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15 Belgium and the Vatican

When, in the spring of 1940, Nazi Germany turned away from the East in order to destroy the military power of the Western Allies, the small countries lying between her and France-namely, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium-were overrun and occupied.

We shall not deal with Denmark, whose Catholic population is minute; nor with Holland, which cannot be considered a Catholic country, for, although one-third of her population is Catholic, such a minority at this time did not exert a great influence. It suffices to state that the Dutch Catholics, although they produced certain pro-Nazi elements, behaved on the whole as did the majority of the Dutch population, the Hierarchy adopting a policy of obedience to Nazi authorities, but expressing neither condemnation nor support of their actions. Occasional protests were raised only when certain laws, such as that enforcing labor recruitment, endangered the morals and faith of the Catholic workers or violated the principles of the Church; or when the Nazi regime dissolved Catholic associations, reduced the subsidies of Catholic schools, commandeered ecclesiastical buildings, suppressed Catholic newspapers, banned public collections, reduced the salaries of religious teachers, or adopted a system of centralization as regards workers and youth, and so on.

On the other hand, although it is true that the Catholic Hierarchy gave in general neither support nor condemnation to the Nazis, it co-operated whole-heartedly with them in destroying the Socialists and Communists. As when, for instance, on January 27, 1941, it forbade any Catholic to become or remain a member of the Communist Party, the disobedient being threatened with excommunication.

Lack of space forbids any detailed relation of the part played by the Catholic Church in Holland. We must pass on to Belgium, for in that country the Catholic Church played an important part in shaping social, political, and even military events up to the time of occupation by the Nazis. While surveying the part played by the Church there, the reader should remember that Belgium, like other countries, was but a part of the Vatican’s vast plan for establishing Totalitarianism wherever possible. As we have already seen, the Vatican worked on two planes. First, it tried to create totalitarian political movements within the selected country, taking advantage of economic, political, social, or racial characteristics of general or local origin. Secondly, in the case of small countries, they were gradually trained for enticement into the orbit of Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy.

Before proceeding farther, let us glance briefly at the position of the Belgian Catholic Church, for thus will be explained the influence exercised by the Church, not only over matters purely religious, but extending to the social and political field.

Practically the whole population of Belgium is, nominally at least, Catholic. The Catholic Church as a religious, social, and political institution is, perhaps, the most influential organization in the country. As evidence of the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Catholics over the adherents of other Churches it is sufficient to quote the following figures illustrating the proportion of clergy serving the various religious denominations in Belgium in the year 1937: The Roman Catholic Church possessed 6, 474 priests; the ministers of Protestant denominations numbered 32; Rabbis of the Jewish faith numbered 17; and the Anglican Church was represented by 9 clergy. Of all Catholic countries, Belgium had relatively the greatest number of convents, and the number of Belgian nuns approached 7,000.

The Belgian Constitution guaranteed religious freedom, and no subject was compelled to take part in religious observances. Every creed enjoyed complete liberty. The State disclaimed any right to intervene in ecclesiastical matters and was not concerned in the appointment of Church dignitaries or of authorities in the universities.

This degree of religious liberty in a country overwhelmingly Catholic resulted from compromise between the Catholics and the Liberals. The struggle between the Catholic Church and the Liberals had formerly been as fierce as in other countries, but the Church was compelled to compromise. She well knew that the liberty granted to her by the State would compensate for any loss involved in such compromise. Through a network of institutions-educational, social, political, and charitable-the Church was able to influence the life of the nation. These channels of influence widened yearly, thanks to the principles of freedom of association, of education, and of ‘the Press. This mutual tolerance between Church and State enabled Belgium to maintain close diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

Ever since Belgium became independent, the education of Belgian youth had been a subject of, bitter controversy between the Church and the champions of the secular State education system. La Lutte Scolaire, as it had come to be known, the struggle for the control of youth, was still unresolved in principle in May 1940, although some degree of compromise had been reached in practice. The Constitution provided that education should be free and that the cost of maintaining schools should be borne by the State. But the principle of liberty in education permitted the foundation of schools by private organizations and individuals, and the Catholic Church ‘in particular made use of this privilege. Whether the State should be responsible for the cost of education in schools thus privately established was the next question to arise and for a long time caused bitter dispute. The Catholic Church claimed that the State should provide a part of the funds necessary to support her schools.

Religious instruction in the schools likewise produced a difficult issue. In their own schools Catholics could, of course, ensure that ‘their children were educated in accordance with Catholic principles. In schools controlled, by public authorities, the Liberals,, and later the Socialists, maintained that education should be placed on a purely secular basis. They considered that religious instruction should be given outside school hours and only with the parents’ consent. The Church fought these contentions with the utmost ferocity, claiming that Catholic teaching should be given in all schools and at the State’s expense. All children should be brought up as Catholics, irrespective of their parents’ wishes.

To demonstrate the intolerant spirit animating the Catholic Church, even in a State where superficially it seemed that an understanding with the Church had been reached, two small but significant illustrations may be given. The State, being truly democratic and Liberal, had enacted that Catholic instruction should be imparted in those schools where Catholic scholars formed the majority. This especially affected Communal schools. But when the State applied a corresponding rule to communal schools where Catholics were in a minority, that religious instruction inapplicable to the majority should not be given, the Church protested vigorously and accused the State of intolerance, and hostility to the Church.

As in many other countries, so also in Belgium, a fierce antagonism persisted between the Church and such progressive parties as the Liberals and the Socialists. The Church consistently opposed anything tending to secularize the State and the national life. Without recapitulating the motives which urged the Church to fight against the secular State, and Liberalism, it suffices to say that the Church in Belgium conducted the same campaign as she had done in Italy, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere. During the first fifty years of independence the fight was directed against the Liberals, and the influence of the Church on education and on the political life of the country was the main cause of strife. The Catholics, of course, supported the Church, while the Liberals and Progressives advocated a secular State.

From 1884 to 1914, owing to various circumstances and social as well as economical political events, the Catholics governed the country alone. After the First World War the Catholics and the Socialists, who meantime had grown enormously in number and power, possessed equal strength, but the Liberals gradually lost ground, with the result that the Catholic Party and the Catholic working-class movement entered upon their inevitable struggle with the Socialists. This struggle was based mainly on social questions.

In 1925 the first two Communists were elected to the Chamber. In Belgium, as elsewhere, Socialist and Communist movements were increasingly gaining ground, to the dismay of those sections of Belgian society which had reason to fear them. These sections, of course, found a close ally in the Catholic Church, with whose concurrence a fight against the Socialists was initiated. This fight assumed various forms and experienced various fortunes, the description of which lies beyond the scope of this book. It suffices to say that Hitler’s accession to power in 1933 afforded encouragement to the Belgian reactionary forces and stimulated them towards a successful resistance of their enemies.

Only two years after the rise to power of Nazism, a Fascist movement appeared in Belgium. This Fascist-or rather Nazi-movement adopted the programme, ideas, and slogans of Hitler and Mussolini, modified to the special requirements of Belgian nationality. The party and its leader declared themselves allies of Hitler and Mussolini and backed their interference in the internal affairs of Belgium.

From what springs did the New Belgian Fascism flow? Who were the chief instigators of this anti-democratic force?

Its instigators were fervent adherents of the Catholic Church, and in their special spheres were indeed the outstanding figures of Catholicism. The leader of this faction was the director of the most important Catholic publishing firm, and the institution on which the movement depended for support was the Catholic Church. The movement and its leaders boasted the support of the influential Catholic section of Belgium and its close allies, the industrial, financial, and social reactionary elements throughout the country.

