Compiled for scholarly research on modern papal statements and Vatican-approved publications concerning Jews and Judaism. Pope Pius XI (Achille Ratti) reigned: February 6, 1922 – February 10, 1939 All material in this document falls strictly within the dates of his pontificate.
Methodological Note: This document compiles only verified, directly sourced quotations. Each entry identifies the document type, date, original language, and scholarly source. Pre-pontifical material has been excluded. Sources range from direct papal documents and decrees to Vatican-reviewed journals, Cardinal-level pastoral letters, imprimatured works, and contemporary press reports documenting the Holy See’s official positions.
On La Civiltà Cattolica‘s institutional status: The Encyclopaedia Judaica describes the journal as “the faithful interpreter of papal thought.” Per scholars including José David Lebovitch Dahl: “La Civiltà Cattolica has been constitutionally connected to the Vatican since 1850, and the Vatican controls the journal rigidly: the draft of each issue is reviewed by the secretariat of state… Until Pius XII, the pope himself received the director.” The articles below thus carry effective Vatican editorial co-authorship — a stronger endorsement than a standard diocesan imprimatur.
I. Papal Encyclicals and Decrees
I.A. Quas Primas (On the Feast of Christ the King)
Type: Encyclical Date: December 11, 1925 Language: Latin; English translation from the Vatican. Source: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_11121925_quas-primas.html
On the Jews‘ challenge to Christ’s judicial authority:
“He claimed judicial power as received from his Father, when the Jews accused him of breaking the Sabbath by the miraculous cure of a sick man. ‘For neither doth the Father judge any man; but hath given all judgment to the Son.'”
(§ 13. Jews are cast as those who challenged and were corrected by Christ’s authority — classic Adversus Judaeos rhetoric.)
On universal submission to Christ including all non-Christians:
“His empire includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who are outside the Christian faith; so that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ.”
(§ 18. Jews, as “those outside the Christian faith,” are included as subjects of Christ’s kingship — the doctrinal foundation of supersessionism.)
I.B. Mortalium Animos (On Fostering True Religious Unity)
Type: Encyclical Date: January 6, 1928 Language: Latin; English translation from the Vatican. Source: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19280106_mortalium-animos.html
On the one true Church as the only path:
“The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it.”
On the grave error of religious pluralism:
“In reality beneath these enticing words and blandishments lies hid a most grave error, by which the foundations of the Catholic faith are completely destroyed.”
(Applied universally to Judaism: since Judaism has been superseded, there is only one path — the Catholic Church.)
I.C. Decree Cum Supremae — Suppression of the “Friends of Israel“
Type: Decree of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, approved and ordered published by Pius XI Date: March 25, 1928 Language: Latin; English translation from scholarly sources. Sources: Full English translation: https://novusordowatch.org/pius11-abolition-friends-of-Israel/; Wikipedia, “Opus sacerdotale Amici Israel“: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_sacerdotale_Amici_Israel
Context: The Amici Israel counted ~19 cardinals, 300+ bishops, and 3,000+ priests. When it petitioned to remove the word perfidis from the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews, the Holy Office under Cardinal Merry del Val suppressed the entire organization. Pius XI personally approved and ordered publication of the decree.
The decree’s supersessionist rationale:
“…the Catholic Church has always been accustomed to pray for the Jewish people, who were the depository of the divine promises up until the arrival of Jesus Christ, notwithstanding their subsequent blindness, or rather, because of this very blindness.”
Condemnation of the Amici Israel‘s approach:
“…the association ‘Amici Israel‘ then embarked on a plan of acting and communicating at variance with the sense of the Church, the mind of the holy Fathers of the Church, and the sacred liturgy…”
Cardinal Merry del Val’s objection, accepted by Pius XI (March 7, 1928):
“This report put forward by the so-called Amici Israel strikes me as completely unacceptable, indeed even rash. We are dealing with ancient prayers and rites of the liturgy of the Church, a liturgy inspired and consecrated for centuries that includes condemnation of the rebellion and betrayal perpetrated by the chosen people who were at once unfaithful and deicide…. I would hope that these Amici Israel would not fall into a trap laid by the Jews themselves, who insinuate themselves throughout modern society and seek with whatever means to minimize the memory of their history and take advantage of the good will of Christians.”
I.D. Confidential Papal Circular Against Jewish Immigration to Palestine
Type: Reported confidential instructions signed by Pius XI personally and sent to European papal representatives Date: Reported March 7, 1924 Source: The Sentinel (Chicago), vol. 4, no. 10, March 7, 1924, p. 1 — citing Jüdisches Tageblatt of Lodz. National Library of Israel digitized archive.
“Pope Pius XI, according to the Jewish Tageblatt of Lodz, has issued confidential instructions from the Vatican in Rome to all of his European representatives, condemning the movement to establish a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. According to the Tageblatt, Cardinal Alexander Kakowski, Archbishop of Warsaw, has received such instructions, signed by the Pope himself. The Papal representatives are instructed by the Pope to take whatever steps they can to prevent the establishment of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine and to prevent wherever possible Jewish immigration to Palestine. They are also instructed to use their influence with European governments toward making more difficult immigration to Palestine.”
(The direct instructions have not been located in open-access Vatican archives; this is a press report of their content, included as contemporary evidence of the Holy See’s anti-Zionist diplomatic action under Pius XI.)
I.E. Holy See’s Position on the Palestine Mandate
Type: Reported Vatican position, as publicly explained by Cardinal Francis Bourne of Westminster Date: July 10, 1922 Source: The Catholic Columbian (Cincinnati), vol. 47, no. 29, July 21, 1922. Catholic News Archive, ref. CC19220721-01.2.46.
Cardinal Bourne, explaining the Holy See’s position:
“The Holy See objects to the proposals in the draft Mandate which would give to the Zionists, that is, to the newly imported Jewish population of the Holy Land, a privileged position over those who belong to other races and other religious beliefs.”
The article reports that Zionist organs had accused the Vatican of anti-Jewish motives, and that Cardinal Bourne dismissed this as “humbug and one-sided propaganda,” reaffirming that the Vatican’s objection was specifically to the Zionist political program in the Holy Land.
