Pius XII and the Nazi Regime

This is another interesting historical lesson of religion and politics.

Pope Pius XII become Pope of the Catholic Church on the eve of World War II. His papacy would prove to be one of the most controversial in church history because of his actions, or rather lack thereof, during World War II. Pius XII adopted a position of Neutrality, very similar to the one that the church held during the First World War. This war however proved to very different. Over the course of the war, Pius XII continually received letters from priests and bishops all over Europe which detailed the atrocities being committed by the Nazis. Despite all of the information he received, and all of the pressure he received from his colleagues and governments to speak out, Pius remained silent. Hitler had threatened to invade the Vatican and even drew up military plans for an invasion in the event of such an event as Pius speaking out. Pius XII remained silent however for the entire war. This was a rarity in Catholic history as the clergy had never before been shy to speak up about anything political. Fear is a powerful thing. Today, the Church has no problem speaking out against such things it views as atrocities because they have no fear of invasion.