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The Polish Question in Pius XII’S Policy in the Context of the Struggle against Nazism and Communism
Abstract
The article examines the relations between the Holy See and Pope Pius XII and Poland during the Second World War and in the first years after the war. During the war, the Pope was constrained by the rule of three dictatorships in Europe: National Socialism in Germany, communism in Russia, and fascism in Italy. This severely limited the possibility of openly criticizing the criminal regimes. Any such criticism led to severe persecution of Catholics in the countries concerned. The Holy See could not afford to criticize selectively only one totalitarian regime, as this would have been perceived negatively by the faithful and would have been immediately exploited by the propaganda of the totalitarian states fighting one another. At the same time, Pius XII had to take into account the possibility of being imprisoned by the Germans, which would have posed an unprecedented threat to the functioning of the Church on a global scale. For this reason, the Pope relied more heavily on diplomatic channels to defend the Polish population, while in his public speeches he called upon all parties to the conflict to pursue peace and respect natural law. He also sought to organize material assistance for the Polish people. After the end of the war, Pius XII unequivocally criticized the Soviet enslavement of Poland. It was above all for this reason that the communist authorities organized unprecedented propaganda attacks against the Holy Father.
Keywords:
Pius XII, Kazimierz Papée, Polish government-in-exileMost read articles by the same author(s)
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