I.F. Mit Brennender Sorge (With Burning Concern)
Type: Encyclical Date: March 14, 1937 Language: German; English translation from the Vatican. Source: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_14031937_mit-brennender-sorge.html
Note: Primarily a condemnation of Nazi ideology. Contains no direct attack on Jews and was widely praised. However, it contains supersessionist passages belonging to the Adversus Judaeos tradition.
On the Jewish people and the crucifixion (§ 17):
“Whoever wishes to see banished from church and school the Biblical history and the wise doctrines of the Old Testament, blasphemes the name of God… and understands nothing of that universal tragedy of the Son of God who to His own came and His own received Him not (John i.11).”
(The same section reads: “the Christ who took His human nature from a people that was to crucify Him” — linking the Jewish people to the crucifixion even within an anti-Nazi text.)
II. La Civiltà Cattolica — Anti-Judaic Articles During Pius XI’s Pontificate (1922–1939)
II.A. Fr. Enrico Rosa, S.J. — “La Rivoluzione Mondiale e gli Ebrei” (The World Revolution and the Jews)
Publication: La Civiltà Cattolica, Roma, vol. IV, quaderno 1736, October 12, 1922, pp. 111–121 Author: Fr. Enrico Rosa, S.J. (CC Director 1915–1931) Original Italian: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924106819075?urlappend=%3Bseq=115%3Bownerid=13510798902467831-123 English translation: The Journal of American Reform, Dec. 2, 2025: https://americanreform.substack.com/p/the-world-revolution-and-the-Jews Independent scholarly confirmation: David I. Kertzer, “The Roman Catholic Church, the Holocaust, and the Demonization of the Jews,” HAU 4.8 (2014): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4800995/
Note: This article appeared October 12, 1922 — within the first year of Pius XI’s pontificate (elected February 6, 1922). Kertzer confirms its claim that “of the five hundred or so leaders of the Bolshevik regime, ‘those of the Jewish race comprise a full 447.'” He adds that this argument “was directly taken up by the Nazis and comprised one of the central elements of the Nazi demonization of the Jews.”
On the Talmud and Jewish enmity toward Christians:
“to its tenacity in hiding, we assert the right to rummage and bring to light what concerns us, what affects the public good of the Christian people, to whom, according to the Talmudists, harming is a precept of law and a merit of religion.”
On the Synagogue as the source of global revolution:
“Sinister voices rise up from multiple quarters to accuse the Synagogue. The wolf is always a wolf: ancient grudges give credit to new suspicions and rekindle a wound left to scar but never healed. A profane hand has also brought to light secrets that bear the mark of the ghetto.”
On Jewish seizure of Bolshevik power:
“In short, from the sum of these details, one fact emerges clearly and manifestly: this [Jewish] race, which until yesterday lay in the dead ends, in the lowest depths of Russian life, has suddenly shaken itself and seized the throne: yesterday it was nothing; today it is everything and everywhere, and according to the instinct of fallen races, it hastens to vent the rage of its triumph, fearing that it will not last long.”
On Jewish financial power:
“The veil of the temple, which Yahweh had torn asunder, the sons of Judah have sewn back together with double thread; but what it seeks to cover is no longer the holy ark of the Lord: it is the strongbox of its usury and its selfishness.”
II.B. Fr. Enrico Rosa, S.J. — “Il pericolo giudaico e gli ‘Amici d’Israele'”
(The Jewish Danger and the “Friends of Israel“) Publication: La Civiltà Cattolica, vol. II, quaderno 1870, May 19, 1928, pp. 335–344 Sources: Wikipedia, “Pope Pius XI and Judaism“; Treccani: https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/per-una-storia-dell-antisemitismo-cattolico-in-italia_(Cristiani-d’Italia)/; Journal of Modern Italian Studies 14:2 (2009), fn. 24.
Official Vatican publication’s editorial response to the Amici Israel suppression, arguing that Catholics must maintain:
“…a ‘healthy perception of danger coming from the Jews‘ through their influence on politics and religion as well as their association with revolution since 1789.”
II.C. Fr. Enrico Rosa, S.J. — Two Reviews of Fritsch’s Handbuch der Judenfrage
Publication: La Civiltà Cattolica, 1934 Sources: Wikipedia, “La Civiltà Cattolica”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Civilt%C3%A0_Cattolica; Susan Zuccotti, Under His Very Windows (Yale UP, 2000); Treccani.
Rosa found the Nazi-distributed manual’s authors “guilty only of exaggeration” and applauded their describing Jews as:
“…the ‘relentless irreconcilable enemies of Christ and of Christianity, particularly of integral and pure Christianity, the Catholicism of the Roman Church.'”
The Treccani article records Rosa’s finding of:
“…’un fondo di verità’ rispetto allo studio ‘della “dottrina giudaica”, riguardante il Talmud, la cabala giudaica, l’omicidio rituale e simili altre questioni’ e che le informazioni fornite confermavano ‘certamente l’esistenza e la gravità del pericolo ebraico.'”
[English translation]: “…’a basis of truth’ with respect to the study of ‘Jewish doctrine,’ regarding the Talmud, the Jewish Kabbalah, ritual murder, and similar other questions — and that the information provided certainly confirmed the existence and gravity of the Jewish danger.”
II.D. Anonymous — On Jewish World Domination
Publication: La Civiltà Cattolica, vol. 87 (1936), nos. 37–38, 39–40 Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica, “Civiltà Cattolica, La”: https://www.Jewishvirtuallibrary.org/la-civilt-cattolica; Wikipedia, “La Civiltà Cattolica.”
“The Jews… have become the masters of the world.”
“Their prototype is the banker, and their supreme ideal to turn the world into an incorporated joint-stock company.”
“…if not all, still not a few Jews constitute a grave and permanent danger to society.”
(A reviewer also cited a fellow Jesuit proving Jews were “uniquely endowed with the qualities of parasites.”)
