The Pope and Mussolini

by David I. Kertzer

  5. ACS, CR, b. 68, Tacchi Venturi a Mussolini, 3 febbraio 1929. A copy of Tacchi Venturi’s letter is found in his own archive: ARSI, TV, b. 16, fasc. 1133.

  6. In order to raise healthy women, La Civiltà cattolica (1928 II, pp. 367–72) explained, it was “not necessary to train them to jump four meters.” Both the American embassy in Rome and the British embassy to the Holy See felt the pope’s protest over the girls’ gymnastics event to be worth reporting to their governments. NARA, M530, reel 2, Henry Fletcher to secretary of state, n. 1691, May 11, 1928; H. G. Chilton, Annual Report 1928, May 9, 1929, C 3397/3397/22, in Hachey 1972, p. 142, section 55.

  7. CC 1930 I, pp. 460–61. In a late 1932 meeting, when Borgongini handed Mussolini a copy of the latest issue of La Civiltà cattolica, the Duce waved it away, saying he already knew what it said, adding, “it’s a journal that I always read very carefully.” ASV, ANI, pos. 23, fasc. 4, ff. 47r–48r, Borgongini a Pacelli, 22 novembre 1932.

  8. “If I were to prohibit the competition,” said Mussolini, returning to the subject at hand, “and people discovered that I had done it on orders from the Holy Father, all hell would break loose.” ASV, ANI, pos. 23, fasc. 3, ff. 28r–34r, Borgongini to Pacelli, 14 febbraio 1931. This was one papal request he rejected. On earlier papal protests over girls’ gymnastics and athletic events, see CC 1928 II, pp. 367–72; ASV, AESI, pos. 773, fasc. 317, ff. 77r–85r, 28 settembre 1929; CC 1930 I, p. 460. In fact, the Fascist regime’s policies regarding women were mixed; some were much in harmony with Church teachings, like opposition to birth control and measures to discourage women from working outside the home; others supported girls’ and women’s recreational activities that the Church disapproved of. See among other works on Fascism and women, De Grazia 1992.

  9. ASV, AESI, pos. 902, fasc. 596, ff. 49r–50r.

  10. Ibid., f. 51r, 16 settembre 1932.

  11. The next time the bishop wrote to call for state action, he wrote directly to Monsignor Giuseppe Pizzardo, one of the men closest to the pope and the Vatican official then responsible for Catholic Action: “This year is worse. From morning to evening in every street and in the little piazza many women (especially foreigners and those from northern Italy) are seen dressed in such an indecent manner that it is a nauseating spectacle.… Could not the Central Authority at the Head of the Government be made to take an interest in this?” ASV, AESI, pos. 902, fasc. 596, f. 52r, 20 agosto 1933.

  12. On February 23, 1933, Augusto Ciriaci, national president of Catholic Action, wrote directly to Mussolini to praise him for all he had done to date and to indicate the areas where greater enforcement efforts were necessary. Catholic Action would continue to collaborate with the regime, wrote Ciriaci, to contribute to the greatness of the Fatherland. The government should ban objectionable movies and plays, seize immoral magazines and books, and require women to wear modest dress. “We do not ask for new laws,” concluded Ciriaci. “We ask only that the excellent existing laws—existing in fact in large part due to Your Excellency’s wisdom and strength—be respected and applied with great vigor.” ASV, AESI pos. 929, vol. 1, fasc. 616, ff. 31r–36r. By the 1930s, the pope’s battle against revealing clothing dovetailed to some extent with Mussolini’s pro-fertility campaign, which saw the liberation of women from their traditional domestic role as a cause of declining fertility. On July 11, 1933, for example, the government told newspaper editors not to publish pictures of naked women “because they constitute an anti-demographic element.” Two years later Ciano complained about magazines publishing pictures of women in revealing bathing suits, again on grounds that they were “anti-demographic.” Tranfaglia 2005, pp. 171, 177.

