vatican, 66.

  78 “For not only . . .” Ibid., 69.

  78 “Verify!”. . . . Ibid.

  79 The pope told a French bishop Ibid., 78.

  79 “Jesuits obeyed . . .” Undated notes, Hurley Papers, ACDSA.

  80 “People look to us . . .” LaFarge letter to Talbot, June 8, 1938, GUL, 38-3.

  80 “It was fortunately . . .” LaFarge memo to Talbot, July 3, 1938, GUL, 38-3.

  81 “every government in Europe . . .” Ibid.

  82 “If people get nosey . . .” Unpublished manuscript, 53, Edward Stanton, Stanton Papers, BLBC.

  83 “Remember, you are writing . . .” Hecht, Unordinary Man, quoting Walter Abbott, 120.

  83 “I had a curious sensation . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 273.

  Chapter Six: A Democratic Response

  84 “We had a splendid view . . .” Account of the Paris visit is in LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 277–278.

  85 “Two hours before their arrival . . .” United Press, “Paris Acclaims Royal Visits,” Miami News, July 19, 1938, 1.

  85 “I found my French . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 277–278.

  85 “A forced migration . . .” “U.S. Spurs Nations to Prompt Action at Refugee Parley,” NYT, July 7, 1938, 1.

  86 “such deep sympathy . . .” Quoted in Walter F. Mondale, “Evian and Geneva,” NYT, July 28, 1979, 17.

  86 “It is well not to be . . .” LaFarge letter to Margaret, May 3, 1938, LaFarge Papers, GUL, 38-3.

  87 “suddenly finding a hundred reminders . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 280.

  87 “I was never part . . .” Ibid., 3.

  87 “The background of my boyhood . . .” Ibid., 37.

  88 When LaFarge was quite young, Ibid., 30.

  88 shared “her problems . . .” Ibid.

  88 “I was glad to know . . .” Ibid.

  88 A critical appraisal, The Ascension by LaFarge, NYT, September 27, 1888.

  89 Henry Adams, in his autobiographical Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography (Boston: Mariner Books, 2000; originally published 1918), 161.

  91 The preface had even quoted the pope, LaFarge, Interracial Justice, vi, viii, and xi.

  91 LaFarge added that Ibid., vi.

  91 LaFarge and Gundlach divided Castelli, “Unpublished Encyclical,” 8.

  91 “a certain degree of historical . . .” JLF to Pope Pius XI, October 28, 1938, Stanton Papers, BLBC.

  92 In 1930, Gundlach had Georges Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky, The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1997), 47.

  93 Nevertheless, three years before Ibid., 48–49.

  93 “Every now and then . . .” LaFarge letter handwritten to Talbot, GUL, 32-3.

  93 “You are the one best equipped . . .” Talbot to LaFarge, July 13, 1938. Stanton Papers, BLBC

  94 “As I remember it . . .” Passelecq and Suchecky, Hidden Encyclical, 173–174.

  95 “If we go back to the beginnings . . .” Draft encyclical, Papers of Edward Stanton, BLBC.

  95 “The Mechanistic-Atomistic . . .” Ibid.

  95 “Men of good will should do everything . . .” Ibid.

  96 One Jesuit recounted Passelecq and Suchecky, Hidden Encyclical, 174.

  96 Ledóchowski caused a stir Passelecq and Suchecky, Hidden Encyclical, 61, and Ledóchowski to LaFarge, July 17, 1938, LaFarge papers, GUL.

  97 TALBOT SEVERE WARNING Stanton Papers, BLBC.

  98 The German Foreign Office David Kahn, Hitler’s Spies (New York: DaCapo Press, 2000), 185.

  98 The Vatican also had David Alvarez, Spies in the Vatican (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002), 130–172.

  99 They apparently were Ibid., 156.

  99 By the end of Ibid., 166.

  99 Now suddenly, Passelecq and Suchecky, Hidden Encyclical, 60–61.

  100 “The whole time . . .” Henrich Bacht, quoted in Passelecq and Suchecky, Hidden Encyclical, 57.

  Chapter Seven: In the Heat of the Summer

  101 The pope denounced Frank Coppa, “The Papal Response to Nazi and Fascist Anti-Semitism: From Pius Xi to Pius XII,” in Jews in Italy Under Fascist and Nazi Rule 1922–1925, ed. Joshua D. Zimmerman (London: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 274.

  101 “We should ask ourselves . . .” Giorgio Angelozzi Gariboli, Pius XII Hitler E Mussolini: Il Vaticano Fra Le Dittature (Milano: Mursia, 1988), 81.

  102 “To say that Fascism” Arnaldo Cortesi, “Mussolini Defies Vatican Warning in Racist Dispute,” NYT, July 31, 1938.

  102 “Enemies . . . reptiles,” he complained The Associated Press, “Lover’s Diary: Mussolini Wanted to Destroy Jews,” November 16, 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33973018/ns/world_news-europe/t/lovers-diarymussolini-wanted-destroy-jews/#TtY9VLIr2nA.

  103 Pius, however, could not be Fattorini, Hitler, Mussolini and the Vatican, 160.

  103 “the pope would not retract . . .” Phillips unpublished diary, 2697.

  103 Ambassador Phillips sent a report Phillips, unpublished diary, HLHC,
2675.

  103 Hurley, as the token Hurley’s biography comes from Gallagher, Vatican Secret Diplomacy, esp. 71–92.

  106 “If the Reds would . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 279–280.

  106 LaFarge’s notes Draft copy of article prepared for America, July 1938, GUL, 38-3.

  106 The pope had criticized Franco United Press, “‘Useless massacre of the civil population . . .’ Vatican Paper Joins in Bombing Protests,” NYT, June 10, 1938.

  107 LaFarge grieved LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 281–282.

  107 “I had so hoped to be . . .” Ibid., 282.

  107 “I said Mass for your brother . . .” Talbot to LaFarge, August 8, 1938, GUL, 21-2.

  108 “Some days before his death . . .” Ibid.

  108 Bancel’s “last hours were of great peace . . .” LaFarge, Manner Is Ordinary, 282.

  108 “About other things at home . . .” LaFarge letter to Talbot, GUL, 38-3.

  109 “Contrary to what people believe, . . .” Galeazzo Ciano, Diary, 1937–1943 (New York: Enigma Books, 2002), 117.

  109 “During the Ethiopian War, . . .” “Purge Extension Is Urged in Italy,” NYT, September 3, 1938, 15.

  109 As expected, Mussolini’s decision “Italy Exiles Jews Entering Since ’19,” NYT, September 2, 1938, 1.

  109 “Anti-Semitism is a hateful movement . . .” Susan Zuccotti, Under His Very Windows (New Haven: Yale Nota Bene, 2002), 45.

  110 “The Germans are mistaken in . . .” Gallagher, Vatican Secret Diplomacy, 63, and cf. 241.

  111 At breaks from the writing, LaFarge letter to Bacht, October 22, 1948, LaFarge Papers, GUL.

  111 LaFarge had included Draft encyclical, Stanton Papers, BLBC, 132.

  112 War was a constant theme LaFarge, “The Munich Agreement Demands Further Adjustments,” America, November 5, 1938, 100.

  112 “for a ‘button to be pushed’ . . .” Ibid.

  112 He felt himself to be “exhausted to the very limit . . .” Letter to Bacht, GUL.

  113 Humanis Generis Unitas Draft encyclical, Papers of Edward Stanton, BLBC.

  113 “In one place a magical remedy . . .” Ibid.

  114 “When we come to the question of race . . .” Ibid.

 

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