II.E. Fr. Mario Barbera, S.J. — Three-Part Series on “The Jewish Question”
Publication: La Civiltà Cattolica, 1937 Author: Fr. Mario Barbera, S.J. (CC editorial college 1910–1947) Article citations:
- “La questione giudaica e il sionismo,” CC, vol. II, quaderno 2087, June 5, 1937, pp. 418–431
- “La questione giudaica e le conversioni,” CC, 1937, vol. II, p. 502
- “La questione giudaica e l’apostolato cattolico,” CC, 1937, vol. III, p. 32 Primary source PDF (English translation of the June 1937 article): https://christtheking.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/La-Civilta-Cattolica-1937-Volume-88-No-2-The-Jewish-Question-and-Zionism.pdf Additional sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica; nilalienum.com; Journal of Modern Italian Studies 14:2 (2009); Modern Italy, “Race and Faith.”
Framing Jews as a “foreign body” (from the primary source PDF):
The article opens by adopting Hilaire Belloc’s definition:
“It is an evident fact, in the history of almost two thousand years, that the Jews, and the Jews alone, have maintained, by the special action of Providence, or by a biological or social law that we ignore, an irreducible entity and an equally evident differentiation in the societies in which they ceaselessly move.”
It then directly affirms: “It is also an evident fact that Jews are a disturbing element due to their spirit of domination and their revolutionary preponderance.” The PDF explicitly states:
“Judaism is compared by Belloc to a foreign body that produces irritation and determines reactions in the organism into which it has penetrated.”
On the only two “solutions” (from primary source PDF):
“The solution can only be achieved in two ways: either elimination or segregation. Elimination can be implemented in three ways: either clearly hostile, that is, by destruction; or, still hostile but less cruel, by expulsion; or in a friendly and gentle way, by absorption. Of these three methods, the first two are contrary to Christian charity and to natural law itself; the third has historically proven unachievable. Segregation can be implemented in a hostile way or in a friendly way.”
On Jewish world domination through gold and internationalism (from primary source PDF):
“To conquer world domination, Judaism uses the two most effective powers of world domination: one material, gold, which is at present the supreme master of the world, and the other ideal, internationalism.”
On Zionism and the Holy Places (anti-Zionism, from primary source PDF):
Barbera raises: would the Jews, once they had a Zionist state, “give up their messianic aspiration to world domination and preponderance, both capitalistic and revolutionary?” And: “what would be the attitude of the Christians when they saw the Holy Places in Jewish hands?” The article concludes by excluding Zionism “as theoretically and practically unsuitable.”
On Bolshevism as a Jewish creation (Italian text, from nilalienum.com):
“Che il bolscevismo sia una creazione ebraica è fuori di dubbio: ‘i governi di tutte le nazioni, onde sarà costituita la Repubblica universale, passeranno tutti, senza sforzo, nelle mani Israelite, mediante la vittoria del proletariato. […] Per conquistare il dominio del mondo, il giudaismo si serve delle due potenze più efficaci di dominazione del mondo: l’una materiale, l’oro, che è al presente il padrone supremo del mondo, e l’altra ideale, l’internazionalismo.'”
[English translation]: “That Bolshevism is a Jewish creation is beyond doubt: ‘the governments of all nations, of which the universal Republic will be constituted, will all pass, without effort, into Israelite hands, through the victory of the proletariat. […] To conquer the dominion of the world, Judaism avails itself of the two most effective powers of world domination: one material, gold, which is at present the supreme lord of the world, and the other ideal, internationalism.'”
On the impossibility of assimilation:
“I giudei sono giudei; vogliono restare giudei; sempre, dappertutto anche loro malgrado restano giudei.”
[English translation]: “Jews are Jews; they want to remain Jews; always, everywhere, even against their will, they remain Jews.”
“L’assimilazione è impossibile e l’ipotesi sionista impraticabile ‘perché i giudei, dotati unicamente delle facoltà dei parassiti e dei distruttori non possiedono nessuna attitudine e nessun gusto per il lavoro manuale.'”
[English translation]: “Assimilation is impossible and the Zionist hypothesis impractical ‘because the Jews, endowed only with the faculties of parasites and destroyers, possess no aptitude and no taste for manual labor.'”
On Catholic duty to convert Jews (“La questione giudaica e le conversioni,” 1937, vol. II, p. 502):
“La verità ha il diritto incontrastabile di illuminare le anime, ed i cattolici che la possiedono intera devono diffonderla, a maggior ragione tra i giudei, a causa delle loro speciali condizioni. Infatti i giudei […] sono quelli che più influiscono nella concezione materialistica, immorale ed irreligiosa della vita.”
[English translation]: “Truth has the incontestable right to enlighten souls, and Catholics who possess it entirely must spread it, all the more so among Jews, because of their special condition. Indeed the Jews […] are those who most influence the materialistic, immoral and irreligious conception of life.”
II.F. Fr. Mario Barbera, S.J. — “Intorno alla questione del Sionismo”
Publication: La Civiltà Cattolica, April 1938, pp. 76–82 Source: Nina Valbousquet, Journal of Modern Italian Studies 24:1 (2019), fn. 3: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2019.1550696
(Anti-Zionism article continuing Barbera’s 1937 series, arguing against a Jewish state and for Jewish segregation.)
II.G. Fr. Mario Barbera, S.J. — “La questione dei giudei in Ungheria”
Publication: La Civiltà Cattolica, vol. 3, July 8–16, 1938, pp. 146–153 Sources: Taradel/Raggi, La segregazione amichevole, pp. 135–136; https://issuu.com/rivista.militare1/docs/introduzione_in_le_leggi_antiebraiche_ne/s/17934026; Cambridge Core, “Race and Faith,” Modern Italy: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-italy/article/race-and-faith
Published the month Hungary’s Law XV/1938 passed — the first European race law outside Nazi Germany — Barbera applauded it:
“L’antisemitismo dei cattolici ungheresi non è perciò né l’antisemitismo volgare fanatico, né l’antisemitismo razzista, è un movimento di difesa delle tradizioni nazionali e della vera libertà e indipendenza del popolo magiaro […] si vuole, insomma, la difesa della nazione, contro il pericolo presente di una più numerosa invasione giudaica dalla Germania, dall’Austria e dalla Romania, e contro il liberalismo favoreggiatore del giudaismo e del suo nefasto predominio, senza persecuzioni, ma con mezzi energici ed efficaci.”
