The function of the Vatican and the Order of Jesuits in modern global relations
Chapter 4
Pius XII: Nazi Period
During planet War II and the first decade of postwar Catholic Church policy was shaped by the Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli), elected in 1939. He distinguished himself not only with conservative views, but besides with the ability to adapt his line of action flexibly to the dominant course of planet politics. Hence the terms utilized for Pius XII, specified as “Pangerman’s Pope”, “Hitler’s Pope”, and later “Atlantic Pope”.
In fact, the actions of this Pope reflected the complexity of the game led by the financial and political circles ruling the West in the pre-war years and during planet War II, in which the Vatican was actively involved, acting as a link between the Liberal and authoritarian camp. This period in the past of the Catholic Church remains, however, 1 of the least studied due to the fact that most archival papers related to it are not available: any materials have never been declassified and others, according to the Vatican, have been almost completely destroyed or dispersed in various warehouses as a consequence of Berlin's fires and bombings.[73]
The most crucial event in the relations of the Holy See with fascist and Nazi regimes prior to the war were concordats concluded with Italy and Germany for Pope Pius XI (1922–1939).
The concordat between Italy and the Vatican was signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Gasparri, and Mussolini at the Lateran Palace in February 1929. It consisted of 3 documents, known as the Lateran Treaties, which are valid (with amendments on circumstantial issues) to this day. The Concordat ended the disputes between the Italian State and the Church and yet closed the "Romans issue" by restoring the ecclesiastical state in the territory of the Basilica of St Peter, the papal palaces, Vatican, Lateran, museums and parks. It received its own constitution, flag, coat of arms, armed forces (intended more for show than anything else) and gendarmerie. The Church was granted full freedom and the Catholic religion was recognised as a state religion; state laws were subject to revision and had to comply with the concordat; organizations associated with the Catholic Action and others were recognized. The Treaties were supplemented by a peculiar financial agreement aimed at settling Papacy claims against Italy. According to him, Mussolini paid Pope 1.75 billion Italian lire, or $90 million, as compensation for material harm previously caused to the Vatican by the Italian State (750 million in cash and 1 billion in government bonds). This "financial injection" allowed the Vatican to further strengthen its position in the country's economy and gather immense wealth in a short time.
The Concordate and financial agreements brought considerable benefits to the Church, but even more political capital was won by the secular government, represented by Mussolini, which importantly strengthened its position: in the May 1929 election fascists won a crushing victory. The government made certain that Catholic organizations, although depoliticized, existed only formally and were strictly subordinate to the hierarchy. The church and state in Italy were practically free from conflict until the emergence of Nazi elements in Italian fascism, manifested in racial doctrines and racial laws that profoundly contradicted Christian morality.
One of the main reasons why the Holy See agreed to sign contracts was the urgent request for funds. Previously, the main income came from the collection of Peter's penny (voluntary donations of the faithful) and another donations, allowing the pope to invest in a dynamically developing real property market. For Leon XIII in 1880 was created Administration of the Holy See, and in 1887 added Religion Administration. It managed the finances of spiritual orders, another spiritual organizations, priests and lay persons, and could besides turn them into securities. The Holy See acquired not only Italian but besides abroad government bonds, and in the early 20th century it held a 4th of the shares of the Roman Bank (one of the 4 largest banks in Italy), whose president was Eugenia Pacelli's cousin, Ernesto Pacelli. In the 1920s, shares of the Roman Bank ceased to make crucial income for the Holy See. Therefore, erstwhile Mussolini, during his gathering with Cardinal Gasparri, informed him that if the Holy See stopped supporting the Catholic party, he would invest state resources in the failing bank, the second went to concessions.[74]
The Lateran Treaty started a “new era” in the past of church finances and did not accidentally call Mussolini “the Man of Providence”. To manage funds received under the Treaty in the same year, Special Administration of the Holy Seeheaded by an Italian financier, baptized hebrew Bernardino Nogara (brother of a close friend of the pope, Cardinal Nogary), associate of the chief executive of Italy's most prestigious private bank, Trade Bank. He was later called the “financial genius” of the Church. Nogara, native to northern Italy, was steeped in the spirit of entrepreneurship, which distinguished him from the aristocracy of confederate Italy, whose representatives were the chief financiers of the Church. He was international-oriented, closely linked to German, Swiss and French bankers, and under his direction began the de-romanisation of the finances of the Holy See.[75]
Nogara accepted the position on condition that he would have full control of all the nominations, would not be restricted in his financial transactions by any spiritual or doctrinal considerations, would invest where he considers it appropriate, and would yet have direct access to the Pope. The Pope gave him a individual audience all 10 days.
