The Papal Shadows: Unveiling the Influence and Intentions Behind “Hitler’s Pope”
Key Takeaways
“Hitler’s Pope,” authored by John Cornwell, delves into the complex historical narrative surrounding Pope Pius XII, tracing the roots of his papacy back to familial connections with Pope Pius IX. Cornwell sets the stage by depicting the dramatic escape of Pius IX from Rome, aided by the future pope’s grandfather, thus establishing a lineage intertwined with pivotal Vatican figures and events. The book meticulously explores the socio-political and religious milieu from the time of Pius IX through the tumultuous era of World War II, shedding light on the Vatican’s intricate relationship with power, modernism, and its staunch opposition to Communism, as epitomized in the doctrine of papal infallibility established during the First Vatican Council. Cornwell’s narrative critically examines Pius XII’s controversial stance during the Holocaust and the Vatican’s negotiations with Nazi Germany, prompting a reevaluation of the Catholic Church’s role in one of history’s darkest chapters.
- John Cornwell’s “Hitler’s Pope” begins with the historical episode of Pope Pius IX’s flight from Rome, emphasizing the close bond with the future Pope Pius XII’s grandfather, which lays the foundation for the future pope’s influences and viewpoints.
- The book provides a detailed account of the socio-political and religious landscape from the era of Pius IX to World War II, highlighting the Vatican’s engagement with contemporary political and ideological challenges.
- Cornwell explores the development and implications of the doctrine of papal infallibility, declared during the First Vatican Council, as a reaction to modernist ideologies and the upheavals of the French Revolution, reflecting the Vatican’s resistance to Communism and modern secular movements.
- The narrative critically assesses Pope Pius XII’s actions, or lack thereof, in the face of the Holocaust, questioning his moral leadership and the Vatican’s tacit complicity of silence during the Nazi regime’s persecution of Jews.
- The author scrutinizes the Vatican’s diplomatic maneuvers, particularly through Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII), who as a Vatican Secretary of State, played a significant role in forging relations with Nazi Germany, culminating in the 1933 Concordat that facilitated the rise of Nazism by ensuring Catholic withdrawal from political opposition.
- “Hitler’s Pope” delves into the internal dynamics and ideological battles within the Catholic Church, contrasting the conservative stance of the First Vatican Council with the liberal orientation of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), and how these opposing viewpoints reflect an ongoing struggle within the Church.
- The book invokes the three secrets of Fatima as a thematic backdrop, suggesting an internal and external prophetic dimension to the Vatican’s actions and the global political landscape, particularly in the context of the Church’s confrontation with atheism and Communism.
- Cornwell’s narrative invites readers to reevaluate the legacy of Pius XII in light of historical evidence and the broader context of Vatican politics, ideological conflicts, and the moral dilemmas posed by the Church’s interaction with totalitarian regimes.
In the book titled, “Hitler’s Pope”, the author John Cornwell starts the story of the future pope who reigned when Hitler ruled Germany, with his grandfather and Pope Pius IX, who were driven out of the City of Rome. When Pius IX fled from the city of Rome, disguised as a nun, the only man he took with him was the future pope’s grandfather. Cornwall addresses the close relationship of the two men, and thereafter identifies how the future pope’s father also was connected with the power center of the Catholic Church. In doing so he identifies the social, political and religious environment of the history from the time of Pius IX, through World War Two. The overview of history is tremendously informative.
“Another step in papal assumption was taken, when, in the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII proclaimed the perfection of the Roman Church. Among the propositions which he put forth was one declaring that the church had never erred, nor would it ever err, according to the Scriptures. But the Scripture proofs did not accompany the assertion. The proud pontiff also claimed the power to depose emperors, and declared that no sentence which he pronounced could be reversed by anyone, but that it was his prerogative to reverse the decisions of all others.
“A striking illustration of the tyrannical character of this advocate of infallibility was given in his treatment of the German emperor, Henry IV. For presuming to disregard the pope’s authority, this monarch was declared to be excommunicated and dethroned. Terrified by the desertion and threats of his own princes, who were encouraged in rebellion against him by the papal mandate, Henry felt the necessity of making his peace with Rome. In company with his wife and a faithful servant he crossed the Alps in midwinter, that he might humble himself before the pope. Upon reaching the castle whither Gregory had withdrawn, he was conducted, without his guards, into an outer court, and there, in the severe cold of winter, with uncovered head and naked feet, and in a miserable dress, he awaited the pope’s permission to come into his presence. Not until he had continued three days fasting and making confession, did the pontiff condescend to grant him pardon. Even then it was only upon condition that the emperor should await the sanction of the pope before resuming the insignia or exercising the power of royalty. And Gregory, elated with his triumph, boasted that it was his duty to pull down the pride of kings.” The Great Controversy, 57.