[English translation]: “The antisemitism of Hungarian Catholics is therefore neither vulgar fanatic antisemitism, nor racist antisemitism, it is a movement of defense of national traditions and the true liberty and independence of the Magyar people […] one wants, in short, the defense of the nation, against the present danger of an ever-larger Jewish invasion from Germany, Austria and Romania, and against the liberalism that favors Judaism and its baleful predominance, without persecutions, but with energetic and effective means.”
II.H. Fr. Enrico Rosa, S.J. — “La questione giudaica e ‘La Civiltà Cattolica'”
Publication: La Civiltà Cattolica, vol. IV, quaderno 2119, October 1, 1938, pp. 3–16 Sources: Journal of Modern Italian Studies 14:2 (2009), fn. 28: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710902826444; https://www.agerecontra.it/2016/09/la-questione-giudaica-e-la-civilta-cattolica/
A retrospective defense of the journal’s anti-Jewish tradition, asserting that the proper Catholic “battle against the Jews” was:
“…a struggle inspired solely by the need for legitimate defense of Christian people against a foreign nation in the nations where they live and against the sworn enemy of their well-being. This suggests [the need for] measures to render such peoples harmless.”
Rosa also reaffirmed that Jewish emancipation had produced:
“…collegare l’ebraismo col massonismo nella persecuzione alla Chiesa Cattolica e di innalzare la razza giudaica sopra i cristiani, nella potenza occulta e nella opulenza manifesta.”
[English translation]: “…linking Judaism with Freemasonry in the persecution of the Catholic Church and of raising the Jewish race above Christians, in hidden power and manifest opulence.”
III. Anti-Zionism: Catholic Press Coverage of the Holy See’s Position (1922–1923)
Note: These are American Catholic newspaper articles reporting on the Holy See’s official anti-Zionist stance. They are journalistic documents, not papal texts, but they record contemporary Catholic clerical and Vatican positions on Zionism during Pius XI’s pontificate.
III.A. “Attitude of Holy See Outlined by Cardinal Bourne”
Publication: The Catholic Columbian (Cincinnati, OH), vol. 47, no. 29, July 21, 1922 Source: The Catholic News Archive, ref. CC19220721-01.2.46.
Cardinal Francis Bourne of Westminster, explaining the Holy See’s position:
“The Holy See objects to the proposals in the draft Mandate which would give to the Zionists, that is, to the newly imported Jewish population of the Holy Land, a privileged position over those who belong to other races and other religious beliefs.”
III.B. “Zionist Domination of Palestine Doomed”
Publication: Catholic Standard and Times (Philadelphia), June 30, 1923 Source: The Catholic News Archive, ref. cst19230630-01.2.141.
Celebrating the collapse of Zionist political authority in Palestine as a victory for Catholic interests:
“What unorganized Catholic and other Christian protests were unable to effect, the stubborness of the Arab voters seems to have brought about — that is, a halt in the march of Zionist ambitions.”
“Zionist ambitions in Palestine have been broken, and the schemes for making Palestine ‘as Jewish as England is English,’ has been blown into fragments.”
IV. Statements by Cardinals and Bishops During the Pontificate of Pius XI
IV.A. Cardinal August Hlond, Primate of Poland — Pastoral Letter “On Catholic Moral Principles”
Type: Cardinal’s pastoral letter, read from pulpits throughout Poland at Lent 1936 Date: February 29, 1936 Author: Cardinal August Hlond, SDB, Archbishop of Poznań and Gniezno, Primate of Poland — elevated to Cardinal by Pius XI on June 20, 1927. Sources: Wikipedia, “August Hlond”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Hlond; JTA Archive: https://www.jta.org/archive/cardinal-hlond-attacked-polish-Jews-in-pastoral-letter-issued-in-1936-urged-boycott; AJC press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ajc-questions-papal-decree-to-canonize-polish-cardinal-hlond-300653593.html; Times of Israel: https://www.timesofIsrael.com/accusations-of-anti-semitism-mount-against-polish-priest-set-for-sainthood/
Note: This is not a direct papal document but an official pastoral letter by the highest-ranking Catholic prelate in Poland — a Cardinal personally elevated to the purple by Pius XI. It was read from every pulpit in Poland during Lent 1936.
On Jews as enemies of the Church:
“It is a fact that the Jews are fighting against the Catholic Church, persisting in free thinking, and are the vanguard of godlessness, Bolshevism and subversion.”
(Also rendered in contemporary sources: “It is an actual fact that the Jews fight against the Catholic Church, they are free thinkers, and constitute the vanguard of atheism, Bolshevism and revolution.”)
On the moral harm of Jewish influence:
“The Jewish influence upon morals is fatal, and the publishers spread pornographic literature. It is also true that the Jews are committing frauds, practicing usury, and dealing in white slavery. It is true that in the schools, the Jewish youth is having an evil influence, from an ethical and religious point of view, upon the Catholic youth.”
On economic boycott of Jewish businesses:
“It is good to prefer your own kind when shopping, to avoid Jewish stores and Jewish stalls in the marketplace (…) One should stay away from the harmful moral influence of Jews, keep away from their anti-Christian culture, and especially boycott the Jewish press and demoralizing Jewish publications.”
On “the Jewish question” as permanent:
“A Jewish question exists and there will be one so long as the Jews remain Jews.”
IV.B. Bishop Johannes Gföllner of Linz — Pastoral Letter “On True and False Nationalism”
Type: Diocesan bishop’s pastoral letter Date: January 21, 1933 Author: Bishop Johannes Maria Gföllner of Linz, Austria (Bishop since 1915) Sources: Journal of American Reform (English translation, July 10, 2025): https://americanreform.substack.com/p/pastoral-letter-on-true-and-false?r=4n45yp; original German text: https://archive.org/details/hirtenbriefuberw0000gfol/mode/2up
Note: This letter is primarily a rejection of National Socialism as incompatible with Catholicism. However, it simultaneously affirms what the bishop characterizes as legitimate Catholic antisemitism grounded in religion rather than race, and calls for legal and administrative measures restricting Jewish influence. The letter explicitly invokes Pius XI’s contemporaneous encyclical on “justified patriotism” as supporting the bishop’s position.