The Belgian Fascist Party, created in 1935, was led by a group of young Catholics, of whom the chieftain was Degrelle, the director of the Catholic publishing firm “Rex” (the abbreviated form of Christus Rex). Degrelle started his career as a propagandist of the Catholic Party, his chief mission being to flood Belgium with Catholic religious publications. The soul of the Child in Catholicism and miracles of all kinds, especially the apparition of the Virgin at Beauraing, formed his chief subject-matter.

When the new party was founded, these young Catholics opened a campaign on two fronts. First, their animosity was directed against the high financial and industrial section of the Catholic Party and the undue influence of high finance within it. Secondly, they made a formal declaration of war against anything that savored of democracy or Socialism, and against all elements hostile to the Catholic Church. These campaigns were mainly directed against the Socialists, the Communists, the secular State, and, significantly enough, against that solid, stable, and influential section of Catholic Belgium-namely, the leaders themselves of the Catholic Party.

Does not the situation strike the reader as very similar to that which had been created in other countries? And does not the creation of the Catholic Fascist Party strike one as in perfect accordance with the general policy of the Church at that time? This policy, it is suggested, involved the supplanting of the old Catholic Party or even its complete destruction; in its place was to be substituted a party new, vigorous, and unscrupulous. All this happened at a time when the Socialists and especially the Communists in Belgium were increasing in number and power. As a consequence the middle class, which in other countries formed the backbone of Fascism and Nazism, was becoming restless and demanding strong measures. In short, the Church chose the right time for launching yet another Fascist party.

The move was most cleverly timed from another point of view. Serious scandals had occurred among the Catholics exercising the greatest influence, causing the middle and lower middle classes to rebel against this state of affairs. The Catholic Party had, in fact, been accused by Catholics as well as non-Catholics of gross misdeeds, in that the Church “had embarked upon sordid speculations” so as to “increase its strength and enrich some of its members” (Revue de Deux Mondes, June 15, 1936).

Owing to these considerations, the Catholic Fascist Party had every advantage leading to success, with or without the support of the old Catholic Party. Thus the Fascist Degrelle, leaving Catholics of the old stamp in the lurch, ensured the advancement of his own faction. At the election of 1936 the new Fascist Party, now designated Rexism, secured twenty-one seats in the Chamber―a very good start. The Communists advanced from two seats, in 1925, to nine seats.

The new Fascist Party, however, although indirectly supported by the Vatican, became too violent and exceeded the Instructions of Rome as regards its relationship with the old Catholic Party, Degrelle was too enthusiastic and inexperienced, Rexism was neat in collusion with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, and the popularity of the movement began to wane. The old Catholic Party in Belgium gave the Vatican to understand that they were too influential in the life of the country to be thus cavalierly treated. They asked that the Church should repudiate Rexism as it was then constituted. They assured the Vatican that, exercising due precaution, they would themselves in time ensure the “liquidation” of Socialism and Communism.

An important test case was fought in 1937, when Brussels elected to send Degrelle himself to the polls in opposition to Mr. Van Zealand, an independent Catholic, then Prime Minister. Degrelle had the support of the Rexists and the Catholic Flemish Nationalists. The Catholic Church took this occasion to repudiate the doctrine of Rexism as being “incompatible with good Catholicism.” The result of the election was the polling by Degrelle of 69,000 votes only, against the 275,000 votes for his opponent.

The old Catholic Party had scored a success with the Vatican, but Rexism survived, using all the slogans and methods of Fascism and Nazism with varying fortunes. Since the Vatican had given it the cold shoulder and, above all, being opposed by the influential rich Catholics, it could not force Degrelle on the Catholic population. Accordingly, in 1939, Rexism lost almost all its seats in Parliament, registering only four.

Then war broke out, and the same intrigues as had been woven between the reactionary section of France, the Vatican, and Hitler were repeated in Belgium. That is to say, an influential Catholic section in Belgium, composed mainly of industrialists and financiers, sought to keep Belgium neutral and even to come to terms with Hitler.

