This book, by a writer born in the Roman Catholic religion, claims to show the responsibility of the Roman Church in the unparalleled catas- trophe of the two World Wars. An unwillingness to accept any official version of historical facts without close scrutiny has led the author to notice certain gaps and omissions which by their frequency have struck him as being systematic. He has found this particularly true of the Holy See, and in his investigations into the part it has played in contemporary affairs he has taken inlinite pains to assemble the works of the most highly qualified writers as well as official documents and papers from archives, and his conclusions have been reached after much patient research and cross-checking. Born in Paris of a Roman Catholic family of scholars, Edmond Paris has always been especially interested in philosophical, religious and social matters, and after leaving the Sorbonne, where he was an assiduous student, he completed his studies in various parts of the world. Concerned always to remain in close contact with reality, he travelled widely and was thus able to compare what he had learned with what he saw, and this no less than his vast culture is clearly apparent in his written works, which include Le Vatican Contre La France, as well as in his lectures, reflecting as they do a man remarkably free from bias, and one governed by a veritable passion for the truth. If it is true that "all roads lead to Rome" with regard to international politics, then this is indeed a work that should be read by all who care where they are going. PAGE FOREWORD 7 THE POLITICS OF THE HOLY SEE BILL OF INDICTMENT THE EVIDENCE Part I THE FIRST WORLD WAR CHAPTER PAGE I THE EUROPEAN SITUATION ON THE EVE OF 1914 27 II PIUS X CAUSES THE OUTBREAK OF WAR 41 III BENEDICT XV, THE PRO-GERMAN POPE 49 Part II PREPARATIONS FOR REVENGE I PIUS XI INSTIGATES FASCISM 67 II IT WAS THE POPE WHO MADE HITLER 83 III FRANCO, THE VATICAN'S INSTRUMENT OF WAR 111 IV BELGIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF "CHRISTUS REX" 125 V VATICAN-HITLERIST ACTIVITY IN THE UNITED STATES 137 Part III GERMAN AGGRESSIONS, THE ELECTION OF PIUS XII AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR CHAPTER PAGE I THE ANSCHLUSS AND CARDINAL INNITZER 147 II FROM MUNICH TO MGR. TISO'S SLOVAKIA 157 III THE INVASION OF POLAND 165 IV THE BETRAYAL OF FRANCE 177 Part IV MURDERERS' HOUR I MONSEIGNEUR STEPINAC'S CROATIA 195 II GENOCIDE 235 III HIMMLER AND THE JESUITS 247 IV NUREMBERG 257 V THE VATICAN HIDES AND DEFENDS THE FLEEING ASSASSINS 277 VI GOD OR MAMMON? 289 APPENDIX THE DEATH OF PIUS XII 299 POSTSCRIPT 309 7 FOREWORD IN my last book1, I made it clear that I should allow myself no incursion into the religious field. "The Vatican," 1 said, "owing to its twofold nature—at one and the same time temporal and spiritual —is particularly subject to ambiguity. Consequently, I would stress that I have considered only the political side." In the present work the same principle has been followed. I have confined myself to highlighting the historical continuity of the retrograde and evil politics of the Vatican, as well as the latter's overwhelming responsibility in the disasters that have succeeded one another in Europe during the last fifty years. The following pages lay bare the deceit and crimes in which the Holy See, its representatives throughout the world and its Nazi and Fascist allies have participated, and which their unparalleled hypocrisy has not been able to conceal. The book opens with a bill of indictment against the Vatican. The charges are taken up separately in the ensuing chapters, where they are matched with ample and incontestable proof of a continued collusion with the torturers of mankind who started the last world catastrophe. But this collusion is well within the tradition of the Holy See. It dates back for many centuries. In all circumstances, ever since the days of Charlemagne, the Papacy has not ceased to lean upon the Germans, in order to impose its authority and to extend it through- out Europe. The Reformation had undoubtedly disturbed the agreement that for centuries had held good between the Holy See and Mittel-Europa, and had withdrawn a part of the German peoples from obedience to the Vatican. Austria-Hungary alone remained entirely submissive. But, step by step and with infinite patience, the Roman Curia gradually and without pause regained the influence lost, at the same time placing at the service of Pan- Germanic appetites the entire spiritual ascendancy enjoyed by the 1Le Vatican contre la France (Fischbacher, Paris, 1957). 8 THE VATICAN AGAINST EUROPE Holy See among the Catholics in both the Reich and the rest of Europe. Thus Germany The Great, like the Habsburg Empire, was to serve as a "secular arm" in order to annihilate the influence of Orthodox Russia in the Balkans and to restore the Holy See's authority in secular France. The game was lost in 1918, but was resumed in 1939, with the Vatican playing the very same card which it is still playing today. Guy Emery Shipler2 clearly summarized the importance of this political activity of the Vatican when he wrote "No political event or circumstance can be evaluated without the knowledge of the Vatican's part in it. And no significant world political situation exists in which the Vatican does not play an important, explicit or implicit part." Here, as in the earlier book, I have endeavoured to present the reader with the actual texts upon which my belief rests, in order that he might judge of their meaning and implication. Likewise, in selecting these quotations, I have had recourse to books and news- papers which are not considered hostile to the Holy See, and whose testimony is therefore the more convincing. 