Rudolf Mikuš, S.J. (9 August 1884 – 1972) was a Slovak Jesuit priest, the first Vice-Provincial of the Jesuit (Vice-)Province of Slovakia, and a personal friend and occasional adviser to President Jozef Tiso. Born to a peasant family in Ratkovice, he entered the Jesuit novitiate at age sixteen, was ordained to the priesthood in 1915, and served as a military chaplain on the Eastern Front of the First World War. Between 1931 and 1942 he served as the first superior of the Slovak Jesuit vice-province. Under the communist regime he was arrested in 1950, condemned in 1956, and imprisoned until 1960, when he was granted amnesty. He spent the remainder of his life in charity houses in Rúban and Beckov.
The sole work of Fr. Mikuš presently accessible in English translation is a newspaper interview published in Slovák — the official daily of Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party — on 10 February 1939 (no. 34). The interview was arranged expressly to counter accusations that the ruling party was acting contrary to Catholic teaching in its handling of the Jewish question. Fr. Mikuš, as the highest-ranking Jesuit authority in Slovakia, was regarded as the most authoritative voice available to give a definitive Catholic reply.
The passages reproduced below are drawn exclusively from the English translation of this interview as published by The Journal of American Reform (6 March 2026), linked in the Sources section below. They bear on the following themes: the Church’s historic tradition of separation from and restriction of Jews, the Talmud as the doctrinal source of Jewish hostility to Christian society, the supersession of Old Testament Judaism by Talmudic rabbinism, the theological enmity between Jewish and Christian society as the basis of Catholic restrictive policy, and the duty of the State to exclude Jews from public and economic life. All passages are verbatim from the English translation identified in the Sources section. No word has been altered.
I. The Church’s Interest in a Just Solution to the Jewish Question
Slovák, Bratislava, no. 34 (10 February 1939)
(English trans. The Journal of American Reform, 6 March 2026)
“The Church is not against a fundamental solution to the Jewish question, indeed it is in her interest that it be solved as soon as possible. She cannot be indifferent to the fact that completely foreign elements continue to threaten her believers materially and morally. The Church knows well that almost all attempts in modern times to defeat the Christian worldview are based on the behind-the-scenes work of Jewry and via Jewry imposed Freemasonry. Therefore, the Church must, in her own interest, desire a just solution to the Jewish question.”
II. The Pope’s Protest Against the Italian Racial Laws: Its True Scope and Limits
Slovák, Bratislava, no. 34 (10 February 1939)
(English trans. The Journal of American Reform, 6 March 2026)
“Excuse me, the Holy Father did not protest against the solution of the Jewish question as such, but only against certain points of the solution that also affected non-Jewish races. The Holy Father spoke out only against the fact that in solving the Jewish question, not only racial difference, but almost also foreign citizenship was determined as an diriment impediment [nullifying obstacle] on the part of the State. The Church must speak out against this, because she, as the divinely appointed guardian of justice and truth, must make sure that nothing is done officially in Christian states that undermines natural and divine law.”
“So when the Pope protests against such a solution to the Jewish question that would highlight certain natural and divine rights, he is only doing his duty. In this way he does not want to prevent the solution of the Jewish problem, but only draws attention to boundaries that must not be exceeded in this solution.”
III. The Church Has Never Been Philo-Semitic: Her Ancient Policy of Separation
Slovák, Bratislava, no. 34 (10 February 1939)
(English trans. The Journal of American Reform, 6 March 2026)
“Not at all! After all, the Church has been proving by her example from the very beginning that she is in favor of separating Jewish and Christian society. And liberal circles have always criticized it as intolerance. The Church was opposed to marriage between a Christian and an unbaptized Jew from the very beginning. The Church has always insisted that Christians and Jews should not live together, but that every city had to have its own ghetto [Jewish street], where they lived completely separately, and they had to wear special clothes, hats, and yellow patches on their clothes so that everyone would recognize them as Jews and avoid them. Contacts between Christians and Jews had to be limited to the most necessary ones. Popes have been constantly criticized for being harsh towards Jews. Therefore, it would be ridiculous to suspect the Church of philo-Semitism again now. The principle of the church is: to solve the Jewish question, but to preserve God-given rights in the process.”
IV. The Talmud: The Source of Jewish Danger to Christian Society
Slovák, Bratislava, no. 34 (10 February 1939)
(English trans. The Journal of American Reform, 6 March 2026)
“A Jew imbued with the teachings of the Talmud is dangerous. The current Jew is not a Jew of the Old Testament, he is infected with the Talmud. The Talmud is a summary of dangerous teachings for Christian society. According to the Talmud, a non-Jew is not even a person, but rather a beast without any rights. And since non-Jews have no rights in the eyes of a Talmudic Jew, a Talmudic Jew is dangerous for Christian society.”
V. Supersessionism: The Old Testament Jew Versus the Talmudic Jew
Slovák, Bratislava, no. 34 (10 February 1939)
(English trans. The Journal of American Reform, 6 March 2026)
“The current Jew is not a Jew of the Old Testament, he is infected with the Talmud.”
“Yes. History knows many sincere conversions of Jews. There were Jews who took on the entire Christian spirit and completely abandoned the spirit of the Talmud. And they completely merged into Christian society. Their descendants, not being infected with the germs of Talmudic teachings, became useful members of Christian society.”
VI. The Duty of the State to Exclude Jews from Public and Economic Life
Slovák, Bratislava, no. 34 (10 February 1939)
(English trans. The Journal of American Reform, 6 March 2026)
“Everything that the interest of the State and the nation requires, as long as it does not conflict with the law of God. The State can, and in today’s circumstances, when the Jews have taken over the entire public and economic life with their influence and thus threaten the entire non-Jewish society, must exclude the Jews from economic and public life. Otherwise, they will destroy the entire Christian community.”
“And this danger must be eliminated. Therefore, the State may prevent Jews from accessing such professions that allow them to influence and corrupt Christian society. It can remove them from certain professions, such as law, medicine, judiciary, it can even take the press away from them and make it impossible for them to influence the upbringing of Christian youth. The Church has never objected to this.”
VII. The Conditions of Jewish Baptism and the Limits of Conversion
Slovák, Bratislava, no. 34 (10 February 1939)
(English trans. The Journal of American Reform, 6 March 2026)
“The Church has the duty to teach and baptize all nations. And the duty of every person is to be interested in the teaching of Christ and to accept it, once he has known it. Therefore, the Church cannot and must not prevent access to the Church, i.e. to salvation, even to the Jews. Therefore, when a Jew sincerely converts and asks for baptism, a Catholic priest must baptize him.”
“The Church must baptize only that Jew who knows Christian teachings sufficiently and sincerely accepts them. The priest may not baptize someone who only requests Holy Baptism out of convenience and for temporal advantages and not out of conviction. Therefore, baptism must usually be preceded by a more or less long probationary period, so that the appropriate catechumen can become sufficiently familiar with Christian teaching and so that the Church can also be convinced of his correct intention. Even those Jews who are baptized only out of convenience remain what they were and at the next opportunity will easily return to Judaism.”
Sources
- Mikuš, Rudolf, S.J. “The State Must Exclude Jews from Economic and Public Life.” Interview originally published in Slovák (official daily of Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party), Bratislava, no. 34, 10 February 1939. Translated into English by The Journal of American Reform, 6 March 2026: https://americanreform.substack.com/p/must-the-state-exclude-jews-from