Eugenio Pacelli, Bethmann-Hollweg, Kaiser Wilhelm at Kreuznach and the Peace Proposal from Pope Benedict XV - June 30, 1917

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Source: Timeline


 June 6, 1917 Pacelli cables Gasparri that Erzberger says Kaiser Wilhelm II will welcome a visit by Pacelli and a peace initiative by the Pope.

Source: www.Pacelli-Edition.de, Document No. 4491.

June 10, 1917 Erzberger reports to Pacelli that the Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary wants a peace initiative by Catholic authorities without delay, while Erzberger believes the best time for such action will be in September or October.

Source: www.Pacelli-Edition.de, Document No. 362.

June 21, 1917 Erzberger reports to Pacelli that he has initiated an international Catholic appeal for peace, communicated by a Catholic association in Switzerland to the Catholic Bishops of many countries.

Source: www.Pacelli-Edition.de, Document No. 364.

June 26-30, 1917 Archbishop Pacelli meets with German Reich Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg in Berlin, and with Kaiser Wilhelm at Kreuznach, to discuss a planned peace proposal from Pope Benedict XV.

English translation of report from Pacelli to Gasparri, Italian original and German summary online at www.Pacelli-Edition.de, Document No. 366


June 30, 1917 Pacelli to Gasparri:

Most Reverend Eminence,

 Having returned this morning to Munich, I am fulfilling without delay my duty to send Your Most Reverend Eminence a more detailed report of my trip to Berlin and Kreuznach, of which I already had the honor to send news to you telegraphically in my respectful coded cables of the 26th and 30th this month.

Leaving here accompanied by Msgr. Schioppa, the Auditor of this Nunciature, on the evening of Monday the 25th, I arrived in Berlin the following morning at 7:20. At the station to receive me was Deputy Erzberger, who, with a splendid military automobile, which was placed at my complete disposition during all the time of my stay in Berlin by the Ministry of War, accompanied me to the Hotel Continental, one of the best in the Capital, where I was lodged in a very dignified apartment on the first floor, as the guest of the Imperial Government. I will say here that immediately upon my first encounter with Mr. Erzberger, I renewed the request, already made to him in writing, to arrange that the press would not speak about my trip, in order to avoid future hostile comments toward the Holy See on the part of the Entente's newspapers, which in all probability would have represented the selfsame Holy See as always more closely tied to the Central Powers and inclined to cooperate with them for the achievement of a so-called German peace. This request achieved full effect, as the newspapers were prevented by the Censor from giving any hint of the matter.

 I celebrated Holy Mass at the nearby Catholic Church of St. Hedwig, then met first, at 10:00, Dr. Jordan, First Legation Secretary, assigned to me personally by the Foreign Ministry, and then, at 10:15, Mr. Diego von Bergen, First Minister, already well known to me because for several years he was in Rome as the Secretary of the Prussian Legation to the Holy See, and he gave me some useful information for my audience with the Chancellor of the Reich. This took place at 11:30 and was truly marked by the most respectful deference and the most sincere cordiality. Making the customary compliments, Mr. von Bethmann-Hollweg (who is a man of imposing figure, of pronounced features, and rather rough appearance, but frank and loyal) inquired attentively into the precious health of the Holy Father, and I, after giving him the news he requested, gave him the copy of the Letter that His Holiness has addressed to His Majesty the Kaiser. He read it in its entirety with the fullest attention and he immediately spoke with admiration and praise of the attitude and humanitarian intentions of the August Pontiff. He said that Germany sincerely desires an end to this horrible war that it did not provoke, as it well demonstrated this past December with its offer to enter into peace negotiations with the enemy States...

 ... he charged me repeatedly to say to the Holy Father that he counts greatly on His activity, convinced that the August Pontiff is destined to play a major role when the time comes for the desired peace...

 My departure for General Headquarters took place Thursday evening in a sumptuous Imperial special train car, where I was seated with Msgr. Schioppa and the aforesaid Mr. Jordan, who was assigned to accompany me. Arriving at Kreuznach at 9:30 Friday morning, the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, - after having celebrated Holy Mass in the chapel of the large Lazzaretto Hospital (over which the Papal flag was flying), which was attended by the Generals-Plenipotentiary of Austria-Hungary and Bavaria - I was taken by Imperial automobile to the residence of His Majesty, where an elegant apartment had been prepared for me. The Imperial audience took place with solemnity at 12:45. After the customary introduction to civil and military dignitaries of the Imperial household, I was brought into the presence of the Kaiser, handing over to him the venerated Pontifical Original Letter, explaining to him, in accordance with the instructions I received, the anxious preoccupations of the Holy Father about the prolongation of the war, building up hatreds and accumulating material and moral destruction, which represents the suicide of civilized Europe and reverses centuries of progress of humanity...

 His Majesty listened to me with respectful and serious attention. I will say right away, however, that in the way he fixed his gaze, in gesture and voice, He (not so much by nature as in consequence of the preoccupations of three long years of war) appeared overexcited and not at all well-balanced... He recalled the peace offer of last December, lamenting that the Holy Father had not spoken out then, while Wilson had. Naturally I explained to His Majesty the reasons for this silence, which already had been highlighted, moreover, briefly but clearly, in the selfsame Pontifical Letter. Then the Emperor spoke to me at length about the perils that international socialism presents to action in favor of peace and insisted a great deal on the necessity that the Holy Father issue a solemn document addressed not indeed to Governments, but to clergy and to the faithful of the whole world, commanding prayer and work in concord in favor of peace. He had no doubt of the efficacy of such a pontifical prescription. There are, he said, two powerful organizations on the earth: the Catholic hierarchy and the Prussian army, which are threatened today by international socialism. Then he spoke to me about the current King of Italy, atheist, profound hater of priests and monks, and whom he called the “traitor king.” In March 1914, Victor Emmanuel III expressly promised him that, if the issue were presented, the armies of Italy would be deployed alongside Germany! He is finished forever, added the Kaiser, with the House of Savoy, who will have to pay for their betrayal (and here he made the same gesture with clenched fist that he did at the beginning). The Pope’s situation is intolerable; it is necessary in the interest of his sovereignty that he have an independent territory with access to the sea to assure freedom of communications...

Source: Italian original and German summary at www.Pacelli-Edition.de, Document No. 366. The original is reprinted from Historical Archive of the Secretariat of State (Holy See), Section for Relations with States, Vatican Secret Archives, AA.EE.SS., Stati Ecclesiastici, 1914-1921, pos. 1317, fasc. 470, vol. III, fol. 111r-120v.