Books, the secrets of the Holy Office on ‘The excommunication of the Communists’ by Cesare Catananti

An interesting historical essay entitled ‘The excommunication of the Communists has just arrived in bookstores. Protagonists and background in the declassified papers of the Sant’Offizio ‘, published by San Paolo. The research behind the book, explains its author, Cesare Catananti, doctor, former director general of the Policlinico ‘A. Gemelli of Rome and professor of History of Medicine, springs “from the need to understand the profound reasons for that act which was really strong. Because if it is true that the Church, since the time of Pius IX, had repeatedly condemned the doctrine Communist, now, and for the first time, individuals were hit who, ‘scienter et libere’ (consciously and freely, ed), professed it, spread it, propagated it “. “With the opening of the archives of the pontificate of Pius XII finally – adds Catananti – it was possible to reconstruct what really happens on a documentary basis. Thus overcoming the hypothesis phase and reconstructing the entire decision process”. What emerges from those cards? “I believe we can affirm – explains the author – that the excommunication was the result of the confluence of multiple flows of events that over the course of a century have crossed the Church of Rome. Certainly the original need was to give guidelines to the clergy in ‘management’ of cases in which a Communist wanted to participate in certain rites or had asked for access to the sacraments. There was no uniformity of approach between bishops and parish priests “. “Far from it. But there was – specifies the writer – something much more relevant behind that decree: the reaction, felt as obliged, to what was happening in the East. And that is the violent repression of the representatives of the Church of Rome with the specific objective of creating local Churches at the service of the Regime. In the Vatican, there was a clear awareness that Bolshevism aimed at the heart of the Catholic Church. Not only to reduce it but to cancel it. The fight against communism was therefore experienced as a war for survival “. Was there also the fear that in Italy the Communists would take up arms? “Absolutely yes”, replies Catananti, “the information available to the Holy See – he recalls – showed this danger as real and not only theoretical. And the documents of the Moscow Archives and the PCI confirm that there was a risk. risk that he would have made the Vatican a possible enclave of an Italian beyond the Curtain. This was the reality. And this was the scenario that weighed on the decisions of Pius XII and the Holy Office “. Was there, however, also a strong desire to support the DC? “Communism and the PCI – the author replies – were clearly opposed. And consequently, support for the Christian Democrats was derived. In this context we must also see the intolerance and irritation of the Holy Office and the Pope towards Catholics Communists considered as fifth columns of the PCI. The controversy with this group, although not decisive in the decision that would be taken, acted as an additive in warming the hearts of the cardinals “. Did the decree achieve the results it had set for itself? “No. The desired results – he declares – were not achieved. The application cases proved to be particularly intricate and complex and the confusion was great. And so each Bishop went his own way. The specificity of the Italian social fabric. That homegrown mix of secularism and religiosity. Even if they were members of the PCI, it became difficult for many to give up religious rites and traditions (baptism, funeral, confirmation, church wedding …) that were part of their roots. polemics, and in the book there are many examples, there was no lack of “.” In fact – he reports – many episcopates followed different routes. the escape route for many. And, then, as Cardinal Siri observed, those who adhered to communism could not be condemned ‘for the creation of appetite …’. In electoral competitions it is a fact that in the following years there was a decrease in the consensus of the DC and an increase for the PCI “. And finally, was that decree then a mistake? “Everything – recalls Catananti – must be contextualized. Too easy ex post to let oneself go to judgments. And this is not the task of the historian. Honestly, it must be admitted that in those precise ‘historical’ conditions, to Pius XII and a good part of the Curia it appeared inevitable that kind of descent into the field. If it was a mistake, it was inevitable given those circumstances. Let me also underline how that decree with a strong religious caliber can also be seen in a ‘spiritual’ path that in 1950 was enriched by the ceremonies of the Year Santo, of the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary and of the announcement of the discovery of the tomb of St. Peter “. “A general climate, therefore, which in the vision of Pius XII – concludes the author – would have exalted the creed of the convinced faithful and the lukewarm, helping the lost sheep to find the right path”.