The Vatican was at the bottom of all these plans and negotiations. Of course, the Vatican was not the only interested party; powerful interests, social, economic, and financial, were at work, in close connection with their counterparts in France. We shall enter into greater detail when dealing with France. It is sufficient here to record that a French general of Belgian origin and devoutly Catholic was implicated in these various proceedings and was a link between the Belgian and French sections desiring to “come to terms with Hitler.” His name was General Weygand.

The Papal representative in Belgium was in intimate contact with various influential persons in the King’s entourage. He was also in contact, significantly enough, with those Flemish Catholic Nationalists who, claiming independence, saw in Hitler’s intervention a God-sent opportunity for creating a new Flemish Catholic State. These Flemish Catholics desired separation on racial and historic grounds, but it is noteworthy that they were most fervent Catholics and their main objective was the creation of an authoritarian State. This State was to be founded on Nazism and the Fascist Corporate System. In the years preceding 1940 the Flemish Nationalists had changed the form of their party. The Front Party had given way to the Vlaamsch National Verbond, an organization on an authoritarian basis.

After the invasion of Poland the parlous position of Belgium as vis-a-vis Germany was clear enough. Nevertheless, the intrigues continued and reached such a stage that King Leopold and his advisers refused to join the French and British experts in devising plans until it was too late. In acting thus, King Leopold neglected the advice of his military leaders.

This delay was due to the fact that the Belgian Catholics, or rather the few concerned in these intrigues, were aware of the Vatican’s plan regarding Poland, Belgium, and France. They knew, to speak more accurately, that the Vatican had promised Hitler the support of the Catholic Church in the West in return for his promised attack on the great Bolshevik enemy. Hitler, in turn, promised to respect the Church wherever his armies “were forced to go.” He would “crush all the Socialists and Communists, ” and when once that was done “he would turn East.”

King Leopold was well known to be under the influence of the clergy and, not possessing great political acumen, he mayor may not have known what his actions portended.

Besides the decision of the King, the onus in this matter falls particularly on two men, and these two men were the Papal Delegate in Belgium and the Belgian Primate. They conducted secret negotiations with several prominent Catholic industrialists and politicians and more than once had private audience with King Leopold.

King Leopold and his entourage were also under pressure from the Fascist Government in Rome, which had been charged by Hitler to persuade the King to follow a certain line. This side of the negotiations was conducted through the House of Savoy, in the person of the wife of the Italian Crown Prince, Umberto, who was King Leopold’s sister. This colossal plan will be considered in greater detail in the next chapter. It suffices to say here that Belgium was a part of the France-Vatican-Hitlerite plan, with which the small Catholic industrialist clique, the King, and others, consented to work in harmony.

As already suggested, the King, in accordance with this scheme, prevented the Allies from preparing their plans. Consequently, when Hitler invaded Belgium his armies reached the sea, and King Leopold was advised by his Catholic counselors, including the Papal Delegate and the Belgian Primate, to surrender. This course was contrary to the opinion and the will of the Government, which refused to surrender; so Catholic Leopold, flouting the Constitution which he had sworn to respect, personally surrendered the Belgian Army to the Nazis. King Leopold later stated that he had sent due warning to the Allies. It is certain that they never received this warning and were confronted by the gravest danger.

Immediately after the surrender, and before the country had been informed, Cardinal van Roey had an extremely private interview with the King, lasting for more than an hour and a half. It should be noted that the King, in spite of pressing military problems, had previously had a private meeting with the Papal Nuncio. The surrender immediately followed this meeting.

Of what transpired at the meeting of the King and Cardinal van Roey we know nothing, except that the Cardinal discussed what message should be given, and how it should be given, to the Belgian people, most of whom wished to continue the struggle. The King had surrendered unwillingly, as he wished to be in accord with his Government. After the surrender he was apprehensive of the judgment of his people, but the Cardinal undertook to defend his action to the Belgians.