The letter calls for measures against “Jewish influence” on Catholic life and explicitly endorsed a form of religious antisemitism, characterized by its translator as “affirm[ing] antisemitic beliefs, such as courageously calling for legal and administrative measures against Jewish influence.”
V. Notable Imprimaturs and Nihil Obstats for Anti-Judaic Works (Pius XI Pontificate, 1922–1939)
V.A. Roman Missal — Good Friday Prayer for the Jews (upheld by Pius XI)
Type: Liturgical text; all editions carry full apostolic approval and imprimatur Date: Ongoing throughout pontificate, 1922–1939
The prayer Oremus et pro perfidis Judaeis, preserved by Pius XI through his personal rejection of the Amici Israel petition in 1928:
“Oremus et pro perfidis Judaeis: ut Deus et Dominus noster auferat velamen de cordibus eorum; ut et ipsi agnoscant Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum.”
[English translation]: “Let us also pray for the perfidious [faithless] Jews: that our God and Lord may remove the veil from their hearts, that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(This prayer appeared in every officially approved edition of the Roman Missal during Pius XI’s pontificate. Pius XI deliberately upheld the word “perfidis” against petitions from thousands of priests and cardinals. The word was not removed until 1959 under John XXIII.)
V.B. Fr. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp., D.D., D.Ph. — The Rulers of Russia (1938)
Type: Book; carries confirmed Nihil Obstat and Imprimi Potest Date: First printed March 1938 — within Pius XI’s pontificate Ecclesiastical approval (from front matter of the book):
- Nihil Obstat: Gulielmus Coffey, S.T.L., Censor
- Imprimi Potest: †Jeremias, Episcopus Waterfordienses et Lismorensis, Waterfordiae, die 15a Novembris, 1939 Source: PDF: https://www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/Judaism/The%20Rulers%20of%20Russia%20-%20Fahey,%20Denis,%20C.S.Sp.,%20D.D.,%20D.Ph_.pdf
Note: The Imprimi Potest date (November 15, 1939) falls after Pius XI’s death but the book was first printed March 1938, firmly within his pontificate.
Fahey’s thesis: Jews orchestrated the Bolshevik Revolution and rule Russia. The book directly invokes Divini Redemptoris (Pius XI’s encyclical on communism) on its opening page:
“Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may give it assistance in any undertaking whatsoever.” (Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, on Atheistic Communism — quoted on the title page of Fahey’s imprimatured book as justification for his anti-Jewish arguments.)
V.C. Fr. Edward Cahill, S.J. — Framework of a Christian State: An Introduction to Social Science (1932)
Type: Book; carries confirmed Nihil Obstat and Imprimi Potest Date: 1932 — within Pius XI’s pontificate Ecclesiastical approval: Nihil Obstat and Imprimi Potest, 1932: https://www.virgosacrata.com/catholic/framework-of-christian-state Source: https://archive.org/details/FrameworkOfAChristianStateRevCahill/
This 704-page work explicitly presents itself as summarizing “the main elements of the teachings of the Roman Pontiffs (especially Leo XIII and our present Holy Father Pius XI).” The book contains an extensive chapter on the “Jewish element” in Freemasonry, citing:
“It was the Jews that introduced Freemasonry into the United States of America, and the Jews have always been a powerful influence in the American Masonic organization… The Jewish Kabbalah rules as mistress in the inner lodges; and the Jewish spirit dominates the lower grades… In the mind of Satan the Synagogue has an all-important part to play… The great enemy counts on the Jews to govern Masonry as he counts on Masonry to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ.”
(The book also interprets the 1928 suppression of the Amici Israel as “an authoritative reassertion of the traditional attitude of the Church towards the Jewish people.”)
V.D. Fr. Edward Cahill, S.J. — Freemasonry and the Anti-Christian Movement (1929, 2nd ed. 1930)
Type: Book Date: 1929 (1st ed.), 1930 (2nd ed.) — within Pius XI’s pontificate Publisher: M.H. Gill and Son Ltd., Dublin Source: https://archive.org/stream/CahillEFreemasonryAndTheAntichristianMovement1930/
A standalone expansion of the chapter in Framework of a Christian State, with chapters titled “The Jewish Element” and “How Far Modern Judaism is Identified with Freemasonry,” arguing that B’nai B’rith dominates Freemasonry and that organized Jewry was behind the anti-Christian revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries.
V.E. Msgr. Ernest Jouin — “The Judeo-Masonic Peril: The ‘Protocols’ of the Elders of Zion” (1932)
Type: Article in Msgr. Jouin’s Revue internationale des Sociétés Secrètes; Jouin was elevated to Apostolic Protonotary by Pius XI in 1924, with Pius XI personally giving him the apostolic blessing for this anti-Masonic/anti-Jewish work. Date: 1932 — within Pius XI’s pontificate Sources: English translation: https://americanreform.substack.com/p/a-catholic-commentary-on-the-protocols; French original: https://data.bnf.fr/fr/temp-work/cde90edb311f06646d2a645d38477d20/
Jouin’s 1932 commentary treats the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as authentic and as the living expression of a Jewish-Masonic plot against the Church:
“For, despite Israel‘s overly self-serving denials, these documents [The ‘Protocols’ of the Elders of Zion] remain the living expression of the current situation in the world, which the Judeo-Masonic peril infallibly leads to total ruin, if it is not averted without hesitation or complacency. In such extremes, it is in the common interest to weigh the value of these minutes and to extract from them the practical instructions from which the duty of the present hour imperatively flows, unless one no longer has at heart the interests of the family, the fatherland and the Church.”
