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 (510) 885-7175 Fax (Not Private)