It was in these circumstances, and employing Cardinal van Roey as his mouthpiece, that the King announced the capitulation of May 28, 1940, to his people. He further published the text of his letters addressed to President Roosevelt and―significantly enough-to the Pope. Belgium had become an occupied country and a satellite of the Nazi New Order.

The outstanding characteristics of occupied Belgium were twofold. First, Liberalism, Socialism, Communism, and all democratic institutions, being inimical to the Catholic Church and incidentally to Nazism, were destroyed or otherwise thoroughly overhauled. Secondly, the organizations of the Catholic Church enjoyed unexampled freedom and the Church exercised unsurpassed influence in the country, thanks to the power granted to her by the Nazis themselves.

All political parties were dissolved except two, the ultra-Catholic Fascist Rexists and the ultra-Catholic Flemish Nationalist Party. The Socialist and Communist papers were suppressed or changed hands. Only Catholic papers were allowed to be published and, except for military censorship, to circulate freely.

All other activities and organization-economic, social, cultural, or political- were either suppressed, hampered, or handed over to the Belgian Fascists or the Nazis. Only Catholic institutions, societies, and activities were left free. The only authorities to maintain their power and prestige, or rather to acquire more of both, were the Catholic clergy. And last but not least, the Cardinal became the most powerful political personage in the country.

We have seen that Hitler disliked Catholicism and the Vatican, only bargaining with them when he had something important to gain. How, then, can anyone explain the fact that his first proceeding in Belgium was to make the Catholic Fascist parties and the Catholic Church all-powerful?

This state of affairs continued for a considerable time after the occupation. Of all institutions, the Catholic Church longest escaped German oppression and suffered least from the occupation. Catholic social organizations, unlike those of Socialistic and other non-Catholic origin, continued their work as before. The Catholic Youth organization, the Catholic Boy Scouts, the Peasants’ Guilds, and the Women’s organizations, not only remained unmolested, but flourished more than ever before, owing to the protection of the Germans and the all-powerful Higher Clergy. The Catholic Party and the Catholic trade unions were, however, “suspended” in accordance with the instructions of the Vatican and of Hitler. The Nazi New Order required a new Catholic party and Rexism supplied the need, and the Corporate System, among others, supplanted the Catholic trade unions.

Although the University of Brussels was closed, the University of Louvain, controlled by the Vatican, remained open, and students from all over Belgium were asked to go there.

The great majority of the Belgians were, to say the least, critical of the King’s action, and to a great extent this criticism included the Church.

The Cardinal and his bishops thereupon instituted a campaign to convince the Belgian people of the wisdom of the King’s action, hoping to secure a continuance of their loyalty to the Throne. Loyalty to the King became a primary consideration with the Belgian bishops, and was repeatedly stressed in their pastoral letters. The Cardinal and bishops never spoke adversely of Fascism and Nazism, and when they referred to totalitarian regimes their criticism was confined to matters in which “the authoritarian State might endanger the Catholic Church.” Nevertheless, they urged the Belgians to submit to Nazism. In unmistakable terms they told them to accept it, and to co-operate with the Nazis: “In the present circumstances they should recognize the de facto authority of the occupying Power and obey it so far as International Law required” (first collective Pastoral Letter of the Belgian Bishops, October 7, 1940). Then, as the fortune of war went against the Nazis and their victory looked less assured, and still more after the liberation of Belgium, the Belgian Hierarchy began to boast of the protests they had presented to the Nazis.

But what, in truth, had happened? It is true that the bishops and the Cardinal, after two or three years of occupation, had made protests to the Nazis, but what had been the basis of these protests? Was the inhumanity of Nazism, and the bath of blood in which Germany was continuing to plunge the world, the subject of their protests? By no means. They protested because the Nazis compelled the Belgian miners to work on Sundays. This was the first of a series of protests, and it is significant. It occurred on April 9, 1942. Van Roey and the bishops, writing to Von Falkenhausen on May 1, 1942, denounced this imposition as being contrary to Article 46 of The Hague Convention, which obliges an occupying Power to respect “the religious convictions and practice” of the occupied country. Von Falkenhausen, the Nazi Commander, concluded his reply with the significant words: “Finally, I tender my most heartfelt thanks to your Eminence for the solicitude you have been good enough to show for the interest which I represent.”

