Cesare Orsenigo
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, died April 1, 1946 in Eichstätt
Eichstätt
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District of Eichstätt. It is located along the Altmühl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The...
) was Apostolic Nuncio to Germany
Apostolic Nunciature to Germany
The Apostolic Nunciature to Germany is an ecclesiastical office of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. It is a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio to Germany with the rank of an ambassador. The office of the nunciature has been located in Berlin...
from 1930 to 1945, during the rise of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Along with the German ambassador to the Vatican, Diego von Bergen
Diego von Bergen
Dr. Carl-Ludwig Diego von Bergen was the ambassador to the Holy See from the Kingdom of Prussia , the Weimar Republic , and Nazi Germany , most notably during the negotiation of the Reichskonkordat and during World War II.From 1930 to 1943, by virtue of seniority, von Bergen was also the doyen of...
and later Ernst von Weizsäcker
Ernst von Weizsäcker
Ernst Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German diplomat and politician. He served as State Secretary at the Foreign Office from 1938 to 1943, and as German Ambassador to the Holy See from 1943 to 1945...
, Orsenigo was the direct diplomatic link between Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
and Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
and the Nazi regime, meeting several times with Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
directly and frequently with other high-ranking officials and diplomats.
Orsenigo was close with Achille Ratti, the Archbishop of Milan, and was appointed to the Vatican diplomatic corps when Ratti was elected Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
, as nuncio
Nuncio
Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word, Nuntius, meaning "envoy." This article addresses this title as well as derived similar titles, all within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church...
to The Netherlands (1922-1925), Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
(1925-1930), and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(1930-1945).
Orsenigo was a controversial figure among his contemporaries and remains the subject of historical criticism for his advocacy of "compromise and conciliation" with the Nazis, particularly in relation to The Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. Pius XII has been criticized by several contemporaries and historians for not replacing Orsenigo as nuncio. Pius XII left the nunciature vacant after Orsenigo's death in 1946 until he appointed Aloisius Joseph Muench
Aloisius Joseph Muench
Aloisius Joseph Muench was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Fargo from 1935 to 1959, and as Apostolic Nuncio to Germany from 1951 to 1959...
to the post in 1951.
Early life and education
Orsenigo was born in OlginateOlginate
Olginate is a comune in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 40 km northeast of Milan and about 6 km south of Lecco...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He attended a seminary in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and Kaplan
Kaplan
Kapłań is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Klukowo, within Wysokie Mazowieckie County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland.-References:...
and later he became a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
of San Fedele in Milan. 1912, he was finally a member of the cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
of Milan. Even as a parish priest in Milan, he met Achille Ratti, who soon after became Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
.
Nuncio to the Netherlands (1922-1925)
Ratti, after his election as pope in 1922 appointed Orsenigo to the rank of titular archbishopTitular bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.By definition a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop the tradition of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches is that he be ordained for a specific place...
of Ptolemais
Ptolemais (Cyrenaica)
Ptolemais or Ptolemaida was one of the ancient capitals of Cyrenaica. It was probably named after Ptolemy III Euergetes. Its Latin name in Roman times was Tolmeta, from which the modern Libyan town of Tolmeitha derives its name.The town was most probably founded in 7th or 6th century BC by...
and made him a nuncio to the Netherlands, effective June 23, 1922. Orsengio, aged 49 at his appointment, had no formal diplomatic training, but rather had been a friend of Ratti in Milan. Ratti overruled Orsenigo's objections that he lacked experience, noting that he himself had spent decades as a librarian before being appointed apostolic delegate to Poland.
He received the episcopal consecration on 29 June 1922 from Pietro Gasparri
Pietro Gasparri
Pietro Gasparri was a Roman Catholic archbishop, diplomat and politician in the Roman Curia and signatory of the Lateran Pacts.- Biography :...
, who was then Camerlengo and Cardinal Secretary of State
Cardinal Secretary of State
The Cardinal Secretary of State—officially Secretary of State of His Holiness The Pope—presides over the Holy See, usually known as the "Vatican", Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia...
.
