Pacelli sends Gasparri a copy of Faulhaber’s pastoral letter for Lent 1920 denouncing democracy, telling Bavarian Catholics that the German revolution is at root not a political issue but a religious and moral issue of Kulturkampf against the Church, conducted by enemies who are forging ever new weapons, and that Catholics must be on guard and not let their weapons get rusty - Jan. 24, 1920
Source: Timeline
Jan. 24, 1920 Pacelli sends Gasparri a copy of Faulhaber’s pastoral letter for Lent 1920 denouncing democracy, telling Bavarian Catholics that the German revolution is at root not a political issue but a religious and moral issue of Kulturkampf against the Church, conducted by enemies who are forging ever new weapons, and that Catholics must be on guard and not let their weapons get rusty.
English translation of key excerpts
Jan. 24, 1920 Archbishop Faulhaber’s pastoral letter for Lent 1920, translation of the copy sent this date by Nuncio Pacelli in Munich to Cardinal Gasparri in Rome:
Pastoral Letter for the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Lent 1920: The Papacy in our Democratic Era
Michael, by God’s mercy and by the grace of the Apostolic Throne, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, confers upon the reverend clergy and all the faithful of the Archdiocese greeting and blessing in the Lord.
Beloved faithful of the Archdiocese! A few days ago I returned from by pilgrimage to Rome, where I reported to the Holy Father about the religious-ecclesiastical condition of the Archdiocese and at the same time, in your name, at the grave of the Prince of the Apostles, prayed the Apostles’ Creed. For five long years it was impossible for the German Bishops to visit and speak with the supreme Teacher and Shepherd of the Church, the Successor to the Apostle Peter. “The roads to Zion mourn” (Lamentations 1:4), at least those roads that led from the central European Church provinces to the Eternal City. And still it must be felt by all Catholics around the world as a robbery of the Church’s freedom, when the undisturbed connection of the Bishops by letter and personal interaction with the Vicar of Christ on Earth can be torn asunder by political world events. That is why it remains indeed one of the most horrible omissions in the peace process, that not once in this peace was the Roman Question addressed, even though it was precisely in this war that the disgraceful and intolerable situation of the Holy Father as Prisoner in the Vatican was revealed in a new glaring light. In Biblical antiquity the soul of the Psalmist rejoiced when the days of pilgrimage to Jerusalem approached: “I rejoiced when they said to me: Let us go up to the House of the Lord. Now our feet are standing in your courts, O City of Peace” (Ps. 121:1ff.). Thus our soul rejoiced as the isolation of the central point of Christendom finally came to an end and the roads to Rome became free again.
There in Rome one comes upon the ruins of pagan temples and theaters, upon the broken down pillars of pagan marketplaces and baths, upon the remains of the walls of the Golden House of Nero and of the palaces of the Roman emperors – and the stones of these ruins from pagan antiquity say to us: What God’s hand has destroyed, no human hand shall rebuild again. There in Rome more than 400 churches rise up, overshadowed by the dome of St. Peter’s Church above the grave of the Prince of the Apostles – and the stones of these churches say to us: What God’s hand has built up, no human hand shall destroy. There in Rome one goes on pilgrimage to the Catacombs and to the graves of the blood witnesses of our faith – and the graves of these heroes of the faith say to us: Your faith is anointed with the blood of the martyrs. There in Rome one climbs down into the Mamertine dungeon, where Christian witnesses to the faith celebrated the holy mysteries in the early morning hours and strengthened themselves for the final entrance into the arena of the amphitheater – and the stones of the dungeon and the amphitheater say this to us: Neither trouble nor hardship, neither danger nor persecution, not even the sword, shall separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35). There in Rome one walks the streets on which, from the first century until today, innumerable saints, but also innumerable enemies of the Church, have walked, the streets of the ancient Babylon (I Peter 5:13) and of the new Jerusalem – and the stones of these streets say to us: “The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the godless leads to the abyss” (Psalm 1:6). We celebrated, at the end of last year in Munich, the three hundredth anniversary memorial of the death of Blessed Lawrence of Brindisi, who lived here in the Capuchin monastery and preached here.
[With Pope Benedict XV] ... We spoke about the school situation in Bavaria, where despite the need for bread and coal and clothes and work, people still have time to fight for the influence of the Church in the realms of school and education, and to deliver the souls of young people from malnutrition, and where ever more and more Catholic parents are waking up and standing up in the Catholic parent associations for their inalienable rights over their children. A reverential astonishment gripped me as I saw how well the Holy Father, in these and other issues, knows our situation in Germany and in Bavaria.
... Monarchical states with their military foundations have collapsed, but the Church, without any military means of power, has survived the upheavals of 1900 years as the Hierarchy of God’s Grace, and will preserve her fundamental monarchical character until the end of time. The Papal tiara will outlast all the kings’ crowns and emperors’ crowns of world history. Voices may well be heard speaking of self-government and the sovereign people, and saying to the Church: “Mother, don’t you want to be more accommodating to the democratic signs of the time and reform your strict hierarchical constitution in a more parliamentary way? Don’t you want to pour new wine into new wineskins and let the people participate in governing?” Then the Church will answer: “Children of the 20th century, you have drunk of the intoxicating wine of the democratic idea, but you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.” The Papal Primacy is an institution of God and is thereby raised up above the developments of contemporary history.
