The Pope and Mussolini (86 page)

7.
But Ciano was more optimistic, believing that those around the pope were beginning to get through to him. “As for the matter of race, the pope, who now knows the real terms of the problem,” he wrote that day in his diary, “is beginning to yield.” Ciano 2002, p. 113.

8.
Farinacci charged that it was Cardinal Pizzardo who had persuaded the pope to criticize the racial campaign. On August 3, Farinacci repeated the accusation in a letter to Mussolini. He concluded by asking Mussolini: “Dear President, is it true that the pope’s mother is a Jew?” He added, “If it is true, what a laugh!” ACS, CR, b. 44, Roberto Farinacci, direttore,
Il Regime fascista
, Cremona, a Mussolini, 3 agosto 1938. Farinacci had likely picked up the allegation that the pope was Jewish from the German press, which was circulating such stories at the time.

9.
ASV, AESI, pos. 1060, fasc. 749, ff. 14r–21r, Monsignor Giovanni Cazzani, vescovo di Cremona, a Farinacci, 17 agosto 1938.

10.
ASV, AESI, pos. 1060, fasc. 749, ff. 22r–26r, Farinacci a Cazzani, 18 agosto 1938.

11.
Fabre (2012, pp. 109–10) has recently published and analyzed this text, found in Tacchi Venturi’s papers. ARSI, TV, f. 2143.

12.
ASV, AESI, pos. 1007c, fasc. 695, ff. 37r–39r, “Nota da me presentato al Duce la sera di venerdì 12 Agosto,” Tacchi Venturi, 12 agosto 1938.

13.
Sarfatti 2006, pp. 19–41; Sarfatti 2005, pp. 67–68. By 1938 roughly 21 percent of the Jews living in Italy were refugees from other countries, seeking to escape persecution.

14.
ASV, AESI, pos. 1054, fasc. 730, ff. 40r–41r. Years before the Vatican archives for the papacy of Pius XI were opened, Father Angelo Martini, S.J., was given access and reported the existence of this document. Although he quoted its text (Martini 1963), he gave little background and judged it “unfortunately so generic as not to inspire confidence.” Miccoli (1988, pp. 847–48), in reporting Martini’s finding and his comment, and not at the time having access to the archive, noted its significance and disagreed with Martini’s attempt to minimize it. Only with the 2006 opening of the Vatican archives did the document, and those surrounding it, become available and its full import visible. De Cesaris (2010, pp. 160–61) argues that the document must have been drafted by Mussolini or someone close to him in the government and not by Tacchi Venturi or anyone from the Vatican. I find his attempt to distance the pope and the Vatican from the proposal to be unconvincing. The document closely reflects proposals the pope had been making to Mussolini in the days preceding it.

15.
“Gli Ebrei ed il Concilio Vaticano,” OR, 14 agosto 1938, p. 2. I use the English translation provided by the American ambassador, who lamented the fact that the Vatican seemed to have decided not to object to the racial campaign in Italy. NARA, M1423, reel 12, Ambassador William Phillips to U.S. secretary of state, “Progress of Racial Movement in Italy,” August 19, 1938. For an examination of the correspondence between the U.S. secretary of state and the Italian ambassador regarding the pope’s reaction to the Italian anti-Semitic campaign, see Kertzer and Visani 2012.

16.
Fabre (2012, p. 119), who has provided the most comprehensive study of the August 16 agreement, comes to the same conclusion about the reason for the pope’s outburst.

17.
ASV, AESI, pos. 1007c, fasc. 695, ff. 41r–42r, handwritten unsigned three-page memo, 18 agosto 2011. Later in the month, discussing the conflict with the government over Catholic Action in a conversation with members of the French embassy, Tardini held Mussolini blameless. The fault, he argued, lay with the “left wing” of the Fascist Party, especially Party head Achille Starace. MAEI, vol. 267, 126, Charles-Roux à Bonnet, 29 août 1938.