Gregory VII was an “advocate of infallibility,” but the ridiculous claim was not made an official doctrine (dogma), until Pius IX, who made the foolish claim an established doctrine at the first Vatican Council. The doctrine was passed July 18, 1870, one hundred and fifty years to the day before the first disappointment of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.
What is informative about the history is that when Pius IX organized the first Vatican Council, and implemented his doctrine of infallibility, his motivation was brought about by his hatred of what was called “modernism.” It was not rooted in the idea that a pope could make no errors when defining biblical doctrines, it was a defense of the papal opposition to the influence that had been produced by the French Revolution. It was directed against what would ultimately be known as Communism.
The French Revolution brought about an upheaval in the ruling structure of European nations, with a particular hatred for the monarchy that is the papacy. It was an Italian Republican revolt that had temporarily driven Pius IX, and his right-hand man out of Rome. The “modernism,” that was represented by the various philosophies that were produced by the French Revolution was Pius IX’s, arch enemy, and his doctrine of infallibility was designed to sustain every claim that the pope made against the modernists ideas that were produced by the French Revolution.
Daniel chapter eleven, verse forty identifies that in 1798, the king of the south (atheistic France), delivered the deadly wound to the king of the north (the papacy).
Pius IX’s doctrine of infallibility was connected with the war represented by verse forty of Daniel eleven, and from the latter part of 1869 to the following year Pius IX called together the first Vatican Council, known as Vatican I, for the purpose of confirming that the pope was the head of Catholicism, and that Catholicism was the head of all the churches, as had been proclaimed by Justinian’s decree in the year 533.
The Second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, was held from 1962 to 1965. It was a landmark event in the history of the Catholic Church, and one of the most significant ecumenical councils in modern times. The council convened under the leadership of Pope John XXIII and continued during the pontificate of Pope Paul VI after John XXIII’s death in 1963. It is important to recognize the distinct difference between these two councils.
The first council was to establish what is called the “primacy,” of the pope, meaning that the pope is the supreme ruler, teacher and shepherd of the Church, responsible for preserving and interpreting the doctrines of faith. His authority consisted in defining dogmas, issuing doctrinal decrees, and making authoritative pronouncements on matters of faith and morals, known as papal infallibility. It includes the pope’s jurisdictional authority over the universal Church, including the power to appoint bishops, regulate the sacraments, and govern the Church’s administration.
The second council was to redirect the church into an ecumenical entity. The councils were directly opposite propositions. The conservative first council was contradicted by the liberal second council. Those two factions were as different as night and day, and the prophecy that is attributed to the three secrets of Fatima identify an internal war fitly represented by these two councils.
The prophecy identifies a class who uphold the primacy represented by Pius IX as being represented by what is either called the “white pope,” the “good pope,” or the “good bishop”, and the other class, associated with Vatican II, are represented by the “black pope,” or the “bad pope,” or the “bad bishop.” The controversy of the two political concepts is represented when you visit the shrine of the miracle of Fatima, in Fatima, Portugal. When entering, the walkway is set between a statue of a black pope on one side, and a white pope on the other side.
It therefore becomes part of the heritage of the man that would ultimately become what the book identifies as Hitler’s pope, that his roots are entwined in the struggle between modernism (the king of the south), and papal primacy (the king of the north).
It is to be understood that the author of the book we are considering was a Catholic of good standing, and his stated purpose for writing the book was to shed light upon the claim that the pope that reigned during World War Two had supported Hitler, the Nazi’s or had any culpability in the holocaust against the Jews, and others. When Cornwell addresses Pius XII’s grandfather, who was the right-hand man that ordained the Vatican I council, the history of the struggle between the kings of the south and north is being acted out in that very history. When the “Republicanism” revolution reached Italy, for about a year, the Italians drove Pius IX out of the City of Rome, and from then on, even after he returned, all the papacy has ever owned was the one hundred and ten acres, known as Vatican City.