The beginnings of Nogara's activities coincided with the large Depression, which naturally struck the Church's income. In these circumstances, he developed a fresh investment strategy based on the acquisition of gold, the value of which the Vatican had 100 million lire at the time, and the investment of these funds through company-sluts in construction projects in England, France and Switzerland. In this way he acquired or created large companies, including the Paris Land Union, Private Real property Management Company and others. In 1931, he founded the Luxembourg Financial Association (Croix) holding company in Luxembourg, which offered taxation relief. Through it, all income from the property went to the peculiar Administration, which had a branch in England, besides investing in the property.[76]
Nogara besides acted in financial markets by investing in reliable securities. For example, after selling losing US bonds, he acquired Australian securities. Through the Trade Bank, in which Nogara held shares, Vatican finances were linked to the global financial network from Europe to North and South America.
Finally, Nogara besides invested in Italian manufacture and real estate, taking control of the General Real property Company in Rome, which was not only the largest in Italy, but besides 1 of the largest in the world. erstwhile Mussolini formed a state holding company, the Industrial Reconstruction Institute (IRI), issuing bonds (guaranteed by banks, insurance and mortgage companies) that enabled you to control key industries, Nogara became an IRI consultant. utilizing the crisis of the Italian banks which were yet taken over by the IRI, he listed Vatican shares in these banks as IRI certificates, making crucial profits: the profit he gained from the increase in the capital of the Roman Bank was $632 million.[77]
In the late 1930s, thanks to Nogara's actions, there was virtually no manufacture in Italy that the Vatican would not invest in. He besides owned weapons factories, which possibly partially contributed to the fact that the pope did not condemn the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, which led to the annexation of this country. Notablely, Nogara placed trusted persons from the old aristocracy and related to erstwhile popes or Pius XI on the boards of all companies and banks in which the Vatican had investments. erstwhile Eugenio Pacelli was elected Pope in 1939, his 3 nephews besides joined this elite group, and his brother Francesco became General Counsel of the Vatican State, formed under the Lateran Treaty. In July 1933, the Vatican took another crucial step, concluding a concordat with Germany. Cardinal Eugene Pacelli, then Secretary of State, and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen, on behalf of Germany, signed it. According to the agreement, the Church recognized the Nazi government and guaranteed it the integrity of the Catholic religion and the preservation of the rights and privileges of the faithful in the spiritual sphere. At the same time, the Church was stripped of all political influences, and the Center Party, a Catholic association, and another political and social organizations were to be dissolved. This agreement has contributed to strengthening both the interior position of the government and its credibility in the global community. Hitler regarded them as a immense success of the 3rd Reich's interior and abroad policy, recognizing the Vatican's acceptance of the reigning regime, despite the widespread belief of national socialism's hostility towards the Church, as a affirmative signal. Thanks to the concordat, Catholics were deprived of organizations defending their interests and turned into loyal Nazi subjects Germany, over which the power gained full freedom.
It is widely known that the Nazis planned to make a “national” church completely subordinate to the state. However, this was only to be a transitional stage, due to the fact that the main goal of the Nazi elite was to make a fresh religion based on the occult-Pagan worldview, profoundly hostile to Christianity. Its main assumptions were presented by 1 of the main NSDAP theorists, Alfred Rosenberg, in his book The story of the 20th Century (1930). Hitler himself spoke of Christianity rather openly: “Christianity is simply a rebellion against the laws of nature, a protest against nature. If they are led to extremes, Christianity will mean a systematic culture of the fall of humanity" [78]. In 1 of his talks with his closest ascetics about Catholicism and Lutheranism, he stated: “When it comes to religion, 1 or the another religion is the same. They have no future. At least in Germany. Italian fascists, in the name of the Lord, like to make peace with the Church. “I do the same thing... But that won't halt me from rooting Christianity in Germany, from being completely exterminated, to the smallest roots... German Church, German Christianity – nonsense. You're either a Christian or a pagan. These 2 things cannot be combined”[79]. As Rauschning wrote, Hitler was increasingly busy reasoning of a fresh religion for humanity, of creating all mankind again. Hitler overcame the temptation to uncover his ideas prematurely. National socialism was inactive at the beginning of its path... And everyone sensed the burning impatience behind his restraint, for refusing to fulfill his next tasks as a statesman and legislator... a prophet and founder of a fresh religion."[80]
There were another positions. And so Hitler's national advisor, Hans Kerrl, who headed the Ministry of the Reich for Churches, argued for the anticipation of synthesis of national socialism with Christianity, but his political influence remained highly weak and his course found no support.[81]
From 1935 to 1936, the Nazi elite consolidated and under the leadership of R. Hess, M. Bormann and Reichsführer SS G. Himmler, moved on to public anti-ecclesiastical activities aimed at the liquidation of the Church in Germany.