Nuncio to Hungary (1925-1930)
Orsenigo remained until his appointment as Apostolic Nuncio in HungaryHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
in the summer of 1925 while at The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
.
Nuncio to Germany
Under Pius XI (1930-1939)
On April 25, 1930, he became Apostolic Nuncio in Germany, a post previously held by Eugenio PacelliPope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
(future Pope Pius XII), who had been appointed Cardinal. He received his conformation letter from President Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
. Orsenigo's nunciature was located in Berlin, although a separate nunciature existed in Munich due to its "peculiar status" dating back to 1871.
On February 16, 1933, Orsenigo wrote to Pius XII that it would be "ingenuous and incoherent" to support the newly elected Nazi government, but that he feared open opposition would lead to a new Kulturkampf
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
. In a March 7, 1933 letter to Pius XII, Orsenigo estimated that six to seven million of Germany's thirteen million voting Catholics had supported the Nazi party. According to George Schuster
George Ernest Schuster
Sir George Ernest Schuster, KCSI, KCMG, CBE, MC was a British barrister, financier, colonial administrator and Liberal politician....
, Orsenigo "was frankly jubilant" over the election of Hitler. As early as March 1933, Orsenigo concluded that "compromise and conciliation" was the only option, arguing that earlier condemnations of Nazism by German bishops had concerned only its religious, not political, tenets.
After the conclusion of the Reichskonkordat
Reichskonkordat
The Reichskonkordat is a treaty that was agreed between the Holy See and Nazi government, that guarantees the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany. It was signed on July 20, 1933 by Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of Pope Pius XI and President...
on July 20, 1933, Orsenigo urged German bishops to support the Nazi regime. For example, anti-Nazi bishop Kaller Ermland complained that Orsenigo (who, Ermland assumed, spoke for the pope) "put the skids under me" by telling him to make amends with the Nazis. Orsengio punished Bishop August von Galen
Clemens August Graf von Galen
Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen was a German count, Bishop of Münster, and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church....
, who continued to publicly criticize the Nazi's euthanasia program, with a critical letter to Rome.
Writing on May 8, 1933 about an earlier conversation with Hitler, Orsenigo opined that Hitler saw Christianity as essential to private life and the German state and that without the cooperation of the Nazis the German church could not hope to defeat liberalism, socialism, and Bolshevism. Orsenigo reported that Hitler did not agree with the neo-pagan wing of the Nazi party, as represented in Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
's The Myth of the Twentieth Century
The Myth of the Twentieth Century
The Myth of the Twentieth Century is a book by Alfred Rosenberg, one of the principal ideologues of the Nazi party and editor of the Nazi paper Völkischer Beobachter. It was the most influential Nazi text after Hitler's Mein Kampf. The titular "myth" is "the myth of blood, which under the sign of...
.
Following an April 4, 1933 transmission from Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
to "look into whether and how it might be possible to become involved" in helping the victims of Nazi persecution, Orsenigo replied that any intervention would be seen as "a protest against that government's law" and thus not be advisable. Of the 95 documents from the Berlin nunciature in the Vatican Secret Archives
Vatican Secret Archives
The Vatican Secret Archives , located in Vatican City, is the central repository for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, having primal incumbency until death, owns the archives until the next appointed Papal successor...
from 1930 to 1938, only four contain references to Jews.
Under Pius XII (1939-1945)
Pius XII retained Orsenigo as nuncio to Germany; his priorities (as he made clear to Orsenigo) were the preservation of the ReichskonkordatReichskonkordat
The Reichskonkordat is a treaty that was agreed between the Holy See and Nazi government, that guarantees the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany. It was signed on July 20, 1933 by Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of Pope Pius XI and President...
specifically, and Vatican-German relations more generally. According to Phayer, "In Orsenigo, Pius had the right man for the job. A pro-German, pro-Nazi, antisemitic fascist, Orsenigo would have no trouble adjusting to the Nazi regime in Berlin. In addition, Orsenigo who hankered after the cardinal's hat, could be trusted not to interfere with Pius's well-known intention to deal with Germany himself". On the orders of Pius XII, Orsenigo warmly and publicly congratulated Hitler on April 20, 1939, the Führer's fiftieth birthday.