The only way he was even able to return to the Vatican is with the help of French troops, and a loan from the Rothschilds, the infamous Jewish bankers. To intelligently understand the papal complicity in the holocaust during World War Two, requires some basic understanding of Europe’s attitude towards the Jews since the crucifixion of Christ. The book suggests that antisemitism and racism are two different attitudes, claiming Hitler’s hatred of Jews was racist, for Hitler viewed the Jews as a lesser category of human beings, whereas antisemitism was the hatred of the Jews because they killed God. Whether they are one and the same, or there is actually a distinction between the two, the reality of the plight of the Jews is worth understanding.
For instance, in America today if the word “ghetto,” is used most think it is the definition of the poor, run down side of town. But the term “ghetto,” originally referred to a section of a city, especially in Venice, Italy, where Jews were compelled to live during the Middle Ages. The first ghetto was established in Venice in 1516, when the Venetian Republic confined Jews to a designated area of the city known as the “geto nuovo” (new foundry), which eventually became known as the “ghetto.”
In Europe through the Middle Ages, Jews were restricted as to where they could live, and also the professions they were allowed to practice. The restrictions were based upon the old definition of antisemitism, which referred to the belief that the Jews had killed God, and that all of their subsequent problems had been brought upon themselves through their own actions.
In the Middle Ages, it was an established tradition that Christians could not lend money or accept interest for a loan. The Jews were exempt from that restriction, and lending money became one of the professions that Jews were allowed to perform. The Jewish bankers, such as the Rothschild family, were the money changers in response to legal restrictions against what professions they were allowed to perform. When Pius IX needed funds to return to the Vatican, the frustration of no longer ruling the City of Rome was magnified by his need to reach out to the Jews for money.
Prior to his being driven out of Rome Pius IX had appeared to be in one of two camps concerning the Jews the churches relation to the Jews. The two camps consisted of those who believed the Jews, no matter what happens to them, are simply getting what they deserve, and the other tended to show a little mercy towards the Jews. When Pius IX returned to the Vatican, after being driven out, the mercy he had sometimes manifested prior to his exile was never manifested again. Before his exile he had shut down the ghetto in the City of Rome, and after his return he re-established the ghetto, and began a taxation upon the Jews in order to regroup his financial losses.
Pope Pius IX’s right-hand man was Marcantonio Pacelli, the grandfather of Hitler’s pope. He was an attorney that belonged to a special class of attorneys that supported the papacy. His son became part of that same elite class of attorneys, as did his grandson, who would ultimately become Hitler’s pope. After the book runs through the history of Eugenio Pacelli’s grandfather, his father, and his youth and education, it addresses the position that Pacelli took up as he began his work for the papacy. As an attorney, descending from the elite papal attorneys, he was picked to head up a department that specialized in contracts, which are called concords. In 1901 Pacelli was brought into the office of the Papal Secretariat of State.
Pacelli became the envoy to the nations. Prophetically Pacelli became the legal point of contact that consummated the fornication of the kings of the earth with the papacy. In 1903, Pius X was coronated as pope. Immediately he began to attack the “intellectual poison” that produced “relativism and skepticism.” The man who ran Pius X’s effort to eradicate “modernism” was Umberto Benigni, who worked in the same office as Pacelli. Benigni once stated of a group of world-class historians, that they were men for whom, “history is nothing but a continual desperate attempt to vomit. For this sort of human being there is only one remedy: the inquisition!” To Benigni, a historian that expressed any sympathy with the ideas that came from the French Revolution were to be executed.
Officially, Benigni ran the propaganda ministry for the papacy, but unofficially he also ran a clandestine spy network, designed to identify any Catholics that had any sympathy for the “modernism,” that had originated with the king of the south. Ultimately in 1910, his work produced a directive that obliged employees of the papacy to swear an oath, called the Antimodernist Oath. It is still in force. To be employed by the Vatican you must swear to a hatred of modernist ideas, which today we would call communistic ideas.
In the summary of Cronwell’s book, on the flyleaf it states, “In the first decade of the century, as a brilliant young Vatican lawyer, Pacelli helped shape an ideology of unprecedented papal power; during the 1920’s he employed cunning and blackmail to impose power in Germany. In 1933, Hitler became his perfect negotiating partner and a concordant was established that granted religious and educational advantages to the Catholic Church in exchange for Catholic withdrawal from social and political action. This ‘voluntary’ abdication of political Catholicism imposed from Rome facilitated the rise of Nazism.
