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SIXTY-EIGHTH YEAR.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND HITLER Relations between the Papacy I and the National Socialist Government of Germany have been somewhat obscure to the ordinary observer in other countries. In this article, supplied by the i Department of Information, a Catholic writer tells the story of those relations and shows the uncompromising opposition of the Pope to Nazi doctrine and philosophy.
THE CONCORDAT AND CONSISTENCY. The success of the National Socialists in 1933 created a new situation but the attitude of the Pope and Bishops remained consistent. The Concordat between the Church and the State was indeed a sign of their consistency: for it recognised the authority of the National Socialist Government in its proper sphere, while providing guarantees for the unhampered activity of the Church in spiritual affairs. Far from compromising with National Socialism ,it represented an attempt to bind the new rulers by treaty obligations, so that the intrusion of the party in the religious sphere would he rendered more difficult. It did not succeed in this aim, but since neither Pope nor Bishops had been under any illusions about the dangerous tendencies in National Socialism, they were not unprepared for the struggle which followed. During the troubled years since 1933. the Papal policy has remained constant.
By EDWARD QUINN.
THE attitude of the Papacy
to-
wards the German Reich or any other State can best be explained in terms of its function, which is essentially a simple one. The Pope is the head of an institution whose task it is so to guide men's lives in this world that they may attain to salvation in the nextThe Catholic Church considers it to be necessary for salvation to believe certain doctrines, to adopt a number of religious practices which follow from this belief, and to observe a definite moral code. She claims an exclusive right to teach these doctrines and to remind her subjects of the moral laws and she demands freedom for them to practise their religion externally, but she is indifferent to forms of government so long as these things are safe-
guarded. Before National Socialism attained to power, the Papacy was not directly concerned. The German Bishops, acting in their proper sphere as guardians of Faith and Morals, condemned the doctrine of the new movement, notably in the instruction of the Bavarian Bishops to their clergy on February 11, 1931.
This attitude of the Bishops accord -
kw' to Wilhelm Solzbacher, was
perfectly correct attitude towards the government has been maintained, because in spite of Nazi faithfulness there is no essential incompatibility between the existence of a totalitarian Government and the continued mission of the Church. But each particular interference with the Church's mission, every breach of the Concordat, has met with resistance and protest. And National Socialist doctrine has been condemned in the most uncompromising fashion. For the Papacy, as for the Catholic Church, false doctrine, the advocacy of a way of life contrary to Christian teaching, is infinitely more dangerous than the worst political tyranny. Naturally she deplores the effects of such tyranny, especially in the religious sphere, but it is not her task to remove tyrants, while it is pre-eminently her task to maintain purity of doctrine. A
ex-
pretssly approved by the Pope.
In their instruction they stated that they had no wish to discuss the political and governmental aims of National Socialism, but were anxious about its cultural aims, which reject. ed the essentials of the Christian Faith, and its attempts to replace this by a new Weltanschauung view of the world; the Christianity of which the Nazis speak is not the Christianity of Christ.
PAPAL PROTESTS
-
The frequent protests of the Popes fgainst the persecution in Germany are well-known. Three times in 1934, Pope Pius XI. spoke of the sacrifices German Catholics were making for their religion. In 1935 he used the word "persecution" for the first time in reference to events in Germany and spoke of attempts to
destroy Christianity and to lead the nation back to barbarism. Later in the year he spoke of a struggle against God and Jesus Christ. Amongst many other protests, the Pope, at Christmas 1936, insisted on the reality of the persecution and rejected categorically all attempts to deny it or make it appear milder than it really was; there had rarely been such a fierce and painful persecution or one so tragic in its effects. The Papal utterances of 1938 were largely repetitions of earlier statements. All these are examples of the Pope's anxiety that the faithful should be allowed to practise their religion and listen to the teaching of the Church. But the condemnation of National Socialist doctrine and the assertions of the Church's right to judge on faith and morals are much stronger and leave not the slightest doubt about the incompatibility of Catholicism and National Socialism. NO COMPROMISE. The National Socialist faith, opposed to the Christian, received its most authentic exposition in Rosenberg's Mythus des swanzigsten Jahrhunderts 1The Twentieth -Century Myth). This work was placed on the index of forbidden books on February 7, 1934. Since the Nazis claimed that this was a private work when they were attempting to win over Catholic support, they could not regard this act as directed against the government. Nevertheless the solemnity of such a condemnation on the one hand and the consistent support which Rosenberg received from the Nazi leaders on the other clearly indicate the fundamental opposition between the Papacy and the National Socialists. Neither side is prepared to compromise on the question of Faith. On numerous occasions Pope Pius XI. insisted on the anti-Christian chili, acter of National Socialist ideas. On February 24, 1934, he said that racial pride had expressed itself in ideas and teaching to a degree that was neither Christian nor human. On April 5, he described National Socialism as not only false Christianity, but as veritable heathenism. Particularly strong are the words of the present Pope. then Cardinal Sec(Continued on Page 20).
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