On May 4, 1939, Orsenigo visited Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
in Obersalzberg; Orsenigo was flown to Salzberg and had lunch at the Grand Hotel in Berchtesgaden before being transported to Hitler's residence, where the two spoke privately for an hour before having tea with von Ribbentrop and his aide V. Hewel (who also wrote an account of the meeting). In a 1940 note to Pius XII, Orsenigo again argued in favor of conciliation, stating his fears of lapsed religiosity among German Catholics "unless the clergy appeased the regime and relieved members of the church of a conflict of conscience".
On June 21, 1942, he was a consecrator at the Cologne Cathedral for the inauguration of the new archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Joseph Frings. In November 1943, he again met with Hitler on behalf of Pius XII. According to Orsenigo's own account:
- "As soon as I touched upon the question of Jews and Judaism, the serenity of the meeting ended at once. Hitler turned his back to me, went to the window and started drumming his fingers on the pane [...] Still, I went on, voicing our complaints. Hitler suddenly turned around, went to a small table from which he took a water glass and furiously smashed it on the floor. In the face of such diplomatic behavior, I had to consider my mission terminated".
On February 8, 1945, prior to the end of World War II, Orsenigo moved to Eichstätt
Eichstätt
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District of Eichstätt. It is located along the Altmühl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The...
, in Bavaria. The nunciature lost its official status in May 1945, with the defeat of Nazi Germany, although the Allied Control Council
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority, known in the German language as the Alliierter Kontrollrat and also referred to as the Four Powers , was a military occupation governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany after the end of World War II in Europe...
allowed Orsenigo to remain in Eichstätt. Orsenigo died in Eichstätt on April 1, 1946, leaving his aide de camp, Monsignor Carlo Colli as the only remaining link between Pius XII and the German Church. Colli died in January 1947, leaving his secretary Monsignor Bernard Hack alone in Eichstätt. After a lengthy interregnum, during which Pius XII relied on Father Igo Ziegler at the Villa Grosch in Kronberg, the next nuncio would be Aloisius Joseph Muench
Aloisius Joseph Muench
Aloisius Joseph Muench was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Fargo from 1935 to 1959, and as Apostolic Nuncio to Germany from 1951 to 1959...
.
The Holocaust
In 1941, Orsenigo was contacted by Kurt Gerstein
Kurt Gerstein
Kurt Gerstein was a German SS officer and member of the Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS. He witnessed mass murders in the Nazi extermination camps Belzec and Treblinka...
, a Protestant SS officer who had personally witnessed the extermination of Jews and wished to notify the Vatican. Informed of the purpose of Gerstein's visit, Orenigo refused to meet with him. Gerstein's message was eventually sent to the Vatican, by the auxiliary bishop of Berlin, not the nuncio's office, where the information reached a "dead end".
The Netherlands
Both the Catholic and Protestant Churches of The Netherlands were vocal in their protests against the deportation of the Dutch Jewry, although the mainline Protestant Church eventually turned silent on the basis of Nazi promises that doing such would save further "Jews" of their denomination from deportation. Orsenigo sent word to the Vatican that the protest of the Church had caused the Dutch deportations to end, despite the fact that exactly the opposite had occurred, and seizures, murders, and deportations of Catholics of Jewish heritage increased.
Poland
Because Germany would not allow Pius XII to appoint a nuncio to occupied Poland, Orsenigo fulfilled that role as well, for all intents and purposes. On November 1, 1939, Orsenigo's authority was formally extended to Poland. In August 1940, Orsenigo indeed launched a private protest with the German government, listing a variety of abuses against the Polish church (but none against the Polish people); this had no noticeable effect. Bishop Adam Stefan Sapieha
Adam Stefan Sapieha
Prince Adam Stefan Stanisław Bonifacy Józef Sapieha was a Polish cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Kraków. Between 1922–1923 he was a senator of the Second Rzeczpospolita. In 1946, Pope Pius XII created him Cardinal....
of Cracow wrote Orsenigo, telling him that a direct protest by the pope (rather than the nuncio) was "indispensable". Phayer finds it "doubtful" that Orsenigo forwarded Sapieha's request to the Holy See.