  The pope’s battle for public decency also took aim at the “scandal” of public dancing, in which men’s and women’s bodies touched. In June 1933, at the pope’s request, Pacelli wrote to all the bishops in northern Italy, where the problem was thought to be particularly acute, asking them to report back on conditions in their dioceses. In response, the archbishop of Milan expressed the hope that the minister of internal affairs could be prevailed upon “to heed the voice of the Episcopate of northern Italy in this matter.” To illustrate the seriousness of the problem, he included a recent letter he had received from the bishop of Cremona, reporting that the local Fascist organizations, most notably the dopolavoro (“after work”) social groups, had made public dances “an organized industry.” The police, the bishop complained, took little action. One of his parish priests had tried to persuade the head of one such group to hold dances less often, but he was told that many men joined precisely because of the dances. ASV, AESI, b. 935, fasc. 628, ff. 2r–3v. The Vatican’s battle against public dancing continued through the end of Pius XI’s papacy, much to the dismay of the Fascist hierarchy. Typical was the lament of Bonificio Pignatti, who in 1935 replaced Cesare De Vecchi as Mussolini’s ambassador to the Holy See: “Unfortunately, as far as popular dances are concerned, the Holy See’s attitude, from the Pope on down, is unshakeable and there is no hope of obtaining any change.” ASMAE, APSS, b. 42, Pignatti a Starace, 10 settembre 1938.

  13. ASV, AESS, pos. 430b, fasc. 360, f. 115, 14 marzo 1934. De Vecchi’s reference to the government’s silence regarding cases of clerical immorality may have in part been inspired by his spies’ reports about cardinals said to be having relations with young boys, men, and girls. The skin on display did not have to be actual flesh to attract the pope’s attention or induce him to act. In October 1937 the pope learned that nude statues had recently been put on display in a museum, so he sent Tacchi Venturi to have something done about it. The curator, who had heard of the pope’s objection, assured Tacchi Venturi that the “four or five male statues that you deplored were immediately removed so that an abundant foliage of figs could be applied.” ASV, AESI, pos. 985, fasc. 669, ff. 4r–5r.

  14. The pope made his request through Tacchi Venturi. ACDF, S.O., 1930, 1413/30i, Tacchi Venturi a Cardinale Donato Sbarretti, S.O., 13 aprile 1933. Later that same year Tacchi Venturi presented the police head, Arturo Bocchini, with a list of foreign magazines, prepared by the central office of Catholic Action, that he wanted banned. After going through the list, Bocchini explained that he could not confiscate all the titles but promised to ban many of them. In reporting the matter to Pizzardo, Tacchi Venturi especially called his attention to the police chief’s promise: if Tacchi Venturi were to bring other titles to his attention, his office would give his censorship requests very careful consideration. “Occasions to take advantage of his offer will, unfortunately, not be lacking!” Tacchi Venturi concluded, in his enthusiasm allowing himself an uncharacteristic exclamation point. AESI, pos. 929, vol. I, fasc. 617, ff. 2r–3r. For Tacchi Venturi’s role in ensuring that articles dealing with subjects of interest to the Church in the influential Enciclopedia italiana met with Church approval, see Turi 2002.

  15. ASV, AESI, pos. 669, fasc. 132, ff. 34r–35r, Tacchi Venturi a Gasparri, 23 gennaio 1929. The Vatican also exerted pressure on the government to prevent sex education in the public schools, as can be seen in an intercepted telephone call made by Pizzardo to the Italian embassy to the Holy See on April 25, 1935. ACS, MCPG, b. 165, n. 3093. A theatrical work could now be banned for offending the pope or stirring up disdain for “religious sentiment.” Talbot 2007, pp. 148–49.

  16. “Italy Bans Sex Appeal in Pictures,” LAT, March 20, 1931, p. 4. Borgongini had urged Mussolini on January 19 to introduce stricter censorship over film and theater; he had found Mussolini not particularly sympathetic. ASV, ANI, b. 23, fasc. 3, Borgongini a Pacelli, 20 gennaio 1931.

  17. Although the cases I discuss below focus on university professors, the great majority of the papal complaints to Mussolini regarded ex-priests who found jobs teaching in public schools, most commonly elementary schools. The pope insisted they be fired.

  18. After a brief rehabilitation, his definitive excommunication came in January 1926. Leading up to the decision, the Holy Office asked Father Gemelli to examine Buonaiuti and o
ffer his opinion; see Martina 2003, p. 238; Zambarbieri 1982a. The modernist professor, Gemelli reported back to the Vatican, was in need of treatment “not from the priesthood, but from professionals who assist unhappy psychic deviants.” Quoted in Luzzatto 2010, p. 142.

  19. In April 1924 Tacchi Venturi had met with then minister of education Giovanni Gentile to get him to remove Buonaiuti. Sale 2007, p. 335.

