Dio salvi l'Austria! 1938: il Vaticano e l'Anschluss

This research was sparked from an interest regarding several issues. A principal intent is to shed full light on one of the most discussed episodes in the complex relationship between the Catholic Church and Nationalsocialism, i. e. the weakness showed towards Hitler by the Austrian clergy – particularly by the Bishops – after the Anschluss. This is in main reference to the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer, who irreversibly compromised the dignity and prestige of Austrian Catholicism through enthusiastic remarks of esteem and approval with regard to the new political line. Using the words of then Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, in fact, Innitzer wrote “the most humiliating page in the history of the Church”. Taking inspiration from this event, this research attempts to piece together the stance held by the Curia on the Anschluss issue from the end of the First World War until 1938, through an analysis of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State files (relative to Benedict XV and Pius XI). Adding diplomatic sources from the other States involved in the problem, it can be reasonably concluded that the Vatican always supported Austria’s independence not only for cultural and religious reasons, but also due to a deep-seated concern for the precarious economic situation to which the country had been condemned by the Peace Treaties. This stance was only reinforced by Hitler’s rise to power.