18.
MAEI, vol. 267, 94, Charles-Roux, 17 août 1938; and ibid., 95–96, 18 août 1938.

19.
MAEI, vol. 267, 97, Charles-Roux, 18 août 1938. The minister added that they should not worry about the pope’s Propaganda Fide remarks, as they did not reflect the Vatican position on the racial campaign; they were simply the product of a moment when the elderly pope had happened to be in a bad mood. Tranfaglia 2005, p. 151.

20.
MAEI, vol. 267, 102–3, Charles-Roux, 20 août 1938.

21.
“Pope and Fascists Reach New Accord on Catholic Action,” NYT, August 21, 1938, p. 1. A similar story in the
Los Angeles Times
that day began, “Through the good offices of a 77-year-old Jesuit priest, Pietro Tacchi Venturi, Premier Mussolini and Pope Pius XI have again smoothed over the differences between the Catholic Church and the Fascist party.” “Pope and Duce Renew Peace,” LAT, August 21, 1938, p. 2.

22.
“Circa le relazioni tra l’Azione Cattolica Italiana e il Partito Nazionale Fascista,” OR, 25 agosto 1938, p. 1. The
Messaggero
clipping is found at AESI, pos. 1007c, fasc. 695, f. 64r. The last-minute flurry of negotiations involving the pope and the Italian government is chronicled in the report by Cossato. ASMAE, AISS, b. 102, Cossato, 23 agosto 1938; and ibid., 24 agosto 1938.

23.
ASV, AESS, pos. 430, fasc. 355, f. 70, 27 agosto 1938.

24.
ASMAE, AISS, b. 102, Cossato, 22 agosto 1938.

25.
He summoned Tacchi Venturi to tell the pope how angry he was. Mussolini’s meeting with the Jesuit was on his calendar for seven-thirty P.M. on August 22. ACS, CO, b. 3136.

26.
Ciano 2002, pp. 117–18. Mussolini, meanwhile, had recently introduced the requirement that all government employees wear their uniform to work, provoking a certain amount of grumbling. Told of the unhappiness, he responded, “Remember: the cassock makes the monk!” Bottai 1989, p. 131.

27.
The clippings are found at ASV, AESI, pos. 1054, fasc. 728, ff. 19r, 20r.

28.
Ciano 2002, p. 119. The pope was in fact eighty-one years old at the time.

29.
Mussolini himself chose its director, Talesio Interlandi, who had been pushing him for years to follow Hitler’s example and move against Italy’s Jews.

30.
Guido Landra, “Concetti del razzismo italiano,”
La Difesa della razza
1, n. 1 (1938), p. 10.

31.
Many, I am sorry to say, including the author of the appalling piece published in the first issue, cited above, were Italian anthropologists.

32.
The government required all universities to place copies of
La Difesa della razza
in their libraries and called on all professors to read it carefully and share its message with their students. Italian newspapers were likewise directed to cite its stories and use its material for their own articles. Giuseppe Pensabene, “L’evoluzione e la razza. Cinquant’anni di polemiche ne ‘La Civiltà Cattolica,”
La Difesa della razza
1, n. 1, 5 agosto 1938, pp. 31–33. See also Mughini 1991, pp. 145–46. Israel 2010, pp. 203–4; Cassata 2008, p. 116; Tranfaglia 2005, p. 152.

33.
ASMAE, AISS, b. 102, Pignatti a Ciano, 29 agosto 1938.

CHAPTER 24: THE RACIAL LAWS

1.
“The daily newspapers are citing
Civiltà cattolica
as occupying a position of honor in today’s struggle against the Jews, especially for the three articles it published in 1890,” the Jesuits of the journal wrote. “To tell the truth, we must note that that vigorous campaign, inspired by the spectacle of the invasion and the arrogance of the Jews, cannot be credited with having ‘known how to fascistically impose the racial problem’ … as
Il Regime Fascista
(28 August) would have it.” CC 1938 III, pp. 559–61.

2.
Ibid.; emphasis in the original.

3.
Enrico Rosa, “La questione giudaica e ‘la Civiltà cattolica,’ ” CC 1938 IV, pp. 3–16.

4.
Matard-Bonucci 2008, p. 309; Onofri 1989, p. 153.

5.
ASV, AESI, pos. 985, fasc. 671, f. 47r, “Appunto,” 1 settembre 1938.

6.
Pacelli also wrote both to Cardinal Schuster—who as archbishop of Milan, had authority over the Como bishop—and to Don Mauri’s own archbishop, the archbishop of Turin. ASV, AESI, pos. 985, fasc. 671, f. 49r, Pacelli al Cardinale Schuster, 2 settembre 1938.

