The Pope and Mussolini (75 page)

15.
ASV, AESI, pos. 669, fasc. 132, ff. 34r–35r, Tacchi Venturi a Gasparri, 23 gennaio 1929. The Vatican also exerted pressure on the government to prevent sex education in the public schools, as can be seen in an intercepted telephone call made by Pizzardo to the Italian embassy to the Holy See on April 25, 1935. ACS, MCPG, b. 165, n. 3093. A theatrical work could now be banned for offending the pope or stirring up disdain for “religious sentiment.” Talbot 2007, pp. 148–49.

16.
“Italy Bans Sex Appeal in Pictures,” LAT, March 20, 1931, p. 4. Borgongini had urged Mussolini on January 19 to introduce stricter censorship over film and theater; he had found Mussolini not particularly sympathetic. ASV, ANI, b. 23, fasc. 3, Borgongini a Pacelli, 20 gennaio 1931.

17.
Although the cases I discuss below focus on university professors, the great majority of the papal complaints to Mussolini regarded ex-priests who found jobs teaching in public schools, most commonly elementary schools. The pope insisted they be fired.

18.
After a brief rehabilitation, his definitive excommunication came in January 1926. Leading up to the decision, the Holy Office asked Father Gemelli to examine Buonaiuti and offer his opinion; see Martina 2003, p. 238; Zambarbieri 1982a. The modernist professor, Gemelli reported back to the Vatican, was in need of treatment “not from the priesthood, but from professionals who assist unhappy psychic deviants.” Quoted in Luzzatto 2010, p. 142.

19.
In April 1924 Tacchi Venturi had met with then minister of education Giovanni Gentile to get him to remove Buonaiuti. Sale 2007, p. 335.

20.
ARSI, TV, b. 9, fasc. 527, Tacchi Venturi a Gasparri.

21.
In reporting this to Mussolini, Fedele advised Mussolini that bowing to papal pressure and subjecting university faculty appointments to the pope’s approval would be a disaster. DDI, series 7, vol. 5, n. 11, Fedele a Mussolini, 11 febbraio 1927. As the pope kept up the pressure via Tacchi Venturi over the course of the year, Fedele finally called Buonaiuti in, explained the situation, and asked him to accept a research leave from his teaching post. Bonaiuti, upset, pointed out that there was no legal basis for keeping him from teaching but reluctantly agreed. “It is a huge concession made by the Government to the Holy See!” Fedele wrote to Mussolini in reporting the news. ACS, CR, b. 68, Fedele a Mussolini, 17 ottobre 1927.

22.
Buonaiuti had lambasted Fascism as promoting the pagan worship of the state. Zambarbieri 1982a, p. 64; Goetz 2000.

23.
The 1931 negotiations were handled by Borgongini and Dino Grandi, then Mussolini’s foreign minister. ASV, ANI, pos. 23, fasc. 2, ff. 99r–101r, Borgongini a Pacelli, 4 giugno 1930; ASMAE, APSS, b. 6, Borgongini a Grandi, 17 aprile 1931; Grandi’s undated reply is also found there. The minister of national education’s advice to Grandi on the Saitta case is found in a memo published in DDI, series 7, vol. 10, n. 342, 19 giugno 1931.

24.
Petacci 2010, pp. 129–30; R. Mussolini 2006, p. 88–89.

25.
Navarra 2004, p. 52.

26.
Mack Smith 1983, p. 6.

27.
C. Drexel interview, December 1934, in De Felice 1974, p. 866.

28.
H. Massis interview, September 1933, ibid., p. 854.

29.
Fifty-one years old when he got to conduct a series of interviews with the Duce in March 1932, Ludwig was already famous for interviewing other world leaders, from modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Atatürk, to Joseph Stalin.

30.
Ludwig 1933, p. 62.

31.
Ibid., pp. 126–27.

32.
Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, pp. 383–84; Urso 2003, pp. 193–94.

33.
Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993.

34.
Ludwig 1933, pp. 222–23.

35.
Bosworth 2002, p. 243.

36.
Monelli 1953, pp. 119–26. Such was the sacred power that now emanated from the dictator that his assistant, Navarra, was finding it difficult to recruit a barber willing to give him a shave. A policeman from Mussolini’s security detail who had once been a barber finally agreed to do it, but as soon as he held the razor near the Duce’s face, he began to shake uncontrollably. Navarra 2004, pp. 39–40.