At a cabinet meeting on July 14, 1933, Adolph Hitler expressed his opinion that very month that the concordance manufactured by Pacelli with the Nazi’s gave Germany created “an area of trust…. In the developing struggle against international Jewry.”
Cornwell’s book was not well received by Catholics who refused to accept the evidence that Pacelli was the primary reason that Hitler was able to rise to power, for Germany was a majority of Catholics. Pacelli had struck an agreement that prevented the Catholic publishing house, Catholic news agencies and Catholic schools from saying anything about the direction of Hitler from 1933 onward. The book traces the obvious anti-Semitic bent of Pacelli, who thereafter became the pope during World War Two. At least three items can be established on very reliable historical sources from the book.
The first is the warfare of the king of the north and the king of the south, as represented in Daniel chapter eleven. In that warfare the enemies are Catholicism against atheism, the pope against Communism. The other point is that the pope employed Nazism as his proxy army against atheism during World War Two, just as the pope employed apostate Protestantism in 1989, as its proxy army against the atheism of the USSR. The book also identifies the internal and external prophetic structure represented by the satanic messages that came forth from the miracle at Fatima.
The borderline war of Raphia, represented in verses eleven and twelve of Daniel eleven, represent the war of the borderline currently playing out in the Ukraine. The ancient war was a hot war, the second is the second battle in a “cold war”, with the proxy armies involved in mortal interaction. Raphia identifies the borderline war as being between the king of the north and the king of the south, but prophecy teaches that until the soon coming Sunday law, the whore of Tyre is forgotten, Jezebel is in Samaria, Herodias skipped Ahab’s birthday party. Those three witnesses of the role of the king of the north in this current history, is that she is behind the scenes pulling the strings. The hot wars and the cold wars that happen while she is forgotten are accomplished by her proxy armies.
Russia is the king of the south, and it is now involved in a borderline war that is being financed by the globalists of the Western world, primarily the progressive Democrats and RINO “Republican In Name Only” Republicans in the United States. When the United States is represented as the king of the north’s proxy army in verse forty of Daniel eleven, its two prophetic characteristics are military might and financial power. The United States is accomplishing the same work in Ukraine that it did in 1989, helping the Pope against Russia, and the proxy army on the ground, defending Ukraine, is so full of Nazi supporters that even the mainstream media cannot deny it. Rome is now using the same proxy armies that she used in the hot war that was World War Two, and in 1989, to war against Russia. Read the book: “Hitler’s Pope, the Secret History of Pius XII“.
We will continue this study in the next article.
“In like manner, when God was about to open to the beloved John the history of the church for future ages, He gave him an assurance of the Saviour’s interest and care for His people by revealing to him ‘One like unto the Son of man,’ walking among the candlesticks, which symbolized the seven churches. While John was shown the last great struggles of the church with earthly powers, he was also permitted to behold the final victory and deliverance of the faithful. He saw the church brought into deadly conflict with the beast and his image, and the worship of that beast enforced on pain of death. But looking beyond the smoke and din of the battle, he beheld a company upon Mount Zion with the Lamb, having, instead of the mark of the beast, the ‘Father’s name written in their foreheads.’ And again he saw ‘them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God’ and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
“These lessons are for our benefit. We need to stay our faith upon God, for there is just before us a time that will try men’s souls. Christ, upon the Mount of Olives, rehearsed the fearful judgments that were to precede His second coming: ‘Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.’ ‘Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.’ While these prophecies received a partial fulfillment at the destruction of Jerusalem, they have a more direct application to the last days.
“We are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Prophecy is fast fulfilling. The Lord is at the door. There is soon to open before us a period of overwhelming interest to all living. The controversies of the past are to be revived; new controversies will arise. The scenes to be enacted in our world are not yet even dreamed of. Satan is at work through human agencies. Those who are making an effort to change the Constitution and secure a law enforcing Sunday observance little realize what will be the result. A crisis is just upon us.
“But God’s servants are not to trust to themselves in this great emergency. In the visions given to Isaiah, to Ezekiel, and to John we see how closely heaven is connected with the events taking place upon the earth and how great is the care of God for those who are loyal to Him. The world is not without a ruler. The program of coming events is in the hands of the Lord. The Majesty of heaven has the destiny of nations, as well as the concerns of His church, in His own charge.” Testimonies, volume 5, 752, 753.