2Quoted by Avro Manhattan in The Vatican and World Politics (Horizon Press, New York). THE POLITICS OF THE HOLY SEE : BILL OF INDICTMENT THE POLITICS OF THE HOLY SEE: BILL OF INDICTMENT THE continuity of the Vatican's anti-liberal policy. — The fatality of its agreement with the Germanic world. — An Italian Member of Parliament exclaims: "The Pope's hands are dripping with blood!" — An inquiry into the facts reveals the primordial role of the Vatican in the preparation of the two world wars. — The result: the irremediable decline of Europe. — Silence before the crimes, a consequence of papal absolutism. — The iron sceptre of the new "oppressor of the peoples". — Curious fate of a religion that was to "liberate souls". — After the war. The Holy See resumes control of the Germanic "secular arm". "Nothing has changed. The pious Adenauer has replaced Hitler . . .". — 1957: Vast gathering of the former SS and Waffen SS of Europe. — By means of the "European" plans, the Vatican intends to subjugate France to Germany. The means which enabled it to weaken her: the war of Indo-China, the Suez "coup", the rebellion of North Africa. — The same dissolving action in Darkest Africa and Madagascar. 14 THE VATICAN AGAINST EUROPE Peter since the outbreak of the first world war, and their attitude has been invariably the same towards the two rival camps of Europe: Western democracies and Central European Empires. But, as will be seen, it is no mere partiality for which the Holy See is blamed, but first and foremost its decisive role in the preparation of both conflicts, its never-failing support of the aggressor. The extollers of Pope Pius XII may well cover their faces when an Italian Member of Parliament exclaims: "The Pope's hands are dripping with blood!"2 Nevertheless, simply to recall the facts will be to build up a terrible indictment of the Vatican. In Germany, before 1914, the Catholic Zentrum wholeheartedly supported the belligerent preparations of the Imperial Government. Its chiefs were already proclaiming Germany's "great political and moral mission" in the world. "In 1914, Cardinal Faulhaber3 declared that in effect God was German.'" Pope Pius X, in his hatred of the Orthodox Christians, was continually inciting Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria-Hungary to "chastise the Serbians". After Sarajevo, on 26 July 1914, Baron Ritter, Bavarian representative at the Holy See, wrote to his Govern- ment : "The Pope approves of Austria's harsh treatment of Serbia. He has no great opinion of the armies of Russia and France in the event of a war against Germany. The Cardinal Secretary of State does not see when Austria could make war if she does not decide to do so now. ..." There, in true colours, is the Vicar of Christ, the gentle apostle of peace, the Holy Pontiff whom pious authors represent as having "died of sorrow at seeing the outbreak of war". Pope Pius X was succeeded by Benedict XV, "the 'boche' Pope". His attempts to prevent first Italy and then the United States from entering the war alongside the Allies, his intrigues intended to divide the Allies, his note for a "stalemate" peace in 1917 (with the help of Mgr. Pacelli, Papal Nuncio in Munich) shocked even the French Catholics, whose patriotism was still alive. Of course, the "boche" Pope took good care not to condemn the violation of rights, the torpedoing of neutral ships, or any of the excesses com- mitted by the German army. 2Speech by Laura Diaz, Member of Parliament for Leghorn, delivered on 15 April 1948 at Ortona 3Adrien Dansette Destin du catholicisme francais (Flamrnarion, Paris, 1957. p. 192). THE POLITICS OF THE HOLY SEE: BILL OF INDICTMENT 15 In 1922, Pope Pius XI donned the tiara. The Papacy had lost the first war; it was about to prepare for the second. What was happening in Europe during the years between the two massacres? In Italy, secret negotiations took place between papal agents and Mussolini, "the man of Providence". The priest don Sturzo, Chief of the Catholic Group, had full rights voted to the Duce on 16 November 1922. Then came the Lateran Treaty, to seal the union of Fascism and the Papacy, the conquest of Ethiopia—blessed by the clergy—and. on Good Friday 1939, the aggression against Albania. In Germany the Papal Nuncio in Berlin, Mgr. Pacelli, and Franz von Papen, Privy Chamberlain to the Pope, advocated a "union with Rome" and concentrated on the overthrow of the Weimar Republic. The German Catholics were hostile to Nazism, but were informed that the Pope himself was "favourably disposed towards Hitler". Consequently, the Catholic Zentrum, axis of all the parlia- mentary majorities, voted full rights to Hitler on 30 January 1933. This operation was promptly followed, as in Italy, by the concluding of a concordat which was most advantageous to the Roman Church. The German Episcopate swore allegiance to the Fuhrer, and Catholic youth organizations combined with those of the Nazis. In 1935, the Saar voted its re-attachment to the Reich after a favourable electoral campaign by the Bishops of Trier and Speyer. Henceforth, the principal champion of the Papacy—the Germanic "secular arm"— visibly gathered strength. In Spain, the Virgin appeared here and there, and effigies of Christ shed tears. These were unmistakable signs—the Republic and its impious regime would not last long. On 31 March 1934 the Pact of Rome was signed, and pledged the support of Mussolini and Hitler for the rebellion. The "holy war" broke out. In 1937, in the midst of war, the Vatican gave de jure recognition to the Govern- ment of Franco, its sword-bearer, who was later to be decorated with the Supreme Order of Christ. "Blessed be the guns if the Gospel flowers in their wake!" Soon the Catholic Action was to spread its reign of tyranny across the ruined country. Pax Christi! In Belgium, once more it was the Catholic Action which, under the title of Christus-Rex, implanted a local Nazism and prepared