...
The new Reich constitution has placed the Church founded by Christ on the same level with whatever religious society you like (Article 137, sections 5 and 7) and with it has granted truth and error the same rights. No state constitution, however, can abrogate the words of the Gospel: “Every plant that is not planted by my heavenly Father will be rooted out” (Matthew 15:13). No state constitution can abrogate the words of the Apostle calling the Church of the living God the pillar and foundation of truth (I Timothy 3:15). The wilder the spirits of untruth and mendacity go abroad in public life, the greater the Church appears to us, which guards the holy fire of Pentecost on its altars, and all the greater appears to us the supreme head of the Church, who strengthens the brethren in the faith...
... Whoever persecutes the Church with Saul gets to hear this word with him: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts of the Apostles 9:5).
The Papacy is the rock of secure faith! Have we not experienced with horror in the era of revolution how all order falls apart, all sense of community dies, every depravity comes to power, if there is no strong government in the state? Let us thank God that we, at least in religious questions, still have an authority that has the last, decisive word on the strength of its supreme teaching office in matters of faith and morals! ... Whoever has eyes to see and ears to hear can observe today in the anti-Church newspapers and assemblies how the systematic campaign of lies against bishops and priests is taking up the old tactic of hell again and giving out the solution: Strike the shepherd, then the flock will scatter itself!
My dear diocesan faithful! Do not let yourselves be ripped away from the community of your Church! Keep the inner and true connection to your shepherds, to your chief shepherd and to the supreme shepherd in Rome! Spare the sanctuary of faith the modern catchwords of self-government and self-salvation! ... Do not tolerate newspapers and pamphlets in your environment that bring incessant calumny against your Church, against Pope and bishops and priests, and sow division in your ranks! ...
The Papacy is the rock of moral and social order! ...
... The comforting visits that the Apostolic Nuncio of Munich, Monsignore Pacelli, made to German prisoner of war camps at the charge of the Holy Father, will remain in thankful remembrance among the German people, as will the abundant loving gifts that were distributed among the prisoners by the Apostolic Nunciature in Munich. Since November 1918, since our prisoners of war were unilaterally detained in foreign lands, Pope Benedict has ten times undertaken official steps of solicitude for our prisoners without distinction as to their religion. Also for the war’s other emergencies, especially the food shortage, the Holy Father, although himself poor, was an exceedingly rich helper in time of need. What our brothers in the faith are sending us today from America, we are receiving by the appeal of the Holy Father, thus indirectly from his hands. Pope Benedict will live on in world history as the Pope of peace and of love. In the era of wrath he has become a reconciliation. Thus, precisely in this time of affliction, it is revealed anew that Christ lives on in his Church, lives on and suffers on, suffers on and continually blesses, continually blesses and continually conquers. “Christ is victor, Christ is king, Christ is ruler!” The German revolution is only superficially a political and economic upheaval; in its foundational impetus it is a moral and religious subversive movement. That will be shown as soon as the deepest roots and ultimate goals of the revolution are uncovered. In Bavaria up to now the open and even more the slinking form of Kulturkampf has not rested since the outbreak of the revolution. Even Pilate and Herod, those otherwise irreconcilable enemies, struck a bond of brotherhood when it was a matter of opposing the Catholic Church and its servants. The enemies of the Church are on guard and are forging ever new weapons; so the true children of the Church may not sleep and may not let the weapons of light get rusty. “See to it that no one leads you astray” (Mark 13:5), and do not let the blows of the Church’s enemies take you by surprise! Be wise and build your house on the rock! The Lord is going to visit his vineyard, which his right hand planted, and may a strong tower remain for the supreme shepherds of the Church against his enemies!
As I departed, the Holy Father gave me authority to impart to my beloved Archdiocesan faithful the Papal blessing in his name, and thereby to commend all of you to the grace of the Almighty, and especially our dear prisoners of war who are now returning home. The greeting of the Holy Father is the greeting of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles: “Grace be with you and abundant peace” (I Peter 1:2; II Peter 1:2)! So may the Holy Father’s blessing, like the anointing oil from the head of the high priest (Psalm 132:2) come over you all in the name of the +Father and of the +Son and of the +Holy Sspirit. Amen.
Given on January 24, 1920 at Munich.
+Michael
Archbishop of Munich and Freising
Source: Faulhaber, Michael von, Hirtenbrief für die Erzdiözese München und Freising Fastenzeit 1920: Das Papsttum in unserer demokratischen Zeit, München 24. Januar 1920, in: “Kritische Online-Edition der Nuntiaturberichte Eugenio Pacellis (1917-1929)”, Dokument Nr. 6615, URL: