Along this line, one might do well to recall that an encyclical of Pius XI, "Mit Brennender Sorge" (March 14, 1937), was read from every pulpit in Germany http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_14031937_mit-brennender-sorge_en.html .  Most papal documents are published in Italian, at least at first.  This one was published in German.

A similar document was read from every pulpit of the Netherlands during the war.  The consequence was that the Nazis rounded up Jews who had converted to Christianity and shipped them to Bergen-Belsen.  One such Jew was Saint Edith Stein.

A little after Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI published "Non Abbiamo Bisogno" (June 29, 1931), which was rather disliked by Il Duce.  http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_29061931_non-abbiamo-bisogno_en.html

Quadragesimo Anno itself contains a few controversial paragraphs, written by Pius XI himself, in which the whole fascist system of organization is sharply questioned (in somewhat veiled language), see http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19310515_quadragesimo-anno_en.html, paragraph 95

"We are compelled to say that to Our certain knowledge there are not wanting some who fear that the State, instead of confining itself as it ought to the furnishing of necessary and adequate assistance, is substituting itself for free activity; that the new syndical and corporative order savors too much of an involved and political system of administration; and that (in spite of those more general advantages mentioned above, which are of course fully admitted) it rather serves particular political ends than leads to the reconstruction and promotion of a better social order."

As for Eugenio Pacelli, of whom such ill has been written, suffice it to say that the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, upon converting to Christianity, took the Baptismal name "Eugenio" in honor of Pius XII.

Gabriel Martinez

________________________________________
From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of James C.W. Ahiakpor [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 12:27 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] Delicate subject #2, organized religion

The tensions and conflicts between the Nazis and the Catholic church and
its institutions, including schools and seminaries, that Georg Ratzinger
describes in the biography, /My Brother, The Pope/ (Ignatius Press
2011), especially chapters 4 and 5, conflict with the complicity that
Mason Gaffney alleges in his post. He might well find some needed
clarifications from the book.

James Ahiakpor

mason gaffney wrote:
>
> In all the many exchanges about fascism and communism, hardly anyone
> has mentioned the role of The Vatican. Understandably, no one wants to
> give or take offense, and stir up questions of “faith”and sanctity,
> and neither do I, and yet this subject demands it. I think we would
> underestimate each other to think our fellows, of whatever sects,
> cannot discuss and analyze this objectively.
>
> If I am even approximately right in defining fascism as the
> dictatorship of the rentiers, then it was clear to Lenin et al. that
> the Vatican was on the side of the rentiers. It was and is a major
> rentier itself. Lenin of course was dealing directly with the Greek
> Orthodox clerisy, but made a clean sweep of it by proclaiming Atheism
> all around. The Vatican returned the declaration of war (or may have
> declared first, I am not sure). This meant that as fascism/Nazism
> evolved in Europe it naturally allied with The Vatican. They were twin
> bulwarks against atheism/communism. The story is more complex – true
> stories always are – but that was the general picture. All the fascist
> dictators, including Hitler the Austrian, were cradle catholics.
> Catholic guidance for the times was published in the 1931 Encyclical
> of Pius XI, /Quadragesimo Anno/, which is silent about the use of
> Blackshirted strikebreakers and beer-hall /Putschists/ but strong on
> the sacred rights of property. It was bracketed in time by Mussolini’s
> Lateran Treaty with The Vatican (1929), and The Concordat with Germany
> (1933). The latter was negotiated by Vatican Secy of State Eugenio
> Pacelli. The College of Cardinals soon showed its approval by electing
> him Pope Pius XII.
>
> The U.S., with its heavy Catholic population, did not join the war
> against the Axis for a long time. They never let FDR attack Franco’s
> Falangist clerical fascism in Spain, even after the atrocity at
> Guernica, even after we joined the war and occupied North Africa. FDR
> had been elected with strong support by Fr. Charles Coughlin, the
> pioneer “Radio Priest”, whose mission it was to popularize
> /Quadragesimo Anno, some /of which found its way into the first New
> Deal, 1933-37. It is possible we never would have joined W.W. II had
> not Japan first allied with The Axis and then, with its own agenda and
> separate religion, attacked Pearl Harbor.
>
> After 1945, the U.S. promptly set about rebuilding the defeated powers
> as part of entering the Cold War against USSR Communism. The freed-up
> nations, south of the Baltic, were again led by Catholic leaders and
> political parties, beneficiaries of The Marshall Plan. Catholic
> leaders Adenauer, Schumann, and de Gasperi led the move to unite
> (western) Europe, with strong U.S. support.
>
> I submit that we cannot purport to understand the aims and beliefs of
> closeted economic theorists unless we deal openly with how they
> interlocked with these influential Vatican movements and doctrines.
> You may oppose or support the Vatican, but you cannot ignore it.
>
> Mason Gaffney
>


--
James C.W. Ahiakpor, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Economics
California State University, East Bay
Hayward, CA 94542

(510) 885-3137 Work
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