(July 29, 2023 at 4:02 pm)The Valkyrie Wrote: Why did the Catholic church promote, support, and celebrate the Nazis?
Because 1) by 1940 Hitler was willing to sign a concordat which gave Catholic churches in Germany limited autonomy, and 2) Pius XII was anti-Semitic and wasn't bother by the Holocaust.
Pius got what he wanted for his church. So long as the RCC was left alone, it didn't care. In the concordat, Pius abjured any political commentary from the Church regarding Nazi atrocities. In effect he abdicated the Vatican's moral authority in Germany in order to protect German Catholics. His refusal to speak out against the Holocaust was a result of him trying to protect his religious power there.
Just to be clear: many Americans turned a blind eye to the Holocaust as well. It's not like anti-Semitism was unique to Catholics or Europeans.