Their main ideological center was the SS, which at that time yet evolved into an occult caste order of the Nazi elite.[82] As historian B. Möller wrote, “what was later included in these plans happened without Rosenberg's direct involvement, but undoubtedly was its origin.”[83] It is crucial that, despite specified a clear anti-Christianity, the Nazi elite appreciated the experience of Jesuits, which it did not hide and which had a peculiar influence on it. A. Hitler himself, according to the memoirs of Herman Rauschning, president of the Gdańsk legislature and 1 of his closest associates, admitted: “I learned first of all from the Jesuit order... The planet has never created anything greater than the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church. I transferred quite a few it straight to the structure of my party. Finally, the Church has survived almost 2 1000 years, among the common changes – and this is surely worth something.”[84]
The most eloquent example is Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, of whom Hitler said: “I see in him our Ignacy Loyola”. W. Schellenberg, head of the SS safety Service, noted in his memoirs: “Himmler had the best and largest collection of books about the Jesuit order. For years he studied this extended literature at night. so built the SS organization on the principles of the Jesuit order. In doing so, he relied on the Statute of the Order and works of Ignacy Loyola: the highest law was absolute obedience, absolute obedience to all command. Sam Himmler, as Reichsführer of the SS, was a general of the Order. The governing structure resembled the hierarchical strategy of the Catholic Church."[85]
That is why almost all key positions in the SS safety Service were occupied by Catholic priests dressed in SS uniforms. Uncle Himmler, the Jesuit priest, was besides a high-ranking officer. As for the Jesuit general then, the number Vladimir LedóchowskiAs German author Walter Hagen points out, he has shown willingness to establish a certain level of cooperation between the Order and Nazi peculiar services.[86]
The strategy was besides highly rated by Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen, who referred to himself as a devout Catholic and was a bachelor of the Order of Malta[87]: “The 3rd Reich”, he stressed, “is the first power in the planet to implement the principles of PapacyIt’s okay. ”
The relation between national socialists and Jesuits is evident erstwhile comparing not only their interior organization but besides their propaganda methods.
An example of this is the activity of Joseph Goebbels, a postgraduate of the Jesuit College, who in his propaganda reproduced the principles of Jesuit morality.
Cardinal Pacelli worked in these conditions as an apostolic nuncio in Berlin. After coming to power, as a germanophile, he surrounded himself with Germany. After the outbreak of planet War II, he refused to recognise Germany as an aggressor, citing his inability to interfere with global politics. After announcing neutrality, until the end of the war, he made no statements. supporting either party.[88] After the business of Poland, the Vatican began negotiations with the German authorities and, contrary to the concordat with Poland, subjected the Polish dioceses to the German episcopate.[89] At the same time, according to investigator Carlo Falconi, who studied many archival papers from Poland and Yugoslavia, the Vatican, representing the most crucial intelligence agency in the world, knew the smallest details related to military events. Pius XII was so well informed of the methods utilized by the Nazis towards his victims both in Central and east Europe and in the russian Union.[90] However, not only did the Catholic hierarchy not defend the persecuted, but it prohibited them.
As regards the peculiar services of the Holy See, they are considered to be 1 of the best and best informed services in the world.[91] Firstly, they were closely linked to her diplomatic network, whose effectiveness was due to the advanced professionalism of Vatican representatives, most of whom were professional diplomats. In 1939, the Holy See maintained diplomatic relations with 37 countries; 22 of them had apostolic legates.[92] Secondly, although the main tool of Vatican diplomacy was the Secretariat of State, during the war it consisted of a tiny number of employees (32 people).[93] His intelligence activities were active due to the presence of an extended spyware, intelligence and intelligence work.
