What if the Pope and the catholic church had spoken out strongly against German agression before and after the start of WW2. While not all Germans are catholic the Pope is still acknowledged as an important religious leader whose views are at least listened to. Could the pope, perhaps in conjunction with other religious leaders, have prevented WW2 or at least spoken out very publically against its worst excesses?

I still find it amazing the degree to which the catholic church made little public comment about the war or its worst aspects, be they the anti-semitism or the bombing of cities or sinking of passenger ships, etc.

The catholic church condemned Hitler more than most people know today, for example in the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge.

In defense of church: http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mis...handnazis.html

[ 11. December 2003, 03:21 AM: Message edited by: KnightMove ]

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"How many divisions does the Pope have?"
-Stalin

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"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance." Socrates

Hey, those Swiss pikemen could be really dangerous..... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Specially with those Swiss Army Knives...

"...and with this one I can open a tin of beans in a fortnight..."

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

Catholic serious opposition to Nazi politics would have effect mainly in some parts of Germany, such as Bavaria, plus of course in Catholic countries, such as Vichy France and it's colonies (Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Indochina, etc) and Italy.

The churches (Catholic or Protestant) was not to be minimized as (depending on Hitler's whims) it could have some effect. The mental patient euthanasia programme was stopped in Autumn 1941 precisely because of Church pressure, Gestapo and party machine being forbidden from intervening against the churches by Hitler himself. Reckoning would come after the war.

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Wonder if anybody has read this book?

Amazon.co.uk: A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII: Dan Kurzman: Books

In September 1943, Adolf Hitler, furious at the ousting of Mussolini, sent German troops into Rome and ordered SS General Karl Wolff, who had been Heinrich Himmler's chief aide, to occupy the Vatican and kidnap (and perhaps kill) Pope Pius XII.At the same time that plans were being made to deport Rome's Jews to Auschwitz, Wolff began playing a dangerous game: stalling Hitler's plot against the pope, whom he hoped would save him from the noose in case Germany lost the war. To save Pius, Wolff and fellow conspirators blackmailed him into silence when the Jews were rounded up, hoping that Hitler would rescind his order.This tale of intrigue and betrayal is one of the most important untold stories of World War II. Dan Kurzman was the first journalist to have interviewed General Wolff following his release from prison in 1971. And this is the only book to tell the full behind-the-scenes story of the plot against the Vatican and its far-reaching consequences.

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How many divisions does the Pope have?

Enough so that 100 million Christian Men Might Volunteer to fight against Germany and all whom the Pope deem "Evil".

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"The perfect Aryan is as tall as Goebbels, as fit as Goering, as blond as Hitler, as handsome as Himmler and has a name such as Rosenberg."
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