Far from being pro-Hitler, the wartime pope Pius XII used to get up in the middle of the night and perform exorcisms on the German dictator, believing him to be possessed by the devil.
This and other contradictory behaviour by the late Pope is claimed in a new book by renowned Catholic scholar Gerard Noel in his book, Pius XII — The Hound of Hitler. In the book, to be published next month, the former Catholic Herald editor says the Pope was “not anti-Jewish or pro-Hitler”, but was motivated by “huge ambition for the Catholic Church, which he believed to be the one true Church”.
Pope Pius XII
“Pius XII was a disaster for the Jews, not because he was antisemitic, but because he had great political ambitions,” Mr Noel said. “His attitude was also moulded by the fact that he was a product of the pre-Vatican Council Church, which believed in the conversion of the Jews to Christianity.”
Mr Noel also examines in detail the fateful impact of the Concordat of 1933 between the Holy See and the Third Reich, which led directly to Hitler’s ascent to power. “Until the Concordat, Germany’s Catholic Church had been strongly opposed to Hitler. In return for widespread material concessions for the Catholic Church in Germany, the Holy See guaranteed that German Catholics would refrain from all partisan political activity. This involved the disbandment, by papal directive, of the German Centre [Catholic] Party. The party held the balance of power, and without them, Hitler was able to assume supreme power,” Mr Noel said.