In his book “The Mystery Is Revealed”, Władysław Minajew writes: “The Vatican Interview is effectively served by the full hierarchy of the Catholic Church. More than 50 “diplomatic” papal representatives, and 1,500 archbishops and bishops leading the Catholic clergy around the world, systematically collects a wide scope of information from tens of thousands of subordinate lower clergymen to them and transmits it to the Vatican. many spiritual orders created by the Vatican besides collect intelligence. Finally, the Vatican uses many Catholic organizations, united under the auspices of the Catholic Action Association, as well as Catholic political parties. The most crucial organizational centers of Vatican intelligence are the residences of the papal diplomats – nunts (ambassadors), interns (sentiers) and apostolic legates (ecclesiastical representatives of the pope). The full flow of information collected is sent to the peculiar Vatican branch – the “Congregation of the Holy Oficium”, formed in 1542 and replaced by the “Great Roman Inquisition”. An extended camera of officials carefully examines and classifys incoming information all day.[94]
In October 1939, the Vatican created another service within the Secretariat of State – the "Information Office", headed by 1 of the oldest experts in the field of espionage, Greek Catholic bishop and leader of Russian Greek Catholics, Aleksander Evreinov. This office organized an full network of troops located in key centres, especially in areas where war was fought, and where hundreds of peculiar agents worked. They were located in Washington, Tokyo, Cairo and neutral countries.
As V. Minaev writes: “Under the pretext of «searching prisoners of war and refugees», «help to the starving», etc., «Information Office» has expanded its activities to include all theatres of warfare. Under the cover of “charity”, Vatican agents infiltrated prison and internment camps, established contacts with refugees and migrants, and provided them with radios, literature and musical instruments. All of this served as a cover for espionage.”[95] At the end of the war, the Vatican «Information Office» grew into a powerful intelligence organization serving both the United States and England and Nazi Germany, with a central staff of up to 150 people.
As always, peculiar missions and peculiar tasks, including diversion operations, were performed by Jesuits who had their own intelligence structure. But the Vatican besides has its own intelligence service, the Holy Covenant (SA), which was created in 1566 at the command of Pope Pius V. And although the Vatican has never acknowledged the existence of SA and counterintelligence, since its inception these informal divisions have acted in parallel with political authorities, pursuing common goals, but utilizing different methods.[96]
Finally, its function in the intelligence gathering strategy was played by the Maltese Order – in the full wording of the Sovereign Knights Order of St. John Jerusalem Hospitalists from Rhodes and Malta (in short, the Sovereign Knights Order of Malta – SMO)[97] It is the oldest knightly-religious and at the same time the spiritual-ecclesiastical order of the Catholic Church, unique due to the fact that it is simply a sovereign state entity – an entity of global law – based in Rome since 1834. The Order focuses its activities on medical and charitable activities. The network of its members, Hospitalists, dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to victims of natural disasters or armed conflicts, is international, and its top positions are exclusively occupied by aristocrats, hereditary owners of armor, passed from father to boy for at least 3 centuries.
During this period, the Order held 4 priors (Rome, Czech Republic, Venice and Both Sicily), 2 Balivites (districts), 57 Commanderies "under property law", 45 household commanderies and 8 national associations. Despite the apparent breakdown of this sovereign principality without borders and territory, the ruling elite, headed by the large Master and General Chapter, always held full authority. And since its members were usually prominent figures in politics, business and finance, having access to areas not available to the average clergy, the Vatican intelligence agency had very close ties to the order.
It should be noted that in addition to the abovementioned Order of Hospitals (SMOs), there were at that time 2 another orders that originated from the joanites, but were Protestant – commonly called "johannits". These included the Royal Prussian Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, founded in 1648, besides known as the Bailliage of Brandenburg, to which Protestant aristocrats from France, Switzerland, Hungary and Finland belonged. And the British Order of Saint John, founded in 1827 and recognized by Queen Victoria in 1888. Its office are in London and is now headed by Queen Elizabeth II.[98] This order has subsidiaries in Canada and Australia, and it is crucial that during the war, proclaiming “national position and neutral” as its primary principle, the Canadian branch provided medical services not only in the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, but besides in Germany and the territories occupied by them – Belgium and France[99].
As fascists and Nazis came to power, the position of the joanites in Italy and Germany became unequal. In Germany, in 1934, as the Nazis perceived the Maltese Cavaliers as rivals and treated them with suspicion, Göring raised the question of the illegalisation of the Order. In the end, however, everything was limited to
R. Hess's 1938 decree prohibiting double belonging to a organization and order. Many hospitalists joined the Wehrmacht to avoid organization affiliation; among them were many high-ranking officers and generals. Others joined the party, but inactive secretly paid contributions to the Order's money. In total, about 2,000 hospitalists served in Wehrmacht.[100] With the outbreak of war, the position of the Order deteriorated, and aristocratic families were divided, forced to act either according to the eternal ideals of military honor, or based on patriotism. In 1941, all leading representatives of the erstwhile German families ruled were removed from the German armed forces, and military personnel, even those not members of the NSDAP, were banned from wearing the Order's insignia on uniforms. But the Order continued to fulfill its mission.