7.
ASV, AESI, pos. 985, fasc. 671, f. 53r, Alessandro Macchi, vescovo di Como, 15 settembre 1938; ibid., f. 54r, Sac. A. Negrini, Como, 15 settembre 1938. In a later report, Pacelli was told that the whole episode could be attributed to the fact that the PNF head in Aprica owned a hotel there and had a long-standing conflict with the nuns who owned a building nearby. In this account, the Fascist had exaggerated Don Mauri’s remarks to embarrass the nuns. ASV, AESI, pos. 985, fasc. 671, f. 60r, “Circa l’incidente sollevato in occasione del discorso tenuto in Aprica.”

8.
Gallagher 2008, pp. 72–73. Recall that the United States did not recognize the Vatican as a sovereign state and so had no official diplomatic relations with it.

9.
Phillips was also convinced that Mussolini had no understanding of the United States or its importance. In his memoirs, he reproduces a letter he received from President Roosevelt on September 15, 1938, in which the president shared this view. Roosevelt said that the ignorance of the United States on the part of Mussolini and those around him reminded him of a conversation that his youngest son, Johnny, had with the Italian minister of finance. When the minister suggested the president pay a visit to Mussolini, Roosevelt’s son suggested the Duce might want to pay a visit to his father in Washington. When the minister seemed to find the idea odd, “Johnny told him with complete politeness that the United States had three times the population and ten times the resources of Italy, and that the whole of Italy would fit very comfortably into the State of Texas.” Phillips 1952, p. 219.

10.
ASV, AESI pos. 1054, fasc. 731, ff. 8r–10r, “Appunto,” Hurley, 3 settembre 1938.

11.
Sale 2009, pp. 88–89; Fattorini 2012, p. 390. For the implications of the pope’s phrase regarding a state’s legitimate right to self-defense in this context, see Kertzer 2001, pp. 279–80. The day the pope was making his plea against the racial laws, the radio priest Charles Coughlin wrote to Mussolini offering his help. Coughlin invited the Duce to write an article for his magazine,
Social Justice
, with its millions of readers, in which he could “clarify” his “attitude toward the Jews.” Coughlin concluded, “Wishing Your Excellency God’s blessings and good health, and praying that the Italian Empire under your leadership will crush Communism.” Mussolini decided against writing the piece. ACS, MCPR, b. 3, Coughlin a Mussolini, 6 settembre 1938; ACS, MCPR, b. 3, stampa estera, telegramma n. 16848 a R. Ambasciata d’Italia, Washington, 18 ottobre 1938.

12.
The Vatican daily devoted only a paragraph to the audience, making no reference at all to comments about race or anti-Semitism. “Il paterno elogio di Sua Santità ai pellegrini della Gioventù Cattolica del Belgio,” OR, 9 settembre 1938, p. 1.

13.
ACS, MCPG, b. 164, “Notizia fiduciaria,” Roma, 7 settembre 1938.

14.
Bottai 2001, p. 137 (7 ottobre 1938).

15.
Ibid., p. 133 (8 settembre 1938).

16.
Ciano 2002, p. 124 (September 10, 1938); Lamb 1997, pp. 206–7. Two days later the king spoke directly with Buffarini Guidi, undersecretary for internal affairs, on behalf of his doctor. The king’s craven acquiescence to the racial laws was again on display. The king felt uncomfortable because a number of highly decorated Jewish military officers had contacted him to complain about the new anti-Semitic campaign. When Buffarini told him that provisions were being made to exempt such men from the laws, the king replied, “I am truly happy that the president [Mussolini] intends to make these distinctions, recognizing the merits of those Jews who are noteworthy for their loyalty to the Fatherland.” He added, “I was sure that the president’s great sensibility, his profound intuition and expansive generosity would have led to such a line of conduct.” Quoted in De Felice 1981, p. 492.