Editing Pope Pius XII (section)

===Archbishop and papal nuncio===
{{Main|Nunciature of Eugenio Pacelli}}
[[File:PioXIIgernamia1917.jpg|thumb|right|170px|Pacelli at the Headquarters of [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]]]]
Pope Benedict XV appointed Pacelli as [[Apostolic Nuncio to Bavaria|nuncio to Bavaria]] on 23 April 1917, consecrating him as [[titular bishop|titular]] [[See of Sardis|Archbishop of Sardis]] in the [[Sistine Chapel]] on 13 May 1917, the same day as the [[Our Lady of Fátima|first apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary]] in [[Fátima, Portugal|Fatima, Portugal]]. After his consecration, Eugenio Pacelli left for [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]]. As there was no nuncio to [[Prussia]] or Germany at the time, Pacelli was, for all practical purposes, the nuncio to all of the [[German Empire]].

Once in [[Munich]], he conveyed the papal initiative to end the war to German authorities.<ref>Fatoni, 1992, pp. 45–85</ref> He met with King [[Ludwig III of Bavaria|Ludwig III]] on 29 May, and later with Kaiser [[Wilhelm II]]<ref name="marchione11">Marchione, 2004, p. 11</ref> and Chancellor [[Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg]], who replied positively to the Papal initiative. However, Bethmann Hollweg was forced to resign and the [[Oberste Heeresleitung|German High Command]], hoping for a military victory, delayed the German reply until 20 September.

Sister [[Pascalina Lehnert]] later recalled that the Nuncio was heartbroken that the Kaiser turned a "deaf ear to all his proposals". She later wrote, "Thinking back today on that time, when we Germans still all believed that our weapons would be victorious and the Nuncio was deeply sorry that the chance had been missed to save what there was to save, it occurs to me over and over again how clearly he foresaw what was to come. Once as he traced the course of the [[Rhine]] with his finger on a map, he said sadly, 'No doubt this will be lost as well'. I did not want to believe it, but here, too, he was to be proved right."<ref>Lehnert (2014), pages 5–6.</ref>

For the remainder of the Great War, Pacelli concentrated on Benedict's humanitarian efforts<ref>Rychlak, 2000, p. 6</ref> especially among Allied [[Prisoners of war in World War I|prisoners of war]] in German custody.<ref>Lehnert (2014), 6–7.</ref> In the upheaval following the Armistice, a disconcerted Pacelli sought Benedict XV's permission to leave Munich, where [[Kurt Eisner]] had formed the [[Free State of Bavaria]], and he left for a while to [[Rorschach, St. Gallen|Rorschach]], and a tranquil Swiss sanatorium run by nuns. Schioppa, the ''uditore'', was left in Munich.<ref>Cornwell, p. 73</ref>

"His recovery began with a 'rapport{{'"}} with the 24-year-old Sister Pascalina Lehnert – she would soon be transferred to Munich when Pacelli "pulled strings at the highest level".<ref>Noel, p. 34</ref>

When he returned to Munich, following Eisner's assassination by the Bavarian nationalist [[Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley|Count Anton von Arco auf Valley]], he informed Gasparri-using Schioppa's eye-witness testimony of the chaotic scene at the former royal palace as the trio of [[Max Levien]], [[Eugen Levine]], and [[Tobias Akselrod]] sought power: "the scene was indescribable [-] the confusion totally chaotic [-] in the midst of all this, a gang of young women, of dubious appearance, Jews like the rest of them hanging around [-] the boss of this female rabble was Levien's mistress, a young Russian woman, a Jew and a divorcée [-] and it was to her that the nunciature was obliged to pay homage in order to proceed [-] Levien is a young man, also Russian and a Jew. Pale, dirty, with drugged eyes, vulgar, repulsive ..." John Cornwell alleges that a worrying impression of anti-Semitism is discernible in the "catalogue of epithets describing their physical and moral repulsiveness" and Pacelli's "constant harping on the Jewishness of this party of power usurpers" chimed with the "growing and widespread belief among Germans that the Jews were the instigators of the [[October Revolution|Bolshevik revolution]], their principal aim being the destruction of Christian civilization".<ref>Cornwell, p. 75</ref> Also according to Cornwell, Pacelli informed Gasparri that "the capital of Bavaria, is suffering under a harsh Jewish-Russian revolutionary tyranny".<ref>{{cite book|author=John Cornwell|title=Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mFHKrYwv87sC&pg=PA78|year=2000|publisher=Penguin|page=78|isbn=9780140296273}}</ref>
[[File:PacelliBavaria1922a.JPG|thumb|right|145px|Pacelli in Bavaria, 1922]]

According to Sister Pascalina Lehnert, the Nuncio was repeatedly threatened by emissaries of the [[Bavarian Soviet Republic]]. Once, in a violation of international law, the Bavarian Revolutionary Government attempted to confiscate the Nunciature's car at gunpoint. Despite their demands, however, Pacelli refused to leave his post.<ref>Lehnert (2014), pages 7–8.</ref>