In Italy, following the signature of the Lateran Treaty, relations with the government have been standardised, The Order actively continued its activities and the Grand Master was chosen from among the Italians. In 1930, the Order established diplomatic relations with the Holy See, thanks to which during the war Italian knights were able to keep contact with the American branch of the Order (see below), and after its completion cooperate with American intelligence services.
When the military expansion of Nazi Germany to the East began, the Holy See, as during planet War I, placed large hopes in the Catholicization of east Slavs and rebuilding their position in the western territory of russian Russia. The Holy See openly supported the professional regimes established in east Europe, giving peculiar patronage to the mouthpiece and Ante Pavelić, leader of the Independent Croatian State (NDH), established in April 1941 and subject to strict control by the German and Italian authorities.[101] The NDH was seen by Pius XII as a "great avant-garde of Christianity in the Balkans", and the pope described Pavelic as "a good Catholic and a good man". In a letter sent to the Pope, Pavelić stated that the honor of creating the Independent Croat State belongs to the Pope.[102]
Meanwhile, the mouths of Pavelic, called “Croatian Hitler”, formed 1 of the most violent terrorist regimes of those years, liable for the mass extermination of the Serbs, Jews and Roma. The real information about genocide was carefully hidden and remains hidden until now, but according to Serbian historians and evidence of the main organizer of these crimes, the erstwhile Home Secretary of the National Defence of Croatia, A. Artukovic, filed during the 1986 Zagreb trial, about 700,000 people were murdered in Jasenovac concentration camp itself.[103] This panic was supported by the vast majority of the Catholic clergy that acted as his inspiration, and was carried out with the blessing of Pius XII and Archbishop Zagreb, Alojze Stepinac, the head of the Catholic Church in Croatia, who received the highest discrimination of the dictatorship of the mouth – Order Velereda. The confessions of individual secretary Stepinac, the Jesuit of Lakovic, are meaningful: “Artuković was a secular spokesperson for Mr Stepinac. There was not a single day from 1941 to 1945 that I should not visit his office, and he did not visit mine. He consulted the Archbishop on the moral aspects of all his activities."[104]
The Franciscan brothers were peculiarly prominent in this regard, and the trustee of Pius XII, Cardinal Eugène Tisserant, an expert on the Balkans, reported on their actions to the typical of the government of Pavelicia in the Vatican: “I know that the Franciscans, for example Simić's father of the Knin, participated in actions against the Orthodox population, during which churches were even destroyed, as was the case in Banja Luce. I know that the actions of the Franciscans were disgusting and that saddens me.”[105]
Following the 3rd Reich attack on the USSR, the Vatican began an active anti-Soviet information campaign, depicting the successes of German troops as a triumph of Christian Europe over Bolshevik Russia, for which plans for "reevangelization" were drawn up. As von Papen himself stated during the Nuremberg proceeding in October 1945, “the reevangelization of the russian Union was conceived in the Vatican and implemented either through his missionary department or through peculiar services.”[106]
Before the war, the general of the Jesuit order of the number Vladimir Ledóchowski, Aware of the impending attack, he sought that the Jesuits, with the aid of the German army, could operate in occupied territories. On June 29, 1941, Domenico Martini, an worker of the Vatican Secretariat, pointed out the request to urgently send individual from the Holy See to the USSR [107], before the Germans completely settled in there. The Pope called his chief of intelligence and individual secretary, Jesuit Robert Lieber, and the secretary of the Congregation for the East Churches, cardinal Eugène Tisserand, by ordering them to draw up an "action plan" called "Apostolate in Russia". This plan was already discussed on 4 July with the participation of Ledóchowski and generals of the orders of Capuchins and Basilians. It was considered "to be careful not to make the impression that there is any connection between the sending of priests and the advance of the army, and not to offend Russian patriotic feelings."[108]
To accomplish this task, Cardinal Tisserand and Lieber developed a plan for a peculiar intelligence operation known as ‘Tisserand Plan’, which included recruiting chaplains to accompany German units fighting on the east front and collecting information on the reconstruction of Catholicism.[109] Tisserand and Lieber personally supervised the operation, although its direct contractors were agents of the Holy Covenant, and Nicola Estoci's envoy was liable for its implementation in the USSR.
However, this plan was not peculiarly successful, as it interfered with the Germanisation programme of the east regions of Russia, implemented by Alfred Rosenberg. The German authorities banned Catholic missionaries from entering occupied territories and made it hard to convert the local population to Catholicism. In July, Reich safety Service Chief Heydrich sent a peculiar circular on the issue to the highest Nazi hierarchies, stating: “We cannot let this to happen.”