Another main ground of complaint by the Cardinal and bishops consisted in the removal of church bells by the Nazis, the prohibition of the practice of taking a collection on behalf of the Church at funerals, and other like matters.

Meanwhile the various Fascist Catholic groups were organizing an anti- Bolshevik campaign and recruiting anti-Communist legions, destined to fight Russia. It is noteworthy that almost all such volunteers were fervent Catholics. The most notorious unit was the Flemish Anti-Bolshevik Legion, which was incorporated in the 5. 5. Legion in Flanders. Degrelle himself went to Russia as a private soldier.

The Rexist Party, however, encountered hostility and unpopularity and shrank almost to nothing. Many Catholics were strongly op-posed to it, and this gave occasion to an unpleasant episode within the Catholic ranks. This little incident is worth relating. Degrelle, while at Bouillon, assaulted the local dean and locked him up in a cellar, whence he was rescued by German soldiers. For this offence he was excommunicated by the Bishop of Namur, and in November he was sent back to the Eastern Front.

But the excommunication of the leader of one of the Catholic parties was not approved by the Vatican, and so, by one of those moves so typical of the Catholic Church, Degrelle was granted absolution and was enabled to reenter the Catholic Church. This was engineered through a German priest while Degrelle was on the Eastern Front, and the Bishop of Namur, who had issued the ex-communication, was forced to acknowledge its nullification by decree in December 1943, although it was in strict accord with Canon Law, which rules that any Catholic laying violent hands on a priest is ipso facto excommunicated.

But, as always, Catholics of the rank and file were not too slavishly following the Hierarchy, and very often rebelled. Accordingly, numerous Catholics, and even members of the lower clergy, were active in the underground movement and fought heroically against the Nazis.

After the liberation of Belgium by the Allies, the Cardinal and his bishops declared that they fought against Nazism. What their protests amounted to we have already related; and although the Cardinal now wanted to persuade the people that he had fought the Nazis as such, he could not conceal the real motives which had called forth his protests. He declared how glad he was that Nazism had been defeated, and explained his happiness by saying: “If Nazism had triumphed in Belgium, it would have entailed the complete suffocation of the Catholic religion”; forgetting that the Nazis had cooperated most heartily with him and the Church and had given the widest liberty to the Church compatible with the occupation. This was confirmed by the Cardinal himself when, in a later sentence, he stated: “During the occupation religious feeling has increased and the cultural, philanthropic, and social organizations of the Church have flourished more than ever.” After which the Cardinal and his bishops declared that they fought the Nazi “each day, for our principles.”

What these principles were was not stated; or rather they were described in such manner as to sound very unlike principles, to the impartial listener. We again quote the words of the Cardinal: “We had to fight and to condemn the Germans, for they, besides looting blessed and sacred objects from the churches, took away more than thirty-two thousand tons of bronze church- bells to use as war material” (Cardinal van Roey to a Reuter’s correspondent, December 1944-see Catholic Herald).

It might well be said that this was the only strong and genuine protest made to the Nazis by the Catholic Church in Belgium. With regard to the relationship between the Vatican and the Belgian nation, no amount of explanation will ever serve to absolve the Catholic Church of its share of responsibility for the fateful events just described. For the following facts, now well established, bear witness against her. First, that even before the Nazi invasion of Belgium the Catholic Church was busily paving the way for Nazism through the creation of a Fascist party; secondly, that during the hostilities the Church used her influence to secure that Belgium should surrender rather than fight; thirdly, that during the occupation the Church never condemned Nazism, but extended to it silent cooperation; and finally, that the Vatican strove hard to fit Belgium within that great framework which had been fabricated in Rome as a secure foundation on which to establish Fascism throughout the world.