37.
Quoted in Franzinelli and Marino 2003, p. xi.

38.
De Vecchi 1983, pp. 223–24.

39.
Quoted in Franzinelli and Marino 2003, p. xii.

40.
Bosworth 2002, pp. 44–46.

41.
Quoted in Navarra 2004, p. 21.

42.
De Felice 1974, pp. 174, 300–3.

43.
Gentile (1993, pp. 283–85) reproduces extensive excerpts from the March 24, 1932, piece in
Il Popolo d’Italia
. For an analysis of the ritual aspects of Mussolini’s speeches and their impact, see Galeotti 2000, pp. 49–50.

44.
Franzinelli 1995, pp. 171–72. The membership number is from 1934. In April 1928 Tacchi Venturi congratulated the national head of the PNF on the recent promulgation of eight commandments to guide all Fascist female youth groups (commandment three: Love the Duce). But he noted a glaring omission—there was no mention of God—and to repair it proposed the addition of a ninth commandment: “Fear and love God, origin and source of all good.” ARSI, TV, b. 13, fasc. 878, Tacchi Venturi a Augusto Turati, 28 aprile 1928. Turati replied that the proposed addition was unnecessary, as it was already implied “in that all of the spirit that permeates these norms is the Christian and Catholic spirit.” Ibid., Turati a Tacchi Venturi, 2 maggio 1928.

45.
Franzinelli (1995, p. 140) remarks that the priests’ behavior would be comic if it did not illustrate the appalling degree of servility that many clergy displayed toward their “holy Duce.”

46.
Brendon 2000, p. 133. The Duomo image is reproduced in Gentile 1993, p. 173.

47.
ASV, AESI, pos. 812, fasc. 444, ff. 7r–13r, Pizzardo a Cazzani, 21 novembre 1932. In this case the bishop, Giovanni Cazzani, stood his ground, writing that it would be humiliating for a priest to do what was being suggested.

48.
See Wolff 1985, pp. 239, 245; Bendiscioli 1982.

49.
Goetz 2000; Falasca-Zamponi 1997, pp. 110, 203–4.

50.
Quoted in Reineri 1978, p. 183.

51.
Ninety-six percent of all eligible voters voted. See De Felice 1974, p. 313.

CHAPTER 14: THE PROTESTANT ENEMY AND THE JEWS

1.
According to De Vecchi, the visit had nearly been canceled at the last minute, as the previous day Mussolini had been angered by the fact that
L’Osservatore romano
made no mention of the upcoming event. Only by intervening with Monsignor Pizzardo, and having the Vatican newspaper come out with a special afternoon edition that day with the news, did De Vecchi persuade Mussolini to relent and go through with the visit. De Vecchi 1983, pp. 219–21.

2.
The next week a story announced that the visit would “almost certainly” take place that week. Arnaldo Cortesi, “Mussolini’s Visit to Pope Arranged … Event May Occur Today,” NYT, September 17, 1931, p. 13. The French ambassador reported that the visit had been fixed for September 19, but that Mussolini had backed out at the last minute, since such a visit, on the eve of the recently abolished September 20 holiday, “could be interpreted as a capitulation.” MAEI, vol. 266, 178, Fontenay au Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, 29 septembre 1931.

3.
MAEI, vol. 266, 209–11, Fontenay au Président du Conseil, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, 17 janvier 1932.

4.
Cardinal Pacelli reports this in his notes of November 27, based on a conversation with Tacchi Venturi. ASV, AESS, pos. 430b, fasc. 357, f. 68. On December 19, 1931, a note labeled “dictated by the Holy Father to the Most Eminent Pacelli,” directed Tacchi Venturi to inform Mussolini that the pope had decided—“after some reflexion”—to accept the proposed February 11 date for the meeting. He was also to tell Mussolini that the pope would interpret it as an expression of Mussolini’s atonement for infringing on the concordat by his recent treatment of Catholic Action. “I must say this because if Mussolini comes that day the Holy Father will receive him, will have him sit down, and then will speak and will tell him, perhaps while smiling, that he gladly accepted the proposed date … because he believes that [Mussolini] wished, with praiseworthy aim, to honorably make amends for the violation of articles 43 and 44 [the articles of the concordat allowing Catholic Action to function freely].” ARSI, TV, b. 20, fasc. 1524, Pacelli a Tacchi Venturi, 19 dicembre 1931.