"In a fresh war, in a fresh situation that begins to form in Russian territory, conquered by German blood, Catholicism proved to be the main winner. The Papal agents are taking advantage of this situation and this must be put to an end."[110]
Nevertheless, these agents infiltrated the occupied territory disguised as civilians – merchants, unchangeable German rear guards, translates the Italian Army – and acted at their own risk.
They were primarily members of the Russicum, as well as persons recruited from the monasteries of Chevetogne and Velegrad and the Abbey of Grotta di Ferrara in Italy. Many of them were arrested or executed by guerrillas.
Chapter 5
From Nazism to Atlantism: The Postwar Mission of the Vatican
Although Pius XII full approved the actions of Germany and their satellites, he besides developed another, Atlantic direction its policy in the event of a Axis disaster. This was besides an interest of American leaders who believed that the Vatican would play a key function in stabilising post-war Europe.
The past of American-Vatican relations is peculiarly interesting. Before we focus on the war period, a brief discussion of its main stages seems crucial in order to better realize the reasons why both parties are curious in highly close cooperation. It should be noted that, due to the dual nature of the Holy See – church and state – in the United States, where the Church and the State are separated, the issue of diplomatic relations with the Vatican has always been a serious problem and has caused a decisively negative reaction from the Protestant community. These accounts were so characterised by irregularities, instability and credibility, which led many to talk of a diplomatic anomaly. However, the underlying mutual, pragmatic interest has always prevailed, leading to close, informal contacts and strong individual ties.
Following the emergence of the United States in 1797, the United States established consular relations with the Holy See to defend their commercial interests, strengthen their global legitimacy and get information from its agent about the situation in Europe. After Pope Pius IX (1846), seen as progressive in the United States, the situation changed and the Americans agreed to rise relations to diplomatic rank. In 1848, a chargé d’affaires Jacob L. Martin was sent to Rome, starting 20 years of diplomatic relations.
Martin was ordered not to discuss spiritual matters in any way ("...in our country, all Christian religions are equal" - said the U.S. Secretary of State letter), but he focused solely on civilian matters and the improvement of bilateral trade. The Holy See was recognized as a European state, which not related to the factThat her sovereign is the head of the Catholic Church. For this reason, the Holy See could not send its nuncio to Washington. However, the following facts show assurance in these relations. During the civilian War (1861–1865), the pope repeatedly suggested that he could mediate between the fighting parties in order to accomplish peace. After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, at the request of the northern authorities, he extradited John Surratt, who was active in the crime and took refuge in the Church State. In turn, erstwhile in 1866 the Pope faced a threat of the failure of his territories, the American authorities seriously considered granting him asylum, ordering 2 frigates to prepare to receive the pope on board.[111]
In 1867, after the American leaders learned of the closure of the chapel of the United States Protestant message in the Church State by order of the Holy See, legislature passed an amendment to the Finance Act in order not to allocate further resources to keep the mission. Immediately afterwards, the Americans closed their message without even sending an authoritative note or informing the Pope. After the dissolution of the Church State in 1870, the American consular mission besides ceased to be and American-Vatican relations were broken. The contacts between the Holy See and the United States were maintained only through the American Episcopal.
The Americans did not immediately appreciate the fresh function of the Holy See on the global stage, now acting as a moral authority, which was sought primarily by Catholic leaders. The American leadership itself faced this request after the American-Spanish War in 1898, after occupying the Philippines, an old Spanish colony. In 1902, a mission led by then politician William Taft was sent to the Pope to persuade him to force the Spanish Catholics there to renounce the vast lands and leave the archipelago. This was the first authoritative contact between the Americans and the Holy See since the breakup of relations whose ecclesiastical power was intended to defend their interests. The second step was to send an authoritative letter by the Holy See to the American authorities in 1903 on the occasion of the death of Leon XIII and the election of the fresh Pope, Pius X. The answer was given through the apostolic delegation, which gave emergence to individual informal ties.[112]
After planet War I, the Holy See, afraid about the destiny of the German Empire, found an ally in the United States. After the war, the United States needed a unchangeable ideological and political force that would reconstruct the position quo in Europe and prevent the excessive strengthening of France and the United Kingdom and at the expense of Germany and the decaying Austro-Hungarian. The Vatican, previously oriented exclusively to continental empires, turned to the United States after their collapse. As Eugenio Pacelli, a papal nuncio in Germany, observed in 1918, “the only hope has since become America.”[113] Meanwhile, as we know, the Americans had only 1 way to strengthen Germany's position – to accomplish “stabilization” through the Dawes Plan, which was an instrument of active financial expansion.