  20. ARSI, TV, b. 9, fasc. 527, Tacchi Venturi a Gasparri.

  21. In reporting this to Mussolini, Fedele advised Mussolini that bowing to papal pressure and subjecting university faculty appointments to the pope’s approval would be a disaster. DDI, series 7, vol. 5, n. 11, Fedele a Mussolini, 11 febbraio 1927. As the pope kept up the pressure via Tacchi Venturi over the course of the year, Fedele finally called Buonaiuti in, explained the situation, and asked him to accept a research leave from his teaching post. Bonaiuti, upset, pointed out that there was no legal basis for keeping him from teaching but reluctantly agreed. “It is a huge concession made by the Government to the Holy See!” Fedele wrote to Mussolini in reporting the news. ACS, CR, b. 68, Fedele a Mussolini, 17 ottobre 1927.

  22. Buonaiuti had lambasted Fascism as promoting the pagan worship of the state. Zambarbieri 1982a, p. 64; Goetz 2000.

  23. The 1931 negotiations were handled by Borgongini and Dino Grandi, then Mussolini’s foreign minister. ASV, ANI, pos. 23, fasc. 2, ff. 99r–101r, Borgongini a Pacelli, 4 giugno 1930; ASMAE, APSS, b. 6, Borgongini a Grandi, 17 aprile 1931; Grandi’s undated reply is also found there. The minister of national education’s advice to Grandi on the Saitta case is found in a memo published in DDI, series 7, vol. 10, n. 342, 19 giugno 1931.

  24. Petacci 2010, pp. 129–30; R. Mussolini 2006, p. 88–89.

  25. Navarra 2004, p. 52.

  26. Mack Smith 1983, p. 6.

  27. C. Drexel interview, December 1934, in De Felice 1974, p. 866.

  28. H. Massis interview, September 1933, ibid., p. 854.

  29. Fifty-one years old when he got to conduct a series of interviews with the Duce in March 1932, Ludwig was already famous for interviewing other world leaders, from modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Atatürk, to Joseph Stalin.

  30. Ludwig 1933, p. 62.

  31. Ibid., pp. 126–27.

  32. Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, pp. 383–84; Urso 2003, pp. 193–94.

  33. Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993.

  34. Ludwig 1933, pp. 222–23.

  35. Bosworth 2002, p. 243.

  36. Monelli 1953, pp. 119–26. Such was the sacred power that now emanated from the dictator that his assistant, Navarra, was finding it difficult to recruit a barber willing to give him a shave. A policeman from Mussolini’s security detail who had once been a barber finally agreed to do it, but as soon as he held the razor near the Duce’s face, he began to shake uncontrollably. Navarra 2004, pp. 39–40.

  37. Quoted in Franzinelli and Marino 2003, p. xi.

  38. De Vecchi 1983, pp. 223–24.

  39. Quoted in Franzinelli and Marino 2003, p. xii.

  40. Bosworth 2002, pp. 44–46.

  41. Quoted in Navarra 2004, p. 21.

  42. De Felice 1974, pp. 174, 300–3.

  43. Gentile (1993, pp. 283–85) reproduces extensive excerpts from the March 24, 1932, piece in Il Popolo d’Italia. For an analysis of the ritual aspects of Mussolini’s speeches and their impact, see Galeotti 2000, pp. 49–50.

  44. Franzinelli 1995, pp. 171–72. The membership number is from 1934. In April 1928 Tacchi Venturi congratulated the national head of the PNF on the recent promulgation of eight commandments to guide all Fascist female youth groups (commandment three: Love the Duce). But he noted a glaring omission—there was no mention of God—and to repair it proposed the addition of a ninth commandment: “Fear and love God, origin and source of all good.” ARSI, TV, b. 13, fasc. 878, Tacchi Venturi a Augusto Turati, 28 aprile 1928. Turati replied that the proposed addition was unnecessary, as it was already implied “in that all of the spirit that permeates these norms is the Christian and Catholic spirit.” Ibid., Turati a Tacchi Venturi, 2 maggio 1928.

  45. Franzinelli (1995, p. 140) remarks that the priests’ behavior would be comic if it did not illustrate the appalling degree of servility that many clergy displayed toward their “holy Duce.”

  46. Brendon 2000, p. 133. The Duomo image is reproduced in Gentile 1993, p. 173.

  47. ASV, AESI, pos. 812, fasc. 444, ff. 7r–13r, Pizzardo a Cazzani, 21 novembre 1932. In this case the bishop, Giovanni Cazzani, stood his ground, writing that it would be humiliating for a priest to do what was being suggested.