V.F. Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv. — Rycerz Niepokalanej (Knight of the Immaculate), 1926
Type: Catholic journal articles published with Cum Permissu Superiorum Religiosorum (permission of religious superiors) Date: 1926 — within Pius XI’s pontificate Author: Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv. (1894–1941; canonized by Pope John Paul II, 1982) Sources: English translations: https://americanreform.substack.com/p/the-Talmudic-character-of-Judaism; https://americanreform.substack.com/p/the-goyim-and-the-protocols-kolbe Italian texts: Gli scritti di Massimiliano Kolbe eroe di Oswiecim e beato della Chiesa, vol. III, pp. 252–300. Polish originals: https://archiwum.rycerzniepokalanej.pl/ (January and September 1926 issues)
Critical note: Kolbe was a private religious, not a Vatican official. These are included because: (a) he is a canonized saint of the Catholic Church; (b) his articles were published with official Franciscan superiors’ permission; (c) they represent the anti-Jewish theological milieu Pius XI’s pontificate fostered.
On the Talmud (“The Talmudic Character of Judaism,” January 1926):
“This work, therefore, which contains twelve large volumes and which inspires hatred against Christ and Christians, is placed at the head of the Rabbis and the latter are obliged to instruct the people on the basis of it, adding that it is a sacred book, more important than Holy Scripture, so much so that God himself learns the ‘Talmud‘ and consults with the Rabbis who are experts in the ‘Talmud.'”
On Freemasonry as a Jewish instrument:
“Freemasonry is nothing but an organized clique of fanatical Jews, who aim, in an unreasonable manner, to destroy the Catholic Church.”
On the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (“The Fools,” September 1926):
Kolbe directly quotes Protocol 11 to warn Polish Freemasons of Jewish control, addressing “the small handful of Jews, the ‘wise men of Zion'”:
“And to you, the small handful of Jews, the ‘wise men of Zion,’ who, hidden by God’s permission, for the testing of the faithful and virtuous, have consciously caused so many misfortunes and are preparing even more, I turn with a question: What will come of this?… Piles of gold, joy, pleasures, power — all this still doesn’t make a person happy.”
VI. Draft Encyclical: Humani Generis Unitas (Never Promulgated)
Type: Draft encyclical commissioned by Pius XI; never officially promulgated. Date: 1938 Drafters: Gustave Desbuquois, S.J.; Gustav Gundlach, S.J.; John LaFarge, S.J. — commissioned by Pius XI Language: French; English translation from Passelecq & Suchecky. Sources: CCJR: https://www.ccjr.us/dialogika-resources/primary-texts-from-the-history-of-the-relationship/hgu1938; Georges Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky, The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI (Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1997), pp. 246–259.
Status note: Commissioned by Pius XI to condemn Nazi racism; never promulgated; Pius XI died February 10, 1939. Included because it was commissioned by him and reflects the theological climate of his Curia.
On the religious basis of “the Jewish question” (§ 133):
“But however unjust and pitiless, this campaign against the Jews has at least this advantage, if one can put it so, over racial strife, that it recalls the true nature, the authentic basis of the social separation of the Jews from the rest of humanity. This basis is directly religious in character. Essentially, the so-called Jewish question is not one of race, or nation, or territorial nationality, or citizenship in the state. It is a question of religion and, since the coming of Christ, a question of Christianity.”
On the Jewish rejection of Christ and deicide (§ 135):
“The Savior, whom God had sent to His chosen people after they had prayed and longed for Him for thousands of years, was rejected by that people, violently repudiated, and condemned as a criminal by the highest tribunals of the Jewish nation, in collusion with the pagan authorities who held the Jewish people in bondage. Ultimately, the Savior was put to death.”
“The very act by which the Jewish people put to death their Savior and King was, in the strong language of Saint Paul, the salvation of the world.”
On Israel‘s spiritual blindness and the “wandering Jew” doctrine (§ 136):
“On the other hand, blinded by a vision of material domination and gain, the Israelites lost what they themselves had sought. A few chosen souls, among whom were the disciples and followers of Our Lord, the early Jewish Christians, and, through the centuries, a few members of the Jewish people, were an exception to this general rule. By their acceptance of Christ’s teaching and their incorporation into His Church, they shared in the inheritance of His glory, but they remained and still remain an exception. ‘What Israel was seeking after, that it has not obtained; but the chosen have obtained it, and the rest have been blinded’ (Romans 11:7).”
“Moreover, by a mysterious Providence of God, this unhappy people, destroyers of their own nation, whose misguided leaders had called down upon their own heads a Divine malediction, doomed, as it were, to perpetually wander over the face of the earth, were nonetheless never allowed to perish, but have been preserved through the ages into our own time.”
VII. Speech to Belgian Pilgrims (September 6, 1938)
Type: Spoken address at a private papal audience Date: September 6, 1938 (repeated in substance September 8, 1938) Language: French Source: La Documentation Catholique (1938), pp. 1459–1460; CCJR: https://www.ccjr.us/dialogika-resources/primary-texts-from-the-history-of-the-relationship/pius-xi1938sept6
Note: Famous for “spiritually, we are all Semites.” Scholars including Martin Rhonheimer (First Things, November 2003) note the full speech contains an assertion of a right to “defend” against Jews, which in context carries significant ambiguity.
On the right to “defend” against Jews (regularly omitted from popular summaries):
“We acknowledge for all the right to defend themselves, to adopt measures of protection against what threatens their legitimate interests.”
(This sentence directly preceded the famous condemnation. Rhonheimer: “Had the Church really wanted to mount effective opposition to the fate that awaited the Jews, it would have had to condemn — from the very start — not only racism but anti-Semitism in any form, including the social anti-Semitism espoused by not a few churchmen. This the Church never did: not in 1933, not in 1937, nor in 1938 or 1939.”)
The famous condemnation (for scholarly context):
“Antisemitism is incompatible with the thought and the sublime reality expressed in this text. It is a movement in which we Christians can have no part whatsoever. Abraham is called our patriarch, our ancestor. Antisemitism is not compatible with this lofty thought. It is a movement with which we Christians can have nothing to do. No, no, I say to you it is impossible for a Christian to take part in antisemitism. It is inadmissible. Through Christ and in Christ we are the spiritual progeny of Abraham. Spiritually, we are all Semites.”