There was another crucial origin in this approximation: the designation by the Holy See that the global financial center was beginning to decision toward the United States. At the same time, due to the fast growth of the Italian diaspora in America since the turn of the century (by 600,000 people per year in South and North America), it was there that the increasing share of St Peter's Grod's funds came from.[114] Thus, in the face of post-war demolition in Europe, Vatican finances increasingly depended on the support of American Catholics (for example, American Catholic foundations participated in providing financial assistance to Germans during the Ruhr business in 1923). Their importance grew during the large Depression erstwhile donations from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria and Spain ceased.
However, the establishment of authoritative relations with the United States was hampered by Protestants and the position of the American Episcopal, who enjoyed considerable autonomy and feared that the presence of a papal nuncio would limit his freedom. He was so faced with a complicated political game.
With the outbreak of planet War II, the pope began active efforts to reconstruct authoritative relations with the Americans. To this end, he relied mostly on individual contacts with F.D. Roosevelt and the support of an influential part of the American Catholic hierarchy.
While inactive serving as Secretary of State, Pius XII gained any influence in the United States, where he was sent by the Holy See in 1936, having the chance to tour the full country. It was the first specified journey in Vatican history. There he received his doctorates at 3 universities, met with president Roosevelt, consenting to the restoration of the U.S. mission to the Holy See, spoke with leading industrialists and bankers, and besides visited Myron Charles Taylor, president of the United States Steel corp and the Knight of the Order of Malta, who was the manager of respective companies controlled by the Morgan bank house.[115]
The following year Bernardino Nogara came to the United States, maintaining relations with Morgan Bank. due to the fact that America was experiencing a favourable economical climate (until the fall of 1937), Nogara resumed the acquisition of securities on the fresh York Stock Exchange, starting with the acquisition of blue chip companies (General Motors, General Electric), which were to become 1 of the foundations of Vatican wealth during and after the war.[116] The United States became a major origin of backing for the Holy See, and Vatican and Morgan relations became so close that in early 1938 bankers John Pierpont Morgan and Thomas Lamont (both non-Catholics) received the highest Vatican awards.[117]
After Pacelli, his negotiations were continued by Chicago Cardinal George Mundelein, who, among another things, pointed out that the US government would be able to usage information coming from all countries in its talks with Roosevelt. US Secretary of State Cordell Hull and his deputy Sumner Welles besides persuaded the president to do so. Recalling the discussion later, Hull wrote: “At the beginning of July 1939, Welles and I discussed the benefits we could accomplish through this cooperation. We believed that the Vatican had many sources of information, especially in Germany, Italy and Spain, which we did not have. With my advice, Welles wrote a individual letter to Ambassador Phillips in Rome to get his opinion. Phillips responded on January 19, recommending diplomatic relations."[111] Responding positively to this idea, the U.S. authorities sent Mundelain to proceed negotiations in the Vatican, which was then led by Cardinal Gasparri, who was assisted by an experienced politician, Mason, postgraduate of the Jesuit University of Fordham and Archbishop of fresh York (since 1939), Francis Joseph Spellman.[119]
With the outbreak of the war in Europe in September 1939 to keep closer ties with the U.S. government circles, the pope established a fresh archdiocese in Washington, D.C. in October, the center of which was in the U.S. capital. 2 months later, in order to keep contacts with the American military command, he appointed Archbishop Spellman as head of the Catholic clergy of the full American army.
W Spellman had large hopes because, like Taylor, he was a associate of the Order of Malta, he enjoyed authority in the American ruling circles and generally, "as a political manager and entrepreneur he had no equal in the Church."[120] It should be noted that the Sovereign Order of Malta has enjoyed a unique position in the United States from the very beginning. In contrast to another countries where the Order had only members of noble families, an exception was made for the United States due to their economical and political strength. Thus, erstwhile the first American Order Association[121] was established in fresh York in 1927, most of its members were financial magnates and manufacture with highly conservative views (they organized opposition to Franklin Roosevelt's fresh Deal).
Spellman joined the Order from the very beginning of its existence and became its protector and at the same time president of the Knights of Columbus, who besides joined it. On his initiative, characters specified as James Farrell, erstwhile president (1911–1933) of the United States Steel corp and head of UR joined the Order. Grace & Co., Joseph Peter Grace, Boston businessman and father of future president Joseph Kennedy, oil magnate George MacDonald and others helped the association make into a rich and influential institution[122]. With Spellman MacDonald, he yet became the head of the association and received the title “The Pope's Marquis”.
