Church’s pregnancy advice agency compromised by state funding

CARDINAL INNITZER of Vienna thought he could do a deal with Hitler. He supported the Anschluss, the 1938 unification of Austria and Germany. He even offered a ‘Heil Hitler’ when the Nazis marched into Vienna.

Innitzer wasn’t a Nazi supporter. But he was afraid for the survival of his church. “Looking back, we can say he was naive,” said his successor, Cardinal Franz König. “But his idea was that the Germans are very stubborn; we Austrians are kind - maybe if we change the language a little bit and offer the ‘Heil Hitler,’ we will get more freedom.”

Innitzer soon saw the error of his ways. A group of Nazi thugs ransacked his residence. But the damage to his credibility was greater. He never managed to live down his apparent co-operation with the Nazis.