CHAPTER II PIUS X CAUSES THE OUTBREAK OF WAR

A pious fable: Pius X tries to avoid war and dies of grief when it comes. — Refutation of the fable by official documents: despatches from Count Palffy, Prince Schonburg and Baron Ritter. — Count Sforza’s comments. — Reasons for the Vatican’s bellicose attitude. — Pius X and his Secretary of State, Merry del Val, incite the Emperor of Austria to war while anticipating the extension of the conflict. — The Roman Church inaugurates the era of the great massacres.

The following may be read in the current”Concise Holy History” used in parochial catechisms:

“Pius X did all he could to prevent the war of 1914 and died of grief when he forsaw the evils it was about to unleash.”

The fable is touching and has been thoroughly exploited by apologist writers.

At the risk of being taken for impious”rationalists”, we shall take the liberty of drawing aside the honourable veil of fable in an attempt to clarify this question.

Let us first of all consult Abbe Brugerette, an historian entirely free from the suspicion of anti-papist leanings:

“Pius X, who was extremely severe towards certain modernizing innovators, thought it better to abstain from all rigorous measures against the instigators of war, contrarily to those who prayed for one of those official and tragic excommunications which, in the Middle Ages, brought consternation into the souls of guilty kings and released subjects from their oath of allegiance. Was not Serbia, it was asked, a sufficient reason for the Pope to intervene? Could he, should he, suffer an empire of fifty million men to prepare to crush a small neighbouring people of barely five million, a people which, to keep the peace, ever since 25 July, had given almost complete satisfaction to Austrian demands?”

But it cannot be denied that Pope Pius X did not condemn this abuse of power.

Actually, there were already two camps, two blocs in Europe: one, that of the Western democracies, and the other, that of the imperialist and reactionary Central European Powers. No one had any doubt as to which side Pius X would support, and Pierre Dominique, on the authority of Count Sforza’s Memoirs and of diplomatic documents, shows how far the Vatican was from considering conciliation:

“But let us listen to this tocsin of 2 August 1914. . . . What did it mean for the Habsburgs? That Serbia, an Orthodox people, should be chastised. The prestige of Austria-Huagary, of the Habsburgs— who, with the Bourbons of Spain, were the Jesuits’ last prop—and especially that of the heir, their man Francis Ferdinand, would thereby be greatly strengthened. For Rome, the matter was assuming an almost religious importance; the apostolic monarchy’s success over tzarism might be considered as Rome’s victory over the Eastern schism. . . .

“We have access to a certain number of documents”, continues Pierre Dominique,”whose analysis shows beyond doubt that, at least in the beginning, the Vatican looked with satisfaction upon a venture in which the crushing of Serbia would have entailed a decrease in the influence of Russia, whose prestige the Roman Church detested. . . . In these conversations the Secretary of State spoke explicitly in the name of the Pope, who, he informed the Austrian representative, deplored the fact that Austria had not before this inflicted upon the Serbs the punishment they deserved.”

Indeed, the despatch of 29 July 1914 from Count PalfiFy, Austrian Charge d’Affaires at the Vatican, to Count Berchtold, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, leaves no doubt that Pope Pius X and the Curia wanted war. Here is the document:

“In times of extreme political tension such as those we are now going through, human fantasy runs away with itself, redoubles its intensity and soon goes beyond the limits of common sense. Thus the last few days there has again been a rumour that Pope Pius X had intervened in the Serbian conflict and had been in touch with His Apostolic Imperial Majesty, entreating him to spare the Christian nations the horrors of war. An argument based on such absurd premises is of course bound to lead to the conclusion, as logical as it is erroneous, that there was in fact intervention by the Pope. The real opinion of the Curia is not without interest. When, two days ago, I went to the Cardinal Secretary of State, he did, of course, speak about the serious questions and problems that at present preoccupy the whole of Europe. His Eminence’s conversation bore no sign of any particular goodwill or moderation. He unreservedly approved the note addressed to Serbia, and he indirectly expressed the hope that the Monarchy would hold out to the end. ‘It goes without saying’, remarked the Cardinal, ‘that it is regrettable that Serbia should not have been brought low a long time ago.’ This declaration is equally consonant with the Pope’s opinion: many a time during the past year His Holiness has expressed his regret that Austria-Hungary should have missed the opportunity to subdue its Danubian neighbour”.

