Most books on World War II read as though the only important people in Italy were the Germans, their victims and the communist and fascist militias and partisans. For example, these books do not relate what the ordinary faithful of Italy were thinking and doing for the victims of the Holocaust. With regard to Pope Pius XII and the Vatican, what did Italians really say? Besides telling us that the city of Rome was occupied by the Nazis, the newspaper, L'Ordine, describes the attitude of Italian Catholics toward the pontiff in 1943. It certainly tells us how one bishop in one town felt about the situation during this period.

This article deals with information one knows very little about. It helps us to realize that angering the average Italian was something that intelligent Germans wanted to avoid at all costs. Some Nazis may have been Catholic or, at least, Christian. They tried to prevent widespread violence in Rome. Actually the Germans never entered the Vatican, but they put guards at its entrances and exits. Numerous refugees were still able to enter and leave while Nazi soldiers were posted at the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica. The following extremely interesting information, excerpted from L'Ordine, a Catholic weekly newspaper, is dated September 24, 1943. It describes the public reaction to the Germans in Italy. It begins with these words in bold type: "The Whole World Looks toward Rome."

This weekly paper includes a strong protest by His Excellency Alberto Costa, the Bishop of the Diocese of Lecce, Italy. He states clearly: "By violating the status of Rome as an 'Open City,' German troops have offended the faith and hope of 40 million Catholics. These troops are stationed around the Vatican where the Pope is, essentially, a prisoner.

"Thus Pius XII, the guiding voice and spirit of Christianity, whose only thought is peace; who, after having denounced the war, offers the belligerent States the olive branch. He alone has a mission that is spiritual, he alone upholds the Gospel's norms of justice, peace and social tranquillity to all people. This is what Pius XII repeats to everyone, regardless of nationality, race, or economic class and strives to touch the hearts of all of us.

"Sursum corda! Portae inferi non praevalebunt. Lift up your hearts! The gates of hell will not prevail!(Matt. XVI, 18). Two thousand years of history proclaim that whoever lifts his hand against the Pope will fail. In this hour of darkness, we, your children, unite our anxieties and our tears with yours.

"Pastors, priests, faithful, let us pray for the Pope; let us multiply our prayers, let us make this a crusade so that God's Vicar on earth will not fall into the hands of the enemy. The faithful of Lecce are with the Pope, and are for the Pope, and the incense of our prayers, united with those of Catholics throughout the world will hasten the day when we who shed tears of sorrow will have tears of joy."

Paper was scarce during World War II, but this one-page newspaper gives an excellent summary of what happened in Italy: Potenza was occupied by the British Eighth Army; Naples was bombed by the Germans; Benevento, Capua, Cancello were bombed by the Allies; in northern Italy, Italian patriots refused to obey the Germans and were killed; in Rimini, the patriots killed the Germans repairing the railroad; British and American troops advanced toward the center of the peninsula; the Nazis arrested two dignitaries as they entered the Vatican.

The Germans threatened the Pope accusing him of fomenting hatred toward them. A Jesuit priest was killed for preaching pacifism among German soldiers. Postal services were suspended. This caused protests by neutral Catholic states. The Italian bishops sent protests to the German command regarding their threatening presence at the gates of the Vatican.

In addition, the one-page newspaper reports on the cruelty of the Germans toward Italian soldiers, on the situation in Russia, Great Britain, Corsica, etc. The editorial erroneously states that "the Germans captured the Pope! They have surpassed the Huns in cruelty. It is an invasion by vandals. We are indignant that the Nazis have captured the Pope. With one voice the Catholic world protests. In world history the Nazis will be labeled as having kidnapped the Pope whose neutrality cannot be questioned. It reports that he refused an audience with Kesserling and set as a condition for an audience the withdrawal of German troops from the Vatican."

Actually, this newspaper records that the Pontiff never feared the hatred of the powerful. He remained faithful to his mission to the Church whose "flame of eternal truth lighted the world during World War II." He remained faithful to his principles. Whether captured by the Nazis or a prisoner of the Fascists, free or restrained by outside forces, the Pope would continue to have the immutable homage of Catholics throughout the world. The article reminds its readers that the enemy must remember "the spirit has more value than material things, and the spirit keeps alive the sacred flame of spiritual values. For Pius XII, the august representative of the spirit, the world would arise in this hour of violence, and find the way of reason and of the heart." This, according to Alberto Costa, the Bishop of the Diocese of Lecce, Italy, was the ardent cry of the anguished faithful, of the wounded love of most Italians during the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1943

Margherita Marchione, PhD, author of: Yours Is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy (1997); Pius XII: Architect for Peace (2000); Consensus and Controversy (2002); Shepherd of Souls: A Pictorial Life of Pius XII (2002), Man of Peace (2003), Crusade of Charity: Pius XII and POWs (2006), Did Pope Pius XII Help the Jews? (2007), Paulist Press.