Mussolini’s Fascist Regime and the Catholic Church, WWII and Before, Short

Why did Catholics support the totalitarian regime of Mussolini? How were the Pope and the Catholic Church compromised by their partnership with Mussolini?

Mussolini and Fascism did not spring out of the ground fully formed, all political movements have roots in the history that preceded them. We first look at Emperor Napoleon, the autocratic ruler of a secular empire ruling France, Italy, and much of Europe for many years, who negotiated the Concordat of 1801 with Pope Pius VI, who really was his prisoner, in contrast with Pope Pius XI and his immediate predecessors, who complained about being prisoners of the Vatican.

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Like Napoleon, Mussolini was never a practicing Catholic. He tricked his wife into remarrying in the Catholic Church, baptized his children, and enrolled them in religious education classes merely to please the Pope. Like Napoleon, Mussolini calculated that if he were seen as a friend to the Catholic Church, he would earn the support of the many devout Catholic peasants of Italy.

We look at the Revolutions of 1848 that happened a generation after the fall of Napoleon, and how these inspired the Italian reunification efforts that were spear-headed by Garibaldi and King Emmanuel II of Sardinia, and how the rule of Mussolini was a continuation of this past history, as King Emmanuel III was the constitutional monarch under whom Mussolini served.

The Catholics of Italy were more fortunate than the Christians of Germany during the dark days of Fascism and Nazism. Although Mussolini’s totalitarian regime was brutal, and although Mussolini was not a practicing Catholic himself, he did cooperate with the Pope and the Catholic Church. Mussolini did not enact Nazi style anti-Semitic race laws until he fell under the spell of Hitler after 1938. Until then, the Catholics in the pews were not morally forced to choose between obeying the church and the state.

We will also discuss:
• How the fascists were seen as the enemies of the communists and Bolshevik Russia, and by supporting Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
• Why Pope XI distrusted democracy, abandoning the Catholic political parties of Italy and Germany, negotiating Concordats with Italy and Germany, learning how foolish he was to negotiate with Hitler.
• How Hitler was inspired by Mussolini’s seizure of power in his March on Room to attempt the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich.
• How Pope Pius XI vigorously defended Mussolini in the political crisis created when his thugs murdered his socialist opponent Cesare Rossi in broad daylight, to ensure the success of his secret negotiations with Mussolini on the Lateran Treaty, which founded the Catholic independent state of Vatican City.
• How Pope Pius XI reluctantly supported Mussolini’s attempt at recreating the ancient Roman Empire, first in Ethiopia, then in Albania, then by assisting Hitler in his invasion of France.
• How, on the tenth anniversary of the Lateran Accords, Pope Pius XI regretted his close ties of Mussolini as the dictator drew closer to Hitler, exchanging state visits, passing Nazi style race laws persecuting the Jews.
• How Pope Pius XI, on the night before he was planning to announce to his bishops and cardinals the release of an encyclical strongly denouncing the Nazi regime of Hitler’s Germany, died.
• How Cardinal Pacelli, nuncio of Nazi Germany, was crowned as Pope Pius XII, and released a more diplomatic version of the encyclical issued by his predecessor.
• How Pope Pius XII walked the tightrope, balancing criticism of Nazism with pacification of Hitler, trying to protect the church from an evil ideology while protecting the Church from further persecution.
• How Mussolini was overthrown after the Allies invaded Sicily and the boot of Italy.
• How Pope Pius XII, while the German Nazis were occupying Rome and Northern Italy, refrained from direct public criticism of Hitler and his persecution of the Jews, while the Vatican surreptitiously hid thousands of Jews in the seminaries and monasteries in the Vatican and Rome.
• How the lessons learned by the Catholic Church in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany led to the calling of the Second Vatican Council by Pope John XXIII, and issuance of its decree on religious toleration and religious freedom.
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[johngarofano]

Why did the teatment and betrail Italy suffered from Britain and France lead to fascist Italy? Please answer this question! Mussolini would not exist if they treated Italy with the respect it deserved, one and half million italians died fora empty promise,

[tweektweak]

Catholicism and fascism is like peanut butter and jelly, God bless Mussolini