(While powerful in its condemnation of racial antisemitism, this statement recasts Jews as the spiritual predecessors of Christians — a supersessionist framing even within condemnation.)
VIII. Boundary Case — Noted
Fr. Rudolf Mikuš, S.J. — Slovák newspaper, February 10, 1939.
Per the user, this Slovak Jesuit article was published February 10, 1939 — the same day Pius XI died. It technically falls within the last hours of his pontificate. The article argues: “The Church knows well that almost all attempts in modern times to defeat the Christian world order are based on the behind-the-scenes work of Judaism and the Freemasonry that Judaism has introduced. Therefore, the Church must, in her own interest, desire a just solution to the Jewish question” — understood as legislation excluding Jews from public and economic life. English translation: https://americanreform.substack.com/p/must-the-state-exclude-Jews-from
This is noted here only: it is a Slovak Jesuit’s newspaper article, published on the day of Pius XI’s death, not a Vatican document. It represents the theological milieu the pontificate had fostered.
Summary Table
| # | Document | Type | Date | Adversus Judaeos Theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I.A | Quas Primas | Encyclical | Dec. 11, 1925 | Supersessionism; Jews‘ rejection of Christ’s kingship |
| I.B | Mortalium Animos | Encyclical | Jan. 6, 1928 | Supersessionism; conversion as only path |
| I.C | Cum Supremae | Holy Office Decree (approved by Pius XI) | March 25, 1928 | Supersessionism; deicide charge; “perfidis” upheld |
| I.D | Confidential papal circular on Zionism | Reported papal instructions signed by Pius XI | Reported March 1924 | Prevent Jewish immigration to Palestine |
| I.E | Holy See on Palestine Mandate | Vatican position per Cardinal Bourne | July 10, 1922 | Vatican objects to Zionist political privilege |
| I.F | Mit Brennender Sorge | Encyclical | March 14, 1937 | “a people that was to crucify Him”; “His own received Him not” |
| II.A | CC: Rosa, “World Revolution and Jews“ | Vatican-reviewed article | Oct. 12, 1922 | Judeo-Bolshevism; Talmud; Jewish seizure of power |
| II.B | CC: Rosa, “Il pericolo giudaico” | Vatican-reviewed article | May 19, 1928 | “Healthy perception of Jewish danger”; social separation |
| II.C | CC: Rosa, Reviews of Fritsch | Vatican-reviewed reviews | 1934 | Talmud/blood libel as having “a basis of truth”; Jews as irreconcilable enemies |
| II.D | CC: Anon., world domination | Vatican-reviewed articles | 1936 | Jews as “masters of the world”; “grave and permanent danger”; parasites |
| II.E | CC: Barbera, Three-part series | Vatican-reviewed articles | May–June 1937 | Jews as Bolshevist; “parasites”; “elimination or segregation”; anti-Zionism |
| II.F | CC: Barbera, “Intorno al Sionismo” | Vatican-reviewed article | April 1938 | Anti-Zionism; segregation |
| II.G | CC: Barbera, Hungary racial laws | Vatican-reviewed article | July 1938 | Praise for Hungarian Jewish race laws as Catholic “defense” |
| II.H | CC: Rosa, “La questione giudaica e CC” | Vatican-reviewed article | Oct. 1, 1938 | Jews as “sworn enemy”; “measures to render them harmless” |
| III.A | Catholic Columbian on Palestine Mandate | Catholic press / Vatican position | July 21, 1922 | Vatican objects to Zionist privilege |
| III.B | Catholic Standard on Zionism | Catholic press, anti-Zionist | June 30, 1923 | Catholic celebration of Zionism‘s political defeat |
| IV.A | Cardinal Hlond, Pastoral Letter | Cardinal’s pastoral letter (Pius XI’s Cardinal) | Feb. 29, 1936 | Jews as enemies of the Church; Bolshevism; usury; economic boycott |
| IV.B | Bishop Gföllner, Pastoral Letter | Diocesan bishop’s pastoral letter | Jan. 21, 1933 | Affirms religious antisemitism; calls for measures against Jewish influence |
| V.A | Roman Missal (imprimatured) | Liturgical texts | Ongoing 1922–1939 | “Perfidious Jews” prayer; Jewish blindness; conversion imperative |
| V.B | Fahey, The Rulers of Russia (Nihil Obstat) | Imprimatured book | March 1938 | Judeo-Bolshevism; Jews rule Russia; cites Pius XI’s Divini Redemptoris |
| V.C | Cahill, Framework of a Christian State (Nihil Obstat) | Imprimatured book | 1932 | Jewish-Masonic conspiracy; Jews in Freemasonry |
| V.D | Cahill, Freemasonry and the Anti-Christian Movement | Book by Jesuit | 1929–1930 | Jewish domination of Freemasonry; Jewish role in revolution |
| V.E | Msgr. Jouin, Protocols Commentary | Work of Pius XI’s Apostolic Protonotary | 1932 | Protocols as authentic; Judeo-Masonic plot against the Church |
| V.F | Kolbe, Knight of the Immaculate | Articles with religious superiors’ permission | 1926 | Talmud; Freemasonry as Jewish; Protocols taken seriously |
| VI | Humani Generis Unitas (draft) | Unpromulgated draft encyclical | 1938 | Deicide; “wandering Jew“; material blindness; religious separation |
| VII | Speech to Belgian pilgrims | Oral address | Sept. 6, 1938 | Right to “defend” against Jews; supersessionism within condemnation |
Sources and Links
Primary / Papal Documents:
- Vatican — Quas Primas (1925): https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_11121925_quas-primas.html
- Vatican — Mortalium Animos (1928): https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19280106_mortalium-animos.html
- Vatican — Mit Brennender Sorge (1937): https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_14031937_mit-brennender-sorge.html
- Decree Cum Supremae (1928): https://novusordowatch.org/pius11-abolition-friends-of-israel/
- CCJR — Draft Encyclical Humani Generis Unitas (1938): https://www.ccjr.us/dialogika-resources/primary-texts-from-the-history-of-the-relationship/hgu1938
- CCJR — Pius XI Speech to Belgian Pilgrims, Sept. 6, 1938: https://www.ccjr.us/dialogika-resources/primary-texts-from-the-history-of-the-relationship/pius-xi1938sept6
Anti-Zionist Reports / Catholic Press:
7. The Sentinel (Chicago), March 7, 1924 [Pius XI’s anti-Zionist instructions]: National Library of Israel digitized archive. https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/cgs/1924/03/07/01/article/4/?e=——-en-20–1–img-txIN%7CtxTI————–1 8. The Catholic Columbian, July 21, 1922: Catholic News Archive, ref. CC19220721-01.2.46. https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=CC19220721-01.2.46&e=——-en-20–1–txt-txIN——— 9. Catholic Standard and Times, June 30, 1923: Catholic News Archive, ref. cst19230630-01.2.141. https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cst19230630-01.2.141&e=——-en-20–1–txt-txIN———
La Civiltà Cattolica — Primary Sources: 10. CC 1937 vol. 88, no. 2 (Barbera, “Jewish Question and Zionism”) — primary source PDF: https://christtheking.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/La-Civilta-Cattolica-1937-Volume-88-No-2-The-Jewish-Question-and-Zionism.pdf 11. CC Oct. 12, 1922 (Rosa, “World Revolution and Jews”) — HathiTrust original: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924106819075?urlappend=%3Bseq=115%3Bownerid=13510798902467831-123 12–19. [As listed in document body above for each CC article]
Imprimatured Books: 20. Fahey, The Rulers of Russia (1938): https://www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/judaism/The%20Rulers%20of%20Russia%20-%20Fahey,%20Denis,%20C.S.Sp.,%20D.D.,%20D.Ph_.pdf 21. Cahill, Framework of a Christian State (1932): https://archive.org/details/FrameworkOfAChristianStateRevCahill/ 22. Cahill, Freemasonry and the Anti-Christian Movement (1930): https://archive.org/stream/CahillEFreemasonryAndTheAntiChristianMovement1930/
English Translations of Primary Sources: 23. Rosa, “World Revolution and Jews” (CC 1922): https://americanreform.substack.com/p/the-world-revolution-and-the-jews 24. Kolbe, “Talmudic Character of Judaism” (1926): https://americanreform.substack.com/p/the-talmudic-character-of-judaism 25. Kolbe, “The Fools / Protocols” (1926): https://americanreform.substack.com/p/the-goyim-and-the-protocols-kolbe 26. Jouin, “Judeo-Masonic Peril” (1932): https://americanreform.substack.com/p/a-catholic-commentary-on-the-protocols 27. Gföllner, Pastoral Letter (1933): https://americanreform.substack.com/p/pastoral-letter-on-true-and-false?r=4n45yp 28. Barbera, “Jewish Question and Antisemitism” (1937): https://americanreform.substack.com/p/national-socialists-the-jewish-question 29. Mikuš, “Must the State Exclude Jews…” (Feb. 10, 1939): https://americanreform.substack.com/p/must-the-state-exclude-jews-from
Secondary Scholarly Sources: 30. Wikipedia — “La Civiltà Cattolica”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Civilt%C3%A0_Cattolica 31. Wikipedia — “Pope Pius XI and Judaism”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XI_and_Judaism 32. Wikipedia — “Opus sacerdotale Amici Israel”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_sacerdotale_Amici_Israel 33. Wikipedia — “Humani Generis Unitas“: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humani_generis_unitas 34. Wikipedia — “August Hlond”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Hlond 35. Encyclopaedia Judaica, “Civiltà Cattolica, La”: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/la-civilt-cattolica 36. Treccani — “Per una storia dell’antisemitismo cattolico in Italia”: https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/per-una-storia-dell-antisemitismo-cattolico-in-italia_(Cristiani-d’Italia)/ 37. Kertzer, “The Roman Catholic Church, the Holocaust, and the Demonization of the Jews,” HAU 4.8 (2014): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4800995/ 38. Nina Valbousquet, “Transatlantic Catholic Responses,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 24:1 (2019): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2019.1550696 39. “The Jewish Enemy. Fascism, the Vatican,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 14:2 (2009): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710902826444 40. Cambridge Core — “Race and Faith,” Modern Italy: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-italy/article/race-and-faith 41. H-Net Review of Kertzer, The Popes Against the Jews: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=5655 42. Madigan, “Getting Jews and the Vatican Wrong,” NYRB (Nov. 21, 2013): https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2013/11/21/getting-jews-and-vatican-wrong/ 43. Rhonheimer, “The Holocaust: What Was Not Said,” First Things 137 (Nov. 2003), pp. 18–28 44. Brown University — “The Italian Catholic Press and the Racial Laws (1938–1943)”: https://home.watson.brown.edu/news/2021-09-09/italian-catholic-press-and-racial-laws-1938-1943 45. agerecontra.it — “La questione giudaica e ‘La Civiltà Cattolica'”: https://www.agerecontra.it/2016/09/la-questione-giudaica-e-la-civilta-cattolica/ 46. nilalienum.com — La Civiltà Cattolica e l’antisemitismo: http://www.nilalienum.com/gramsci/CiviltaCattolica.html 47. JTA Archive — Hlond 1936 letter: https://www.jta.org/archive/cardinal-hlond-attacked-polish-jews-in-pastoral-letter-issued-in-1936-urged-boycott 48. AJC — Hlond sainthood question: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ajc-questions-papal-decree-to-canonize-polish-cardinal-hlond-300653593.html 49. David I. Kertzer, The Popes Against the Jews (Knopf, 2001) 50. Ruggero Taradel and Barbara Raggi, La segregazione amichevole (Editori Riuniti, 2000) 51. Susan Zuccotti, Under His Very Windows (Yale University Press, 2000) 52. Hubert Wolf, Pope and Devil (Harvard University Press, 2010) 53. Georges Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky, The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI (Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1997)
Compiled April 2026 for scholarly research. All quotations are from verified primary or secondary scholarly sources with citations. No text has been invented or paraphrased as quotation. All material falls within the dates of Pius XI’s pontificate (February 6, 1922 – February 10, 1939), with boundary cases noted.