Among Polish Catholics, there was a widespread perception that Orsenigo "purposefully minimized their situation in his reports to Rome". For example, Hilarius Breitinger
Hilarius Breitinger
Hilarius Breitinger, OFM Conv was a German Franciscan prelate made apostolic administrator of the Reichsgau Wartheland during World War II by Pope Pius XII, one of the most controversial examples of the reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II...
, the apostolic administrator of Warthegau, delivered two copies of a letter critical of the pope's silence towards Berlin with regard to the situation in Poland: one to Orsenigo and another to Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, only the latter of whom assured Breitinger they would deliver the letter.
A November 25, 1939 dispatch from Orsenigo prompted Pius XII to make "one of his most controversial decisions". Orsenigo informed the pope of the situation in the Diocese of Chełmno-Pelpin: the bishop, Stanisław Wojciech Okoniewski, was in exile; his auxiliary was ill; all but one canon was absent; only 20 of the 500 priests of the diocese had not been forced out, imprisoned, or murdered. Pius XII therefore reversed his decision not to replace Polish prelates with (even temporary) German ones, naming Karl Maria Splett, the bishop of Danzig, also apostolic administrator of Chełmno-Pelpin. This decision was seen as a betrayal by the Polish government-in-exile, as the Concordat of 1925
Concordat of 1925
The 1925 concordat between the Holy See and the Second Polish Republic had 27 articles, which guaranteed the freedom of the Church and the faithful...
prohibited placing any Polish territory under the jurisdiction of a bishop outside Poland.
German espionage
The RSHARSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
infiltrated the Berlin nunciature through a German journalist who was to Orsenigo and a through a patriotic German priest who served under Orsenigo as adviser on German and east European affairs. According to Alvarez and Graham, this espionage provide "access to the attitudes and intentions of the nuncio".
Orsenigo's primary priest-assistant was in fact a secret member of the Nazi party. It is unknown whether Orsenigo himself was aware of his assistants party membership, however this fact was certainly known by Robert Leiber
Robert Leiber
Robert Leiber, S.J. , close advisor to Pope Pius XII, a Jesuit priest from Germany was Professor for Church History at the Gregorian University in Rome from 1930-1960...
, a German Jesuit who served as one of Pius XII's closest confidants and advisers during the war.
Legacy
Konrad von Preysing
Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church...
wrote a letter to the Vatican in 1937 calling Orsenigo too sympathetic with the Nazis, but Cardinal Adolf Bertram, the chairman of the German Bishops Conference
Conference of the German Bishops
The German Bishops' Conference is the episcopal conference of the bishops of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany. Members include diocesan bishops, coadjutors, auxiliary bishops, and diocesan administrators....
, wrote a letter of praise recommending that Orsenigo be allowed to stay. von Preysing had a history of correspondence with Orsenigo, but became frustrated upon receiving the following response: "charity is well and good but the greatest charity is not to make problems for the church".
Owen Chadwick argues that "the Pope knew how weak with the Nazis [Orsenigo] was". Phayer and Morley also criticize Pius XII for leaving Orsenigo at one of his most important nunciatures. However, Pierre Blet argues that had Orsenigo been replaced, a new nuncio may not have been accepted by the Nazis and the Vatican would have lost communication with the German church.
Susan Zuccotti
Susan Zuccotti
Dr. Susan Sessions Zuccotti is an American historian, specializing in studies of the Holocaust. She holds a PhD in Modern European History from Columbia University. She has won a National Jewish Book Award for Holocaust Studies, and the Premio Acqui Storia – Primo Lavoro for Italians and the...
argues that Orsenigo was "never known for his imagination or daring". Chadwick states that "Orsenigo saw nothing but ill to come from a breach between the Church and a Nazi State. As an Italian he believed in the Fascist State. His ideas on what ought to happen in Germany were formed on the basis of what happened in Italy". Chadwick credits to Orsenigo the creation of a chaplain-general for the German army, the circulation of pastoral letters from German bishops on pro-Nazi subjects such as mass procreation.