Spellman enjoyed the support of the right wing of the Roman Curia, especially Cardinal Nicola Canali, who presided over and managed the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican State since 1939. Later, erstwhile the Cardinal became Grand Prior of the Sovereign Order of Malta, he granted Spellman the right to appoint knights in the United States, and Spellman, as part of the "quid pro quo", was to transfer funds raised by American hospitalists not to the Roman seat of the Order and straight to the Cardinal. Moreover, although the pre-charge to the order for Americans was $1,000 (which was much lower than in another associations), Spellman collected from fresh knights between $50,000 and $100,000, and the difference between the authoritative and the actual amount was sent to the Vatican.[123] Spellman's financial gifts to the Vatican, his relationship with Pius XII and access to the economical and political elite of the United States provided the Cardinal with large power, which allowed him to become the main intermediary between the White home and the Vatican during the war. He served as the actual master of the association of the Order, and this was how its members treated him. Spellman besides played a function in strengthening Vatican ties with the Office of strategical Services (OSS), an American intelligence agency formed in 1942, whose boss, William Donovan, was his old friend.[124]
At the beginning of 1940, the issue of restoring American-Vatican relations was effectively resolved, but the road was insurmountable: protestors' opposition, citing the rule of the separation of the Church from the state, prevented legislature from voting on the abolition of the 1867 ban on the financing of diplomatic missions. W January 1940 Roosevelt, on the advice of Welles, chose the form of authoritative relations with the Vatican, which did not require the approval of legislature and appointed his a individual typical to the Pope, M.C. Taylor.[125] Taylor served in the Vatican with the title “The Extraordinary Ambassador” and was associated with the State Department.
That same year, in May, taking into account the situation on the front (the transition from the "fake war" to the hot war), the Vatican, through Cardinal Spellman, moved its gold reserves, estimated at $7.7 million, from London to the American treasury at Fort Knox. Since then, the American national Reserve has become the main abroad bank and remained it throughout the war. The Vatican regularly received large sums from the United States, officially donated as gifts from Catholics, but in fact derived from Roosevelt's secret funds.[126] This undoubtedly demonstrated the crucial function of the Holy See in the American strategy. The Pope, for his part, full understood the future function of the United States, as he wrote in his letter to Roosevelt in August 1940, pointing out that the United States could number on the President's support in seeking "a golden age of Christian harmony for the spiritual and material improvement of humanity"[127]. The fresh financial revenues and expansion of Vatican currency reserves required another management methods that would avoid the control of fascist authorities. Therefore, in 1942, the Pope undertook a reform, citing on the basis of the Administration for religion Institute for religion (IRA). The Institute acquired legal entity position and could transfer its capital abroad. He became informally known as the Vatican Bank. This institute became 1 of the most secret papal services. Without being a department of the Roman Curia or an authoritative Vatican institution, he became a peculiar organization, having no apparent connection with the affairs of the Church. According to investigator T.J. Rees, he wrote: “IRA is the bank of the pope, due to the fact that in a sense he is his only and exceptional shareholder. He owns it, controls it."[122] As a result, the bank was not subject to any interior or external audits and could always easy transfer funds abroad, anywhere in the world, which became possible for another European banks only in the 1990s with the liberalisation of capital flows. Moreover, in 1942 Nogara received crucial taxation relief from the Italian Ministry of Finance, and IDR was completely exempt from paying taxes. These benefits have created opportunities for various types of fraud and violations of global financial law. Cardinal Alberto di Jorio was appointed head of the bank from Nogara's recommendation.
As for Taylor's mission, as he could not stay in the Vatican permanently, the interests of the United States represented his permanent assistant, Harold Tittmann, U.S. embassy individual in Rome. After the United States joined the war with Germany and Italy, Tittmann continued to reside in Rome, under the authority of the Holy See, ensuring its communication with the enemy of the Italian State.
With the outbreak of war, close ties with the Vatican became even more crucial to American leaders who tried to break the opposition of American Catholics opposed to coalitions with the russian Union. However, the main reason for Washington's peculiar interest was the already mentioned extended Vatican intelligence network, which created conditions for cooperation between the peculiar services of both countries (one of Taylor's goals). Roosevelt's funds were utilized to make this intelligence network. This cooperation intensified peculiarly after the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad, not due to the fact that the Vatican's relations with the Axis countries had deteriorated, but due to the fact that it was counting on the Americans to prevent the eventual collapse of the ruling regimes in Germany and Italy, or at least that their key people, whom the American leaders themselves depended on, would be saved.
End of translation of a passage of the book.
Written by Olga Chetwarikova
(PL)
Note from translator: The footnotes indicated in the text will be attached