  48. See Wolff 1985, pp. 239, 245; Bendiscioli 1982.

  49. Goetz 2000; Falasca-Zamponi 1997, pp. 110, 203–4.

  50. Quoted in Reineri 1978, p. 183.

  51. Ninety-six percent of all eligible voters voted. See De Felice 1974, p. 313.

  CHAPTER 14: THE PROTESTANT ENEMY AND THE JEWS

  1. According to De Vecchi, the visit had nearly been canceled at the last minute, as the previous day Mussolini had been angered by the fact that L’Osservatore romano made no mention of the upcoming event. Only by intervening with Monsignor Pizzardo, and having the Vatican newspaper come out with a special afternoon edition that day with the news, did De Vecchi persuade Mussolini to relent and go through with the visit. De Vecchi 1983, pp. 219–21.

  2. The next week a story announced that the visit would “almost certainly” take place that week. Arnaldo Cortesi, “Mussolini’s Visit to Pope Arranged … Event May Occur Today,” NYT, September 17, 1931, p. 13. The French ambassador reported that the visit had been fixed for September 19, but that Mussolini had backed out at the last minute, since such a visit, on the eve of the recently abolished September 20 holiday, “could be interpreted as a capitulation.” MAEI, vol. 266, 178, Fontenay au Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, 29 septembre 1931.

  3. MAEI, vol. 266, 209–11, Fontenay au Président du Conseil, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, 17 janvier 1932.

  4. Cardinal Pacelli reports this in his notes of November 27, based on a conversation with Tacchi Venturi. ASV, AESS, pos. 430b, fasc. 357, f. 68. On December 19, 1931, a note labeled “dictated by the Holy Father to the Most Eminent Pacelli,” directed Tacchi Venturi to inform Mussolini that the pope had decided—“after some reflexion”—to accept the proposed February 11 date for the meeting. He was also to tell Mussolini that the pope would interpret it as an expression of Mussolini’s atonement for infringing on the concordat by his recent treatment of Catholic Action. “I must say this because if Mussolini comes that day the Holy Father will receive him, will have him sit down, and then will speak and will tell him, perhaps while smiling, that he gladly accepted the proposed date … because he believes that [Mussolini] wished, with praiseworthy aim, to honorably make amends for the violation of articles 43 and 44 [the articles of the concordat allowing Catholic Action to function freely].” ARSI, TV, b. 20, fasc. 1524, Pacelli a Tacchi Venturi, 19 dicembre 1931.

  5. A few days earlier Borgongini had gone to the Quirinal Palace at the pope’s request to award King Victor Emmanuel III the Collar of the Supreme Order of Christ. “Dopo il conferimento dell’Ordine Supremo di Cristo a S.M. il Re d’Italia,” OR, 7–8 gennaio 1932, p. 1. Then to complete the medley, the nuncio conferred the Great Cross of the Piano Order both on Cesare De Vecchi and on Foreign Minister Dino Grandi. “La Gran Croce dell’Ordine Piano al Ministro italiano Grandi e all’Ambasciatore De Vecchi,” OR, 12 gennaio 1932, p. 2. The French ambassador to the Holy See was told in advance about the planned papal honors for the king, Mussolini, and the others. He was led to believe that the pope had decided to give them out in reaction to expressions of government displeasure that the honors that Mussolini had given Pacelli, Borgongini, and Tacchi Venturi had not been reciprocated. MAEI, vol. 266, 202–4, Fontenay au ministre des affaires étrangères, 8 janvier 1932.

  6. “Nostre informazioni,” OR, 12 febbraio 1932, p. 1. The incident of the ejected woman was described by Mor
gan (1939, pp. 190–97), who was present as an invited guest when it happened. It was not reported in the Vatican or Italian press.

  7. The illustration appeared on the cover of La Domenica del Corriere, February 21, 1932. When the Italian edition of Emil Ludwig’s book-length interviews with Mussolini was published, one of the paragraphs that most offended the pope was the Duce’s description of how he had refused to bow or kiss the pope’s ring. This paragraph and others that the pope found objectionable—including one where Mussolini said he thought people should be left to decide themselves how to worship God—were purged from the Italian edition after its first printing. MAEI, vol. 266, 255, Charles-Roux à président du conseil, 29 juillet 1932; ibid., 291–92, 27 ottobre 1932; Chiron 2006, p. 293. In July, according to De Vecchi’s second-in-command at the Italian embassy, Mussolini said that in publishing his comments on the Church, “that big Jew betrayed me.” ASV, AESI, pos. 887, fasc. 593, f. 42r, 15 luglio 1932. On November 10, Tacchi Venturi happily reported that a new edition of the Ludwig interview was just then being published—it had shrunk by five pages, all the objectionable passages in the section “Rome and the Church” having been deleted. ASV, AESI, pos. 667, fasc. 128, f. 48r.