5.
A few days earlier Borgongini had gone to the Quirinal Palace at the pope’s request to award King Victor Emmanuel III the Collar of the Supreme Order of Christ. “Dopo il conferimento dell’Ordine Supremo di Cristo a S.M. il Re d’Italia,” OR, 7–8 gennaio 1932, p. 1. Then to complete the medley, the nuncio conferred the Great Cross of the Piano Order both on Cesare De Vecchi and on Foreign Minister Dino Grandi. “La Gran Croce dell’Ordine Piano al Ministro italiano Grandi e all’Ambasciatore De Vecchi,” OR, 12 gennaio 1932, p. 2. The French ambassador to the Holy See was told in advance about the planned papal honors for the king, Mussolini, and the others. He was led to believe that the pope had decided to give them out in reaction to expressions of government displeasure that the honors that Mussolini had given Pacelli, Borgongini, and Tacchi Venturi had not been reciprocated. MAEI, vol. 266, 202–4, Fontenay au ministre des affaires étrangères, 8 janvier 1932.

6.
“Nostre informazioni,” OR, 12 febbraio 1932, p. 1. The incident of the ejected woman was described by Morgan (1939, pp. 190–97), who was present as an invited guest when it happened. It was not reported in the Vatican or Italian press.

7.
The illustration appeared on the cover of
La Domenica del Corriere
, February 21, 1932. When the Italian edition of Emil Ludwig’s book-length interviews with Mussolini was published, one of the paragraphs that most offended the pope was the Duce’s description of how he had refused to bow or kiss the pope’s ring. This paragraph and others that the pope found objectionable—including one where Mussolini said he thought people should be left to decide themselves how to worship God—were purged from the Italian edition after its first printing. MAEI, vol. 266, 255, Charles-Roux à président du conseil, 29 juillet 1932; ibid., 291–92, 27 ottobre 1932; Chiron 2006, p. 293. In July, according to De Vecchi’s second-in-command at the Italian embassy, Mussolini said that in publishing his comments on the Church, “that big Jew betrayed me.” ASV, AESI, pos. 887, fasc. 593, f. 42r, 15 luglio 1932. On November 10, Tacchi Venturi happily reported that a new edition of the Ludwig interview was just then being published—it had shrunk by five pages, all the objectionable passages in the section “Rome and the Church” having been deleted. ASV, AESI, pos. 667, fasc. 128, f. 48r.

8.
David Darrah, “Pope and Duce Clasp Hands in Friendship Pact,” CDT, February 12, 1932, p. 10; Arnaldo Cortesi, “Pope and Mussolini Show Warm Feeling in Vatican Meeting,” NYT, February 12, 1932, p. 1.

9.
Mussolini’s handwritten report of his meeting with the pope addressed to the king can be found in ACS, CV, b. 1, fasc. 34; a published copy is available in DDI, series 7, vol. 11, n. 205. The pomp around the visit is described in CC 1932 I, pp. 480–81.

10.
“Sgr. Mussolini and the Pope” [London]
Times
, February 12, 1932, p. 11.

11.
E. Mussolini 1957, p. 135.

12.
But Fontenay, the French ambassador to the Holy See, worried that the exchange of honors had given Italian Catholics the impression of “a sort of recognition of fascism by the Holy See.” MAEI, vol. 266, 229–31, Fontenay à président du conseil, ministre des affaires étrangères, 4 mars 1932; and vol. 232–33, 10 mars 1932. Tacchi Venturi’s letter to Mussolini thanking him for the honor is found in ACS, CR, b. 68, 7 marzo 1932. In a letter to the General of the Jesuit order, Tacchi Venturi also reported that De Vecchi had told him that Mussolini wanted to honor the Jesuits for all they had done to promote understanding between the Italian government and the Church. ARSI, TV, b. 20, fasc. 1534, Tacchi Venturi a Ledóchowski, 3 marzo 1932.