Pope who preferred his enemy’s enemy

THE defence of Pius XII by Fr Con McGillicuddy (Irish Examiner letters, October 12) ignores the contrast in the Pope’s behaviour as between Hitler and Stalin.

Pope Pius positively encouraged east European clerics to embrace martyrdom in opposition to communism. There was no waffle about how it might only make things worse. His position was, and was understood by all to be, opposition to Stalin up to and including death.

In contrast, his concordat with Hitler positively forbade any Catholic political activity within Germany. In fact, he as good as instructed the Catholic party to disband in Germany.

This was the only civilised party in the centre/right of the spectrum that might have offered any opposition to Hitler. It would have been very difficult for him violently to attack this party as he had attacked those on the left because it was a party that was strong among Hitler’s base in the lower middle class, the peasants and among the Catholic half of the ruling class. Of course he never had to, since Pius did that work for him.

Is Fr McGillicuddy seriously suggesting that had Pius exposed the Holocaust, the Catholic majority in Europe would have believed Goebbels instead? The Pope was probably the only man in a divided Europe who would have been considered trustworthy on an issue of such importance not just among Catholics, but among all those conservatives on whom Hitler depended both in Germany and as collaborators in the occupied territories.

The truth is that Pius leaned toward Hitler as his enemy’s enemy. The Church should stop denying this and start apologising.

Tim O’Halloran

Ferndale Road

Dublin 12