Austria’s representative at the Vatican then endeavours to justify the attitude of Pope Pius X with arguments which, according to Pierre Dominique, Count Sforza reports in these terms:

“One might well ask oneself why the Catholic Church adopts such a bellicose attitude. The answer is very simple. The Pope and the Curia see in Serbia a consuming disease which, little by little, has penetrated to the very marrow of the Monarchy and which, in time, would end by disintegrating it … Austria-Hungary is and remains the Catholic state par excellence, the strongest buttress of religion that is now left to the Church. For the Church the fall of this buttress would mean the loss of her strongest support; she would see the fall of her most devoted champion in the battle against Orthodoxy . . . In the light of this fact, it is not difficult to forge a link between the apostolic feelings and the spirit of war.”

To this overwhelming document may be added another, no less official, establishing premeditation, on the part of Pope Pius X, in causing the outbreak of war. In July 1913, after the signature of the Peace of Bucarest, Austria-Hungary was already threatening to attack Serbia, and it was the turn of the Austrian prince Schonburg to go and acquaint himself with the feelings of the Vatican on the subject. This is how he reports5 to Count Berchtold the conversations that he had there at the end of October and on 3 November 1913:

“Among the first subjects tackled by the Cardinal Secretary of State during our interview last week, as was to be expected, was the question of Serbia. The Cardinal began by expressing his joy at the energetic and commendable attitude which we have recently adopted. During today’s audience (upon which I have made a separate report, see document A), His Holiness, who began the interview by mentioning the energetic step we have taken at Belgrade, made several very characteristic remarks. ‘Certainly,’ then said His Holiness, ‘ Austria- Hungary would have done better to punish the Serbs for all the mistakes that have been made.”

Far be it from us to question the good faith of the Holy Father’s apologists. At the same time, we cannot help asking by what miracle are his unequivocal appeals for war transformed, in their eyes, into appeals for peace? Let us confess in all humility that we are unable to explain this fantastic state of affairs. But no matter: we have now established, beyond all possible question, with official records, the way m which Pius X”did all he could to prevent the war of 1914″.

Might it be said, nevertheless, in an attempt to excuse him, that he was hoping to see the conflict limited to Austria-Hungary and Serbia? Let us hear the pious Rene Bazin,e of the Academic fran?aise, another author who cannot be suspected of bias against the Vatican:

“Pius X ruled the Church from 4 August 1903 to 20 August 1914. On 2 June of that year, he entered his eightieth year. The war was approaching. He had forseen this upheaval of the world; he had more than once said to Cardinal Merry del Val, who used to bring him diplomatic despatches and other papers of the previous day, whenever he was explaining some serious question: “What is that, compared with what is to come? The Great War is coming: 1914 will not be over before it breaks out.

“To the Minister of Brazil, who was taking leave of him, Pius X said: ‘You are fortunate’ ‘, the Pope told him, ‘you will not see the Great War at close quarters.’

“The diplomat, struck by this remark, wrote to several of his friends about it. Less than three months later, five nations were mobilizing their armies, and Germany was invading Belgium.”

Can it be maintained, after this, that the Holy Father did not foresee the extension of the conflict? On the contrary, he foresaw it so well, that he expressly mentioned it before a diplomat, during an interview recorded in another official document which is quoted by Count Sforza and Pierre Dominique: “The day before, on 26 July, Baron Ritter, Charge d’Affaires of Bavaria at the Holy See, had written to his Government: “The Pope approves of Austria’s harsh treatment of Serbia. He has no great opinion of the armies of Russia and France in the event of a war against Germany. The Cardinal Secretary of State does not see when Austria could make war if she does not decide to do so now”.

“The authenticity of these two texts has been acknowledged after many debates in the CathoUc press …”notes Pierre Dominique. “The key to the question, maintains Count Sforza, along with a few others, was the necessity of converting Francis Joseph to the idea of war. The opinions of the Pope and his minister were certainly the most likely to influence him. Hence the despatch of Count Palffy. …”So much for the”infamous rumour”that Mgr. Cristiani was exposing! And one of the “evil minds” propagating it is Count Sforza, one of the most well-known statesmen.

Thus, it is proved that Plus X and his Secretary of State, when they encouraged the most Catholic Emperor to make war, were coldly contemplating the consequences of their act: a general conflict which would set the Central European Empires against France and Russia. They believed they had accurately estimated the strength of the different forces involved.

But, what His Holiness and his accomplice had not foreseen was the participation in the war of England and finally of the entire Anglo-Saxon world, a participation which was to thwart their plans, tip the scales in favour of France and liberate the Orthodox populations from the Viennese yoke.

Hence the responsibility for the crime is beyond doubt—an enormous crime which, over a period of four years, was to throw into the charnel-house millions of”Christian”corpses, all the flower of European youth, and a crime all the more odious for being completely premeditated.

One may say quite specifically that in 1914, the Roman Church started the series of hellish wars. It was then that the tribute of blood which she has always taken from the peoples began to swell into a veritable torrent.

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