Second Italo-Abyssinian War - Church Statements

Church Statements

Catholic reaction was mixed to the Italian conquest of Ethiopia. Fearing retribution from the National Fascist Party, some bishops gave praise. For instance, in the book The Vatican in the Age of the Dictators, Anthony Rhodes reports:

In his Pastoral Letter of the 19th October, the Bishop of Udine wrote, ‘It is neither timely nor fitting for us to pronounce on the rights and wrongs of the case. Our duty as Italians, and still more as Christians is to contribute to the success of our arms.’ The Bishop of Padua wrote on the 21st October, ‘In the difficult hours through which we are passing, we ask you to have faith in our statesmen and armed forces.’ On the 24th October, the Bishop of Cremona consecrated a number of regimental flags and said: ‘The blessing of God be upon these soldiers who, on African soil, will conquer new and fertile lands for the Italian genius, thereby bringing to them Roman and Christian culture. May Italy stand once again as the Christian mentor to the whole world.’

Pope Pius XI (who had previously condemned totalitarianism in the encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogno) continued his implicit criticism of the Italian regime. This coincided with Mussolini's increasing anti-clericalism, of which he stated that "the papacy was a malignant tumor in the body of Italy and must 'be rooted out once and for all', because there was no room in Rome for both the Pope and ."