The Catholic Church and the War

272 Stiaccini

Chapter 13 The Catholic Church and the War

Carlo Stiaccini

The Religious Face of the War

The First World War was a decisive experience for the Catholic Church, shap- ing the attitude of Catholics towards war and influencing the position of successive popes on the legitimacy of the recourse to arms.1 The conscription and mobilization of 124 million Catholics by the Entente and 64 million by the Central Powers put the Church hierarchy under great stress, given its propen- sity for transnational positions and a pacifist outlook despite the pressures created by a range of national political environments. The task of translating the Holy See’s interpretation of the war into concrete action was left to the national episcopates from the outbreak of the conflict. This was no simple task, as it required the identification of a Christian meaning in the immense efforts demanded by the war and the creation of a narrative which could per- suade the faithful that only the victory of their own nation’s army could create a truly peaceful society owing to Christian structures.2

1 On ‘just war’ and the debate within the Church, see Daniele Menozzi, Chiesa, pace e guerra nel Novecento. Verso una delegittimazione religiosa dei conflitti (Bologna, 2008); Mimmo Franzinelli, Riccardo Bottoni (ed.), Chiesa e guerra. Dalla benedizione delle armi alla “Pacem in terris” (Bologna, 2005). For a general survey of the Catholic response to the war, see Gabriele De Rosa, “I cattolici” in Il trauma dell’intervento. 1914-1919 (Florence, 1968), pp. 167-201; Pietro Scoppola, Cattolici neutralisti e interventisti alla vigilia del conflitto (Rome, 1962); Luigi Bruti Liberati, Il clero italiano nella Grande Guerra (Rome, 1982); Mario Rosa, Clero e società nell’Italia contemporanea (Rome-Bari, 1992); Francesco Malgeri, “La Chiesa, i cattolici e la prima guerra mondiale” in Gabriele De Rosa (ed.), Storia dell’Italia religiosa. L’età contemporanea (Rome- Bari, 1995), pp. 189-222. The theme of the relationship between the Catholic Church, Italy and the war is synthesised in Carlo Stiaccini, “La Chiesa, l’Italia e la guerra” in Stéphane Audoin Rouzeau, Jean Jacques Becker (ed.), La prima guerra mondiale (Italian edition ed. Antonio Gibelli), vol. 2 (Turin, 2007), p. 124-135. 2 The positions of the national episcopates and individual bishops and cardinals have been analysed in various studies beginning with the proceedings of the 1962 Spoleto conference, published in Giuseppe Rossini (ed.), Benedetto XV, i cattolici e la Prima guerra mondiale (Rome, 1963); especially the essay “I vescovi italiani e la guerra” by Alberto Monticone. More recently, Antonio Scottà, I vescovi veneti e la Santa Sede nella guerra 1915-1918 3 vol (Rome, 1991); Marcello Malpensa, “I vescovi davanti alla guerra” in Daniele Menozzi, Giovanna Procacci, Simonetta

The rapidity with which events unfolded between the end of July and the start of August 1914 did not help the Vatican, which endeavoured to halt the slide into war via the papal nunciatures. In a period of modest international influence, the Holy See feared that a war between the European great powers would constitute another crisis, impeding its hoped-for return to the preemi- nence that secularism had undermined. War would only highlight national differences, including religious, which the Roman Church had always worked against. These concerns grew significantly after the death of Pius X (20 August 1914), when the Vatican found itself having to manage the vacancy of the See with war already under way. Italy’s initial neutrality appeared providential to many prelates since this at least permitted European cardinals to travel to Rome so that the conclave could occur in the regular fashion. The selection of the new head of the Church took place in a climate strongly influenced by the war: the non-Italian cardinals (31 out of 65), influenced by the political circum- stances of their respective countries, presented themselves in Rome with appeals and declarations which justified their governments’ decisions for war. Meanwhile a few Italian cardinals were prevented from entering papal terri- tory after their public embrace of overly nationalist positions, as in the case of cardinal Pietro Maffi, archbishop of Pisa.3 International divisions, and the anti- modernist faction within the Church, nonetheless prevented any interruption to the centuries-old tradition of electing an Italian pope. Most of the non-Ital- ian ‘papabile’ candidates, considered suitable for appointment, belonged to one or other of the warring alliances, and the election of one of these would have left the Vatican open to accusations of supporting their position. The only serious non-Italian candidate in this period was the Secretary of State Merry del Val, a Spaniard, who received a few votes on the first day but was then rejected on the basis of his diplomatic inexperience and for having worked exclusively within the curia. On 3 September, after three days of voting, the electors settled on the Genovese archbishop of Bologna, Giacomo Della Chiesa, who had considerable experience in the Roman and Madrid Curias, though he had been created cardinal only four months earlier and many feared he was

Soldani (ed.), Un Paese in guerra. La mobilitazione civile in Italia (1914-1918) (Milan, 2010), pp. 295-316; and Daniele Menozzi (ed.), La Chiesa italiana nella Grande Guerra (Brescia, 2015). Interesting points on the position of the episcopates are also found in Piero Melograni, Storia politica della grande guerra. 1915-1918 (Bari, 1969); and Alberto Monticone, Gli italiani in uni- forme 1915-1918 (Rome-Bari, 1972). 3 On the Pisan cardianl see the recent work by Giovanni Cavagnini, Per una più grande Italia. Il cardinale Pietro Maffi e la Prima guerra mondiale (Pisa, 2015). On Catholic nationalism more generally, see Luigi Ganapini, Il nazionalismo cattolico (Rome-Bari, 1970).