After the Bavarian Soviet Republic was defeated and toppled by ''[[Freikorps]]'' and ''[[Reichswehr]]'' troops, the Nuncio focused on, according to Lehnert, "alleviating the distress of the postwar period, consoling, supporting all in word and deed".<ref>Lehnert (2014), page 8.</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-00535, Bamberg, 900 Jahr-Feier der Stadt.jpg|thumb|left|Nuncio Pacelli in July 1924 at the 900th anniversary of the City of [[Bamberg]]]]
Pacelli was appointed [[Apostolic Nuncio to Germany]] on 23 June 1920, and – after the completion of a [[Bavarian Concordat (1924)]] – his nunciature was moved to Berlin in August 1925. Many of Pacelli's Munich staff stayed with him for the rest of his life, including his advisor [[Robert Leiber]] and Sister Pascalina Lehnert—housekeeper, cook, friend, and adviser for 41 years. In Berlin, Pacelli was [[Doyen|Dean of the Diplomatic Corps]] and active in diplomatic and many social activities. He was aided by the German priest [[Ludwig Kaas]], who was known for his expertise in Church-state relations and was a full-time politician, politically active in the Catholic [[Centre Party (Germany)|Centre Party]], a party he led following [[Wilhelm Marx]]'s resignation in October 1928.<ref>Volk, 1972; Cornwell, p. 96</ref> While in Germany, he travelled to all regions, attended [[Katholikentag]] (national gatherings of the faithful), and delivered some 50 sermons and speeches to the German people.<ref>Kaas, 1930.</ref> In Berlin he lived in the [[Tiergarten (Berlin)|Tiergarten]] quarter and threw parties for the official and diplomatic elite. [[Paul von Hindenburg]], [[Gustav Stresemann]], and other members of the Cabinet were regular guests.

[[File:Future Pope Pius XII visits Dorstfeld Mines in 1927 Germany.jpg|thumb|Nuncio Pacelli visits the coal mine Dorstfeld on the occasion of the ''[[Katholikentag]]'' in [[Dortmund]], Germany, in 1927.]]

In post-war Germany, in the absence of a nuncio in Moscow, Pacelli worked also on diplomatic arrangements between the Vatican and the [[Soviet Union]]. He negotiated food shipments for Russia, where the Catholic Church was persecuted. He met with Soviet representatives including Foreign Minister [[Georgi Chicherin]], who rejected any kind of religious education, the ordination of priests and bishops, but offered agreements without the points vital to the Vatican.<ref>Stehle, 1975, pp. 139–41</ref>
[[File:Eugenio Pacelli, future Pope Pius XII, in 1927.jpg|thumb|219x219px|Eugenio Pacelli in 1927]]
Despite Vatican pessimism and a lack of visible progress, Pacelli continued the secret negotiations, until [[Pius XI]] ordered them to be discontinued in 1927. Pacelli supported German diplomatic activity aimed at rejection of punitive measures from victorious former enemies. He blocked French attempts for an ecclesiastical separation of the [[Saar (League of Nations)|Saar region]], supported the appointment of a papal administrator for [[Free City of Danzig|Danzig]] and aided the reintegration of German priests expelled from [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]].<ref>Morsey, p. 121</ref> A [[Prussian Concordat]] was signed on 14 June 1929. Following the [[Wall Street crash of 1929]], the beginnings of a world economic slump appeared, and the days of the [[Weimar Republic]] were numbered. Pacelli was summoned back to Rome at this time—the call coming by telegram when he was resting at his favourite retreat, the Rorschach convent sanatorium. He left Berlin on 10 December 1929.<ref>Cornwell, pp. 103–04</ref> [[David G. Dalin]] wrote "of the forty-four speeches Pacelli gave in Germany as papal nuncio between 1917 and 1929, forty denounced some aspect of the emerging Nazi ideology".<ref name="The Pius War 2010, p. 17">''The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII'', David G. Dalin, Joseph Bottum, Lexington Books, 2010, p. 17</ref> In 1935 he wrote a letter to [[Karl Joseph Schulte]], the archbishop of Cologne, describing the Nazis as "false prophets with the pride of Lucifer". and as "bearers of a new faith and a new Evangile" who were attempting to create "a mendacious antimony between faithfulness to the Church and the Fatherland".<ref>''Controversial Concordats: The Vatican's Relations with Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler'', Ed Frank J. Coppa, Catholic University of America Press, P. 173, {{ISBN|081320920X}}</ref> Two years later at [[Notre Dame de Paris]] he named Germany as "that noble and powerful nation whom bad shepherds would lead astray into an ideology of race".<ref name="The Pius War 2010, p. 17"/>