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During World War II, Rome was occupied by
Nazi Germany from 1943 and by the Allies from 1944, but
the Vatican City was not occupied. The Pope declared the
Vatican officially neutral and seemed to prevent Rome
from being bombed. It did not succeed, and the Vatican
was hit by bombs as well.
The Vatican was ruled by Pope Pius XII during the
Second World War. His belief that communism was a
greater threat than Nazism to the values of the church
became guiding Vatican policy. The pope was noticeably
passive to the Holocaust and never mentioned the Jews as
victims, although he might have more opportunity than
any other international leader to influence Hitler.
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ABBREVIATIONFINDER:
List of most commonly used acronyms containing Vatican. Also includes historical, economical and political aspects of the country.
Pius's passivity was severely criticized in
retrospect, but the Catholic Church considered the image
of him unfair, stating that the Pope had secretly helped
save Jews from the Holocaust. In 1998, four decades
after the death of Pius XII, the Vatican urged
repentance and remorse from Catholics who failed to
intervene to stop the Nazi genocide of Jews.
Pius XII's conservatism was followed by Pope John
XXIII's publicity and attempts to open the church to
society. John led the Second Vatican Council in
1962–1965, a church meeting which is referred to as the
20th century's most important church historical event.
The council helped open the Catholic Church to other
communities, and it became possible to hold the Mass in
languages other than Latin. The church meeting also
gained political significance by providing inspiration
for radical movements, in which so-called liberation
theology emerged in protest of social and political
oppression, especially in Latin America and Africa.
 John Paul II and the Fall of Communism
The Second Vatican Council initiated the
modernization of the Catholic Church, but it also led to
a backlash among conservative church leaders. Cardinal
Karol Wojtyła from Poland was one of the conservative
theologians, while on social issues he was somewhat more
progressive. In 1978 Wojtyła was elected new pope and
took the name John Paul II. It was the first time in 450
years that the Pope was not Italian.
In 1981, John Paul II was seriously injured in an
attack on St. Peter's Square. The man who shot the pope
was sentenced to life imprisonment. In a later
investigation, commissioned by the Italian Parliament,
it was stated that the Soviet Union was behind the
attempted murder carried out with the help of the
Bulgarian security service. According to the
investigation, the pope was to be murdered because he
was perceived as a threat to communism in Europe and the
Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union's concern would prove to be
justified. By his opposition to communism and his
popularity in his home country, John Paul II is believed
to have contributed to the fall of communism in Eastern
Europe in the late 1980s. The Holy See reestablished
diplomatic relations in 1989 with most countries in
Eastern and Central Europe.
John Paul II essentially appointed conservative
bishops and cardinals, and he rejected all demands for a
more liberal view on moral issues. At the same time, he
became the first media pope through television
appearances during his many trips around the world. He
also became popular with Catholic youth.
In the 1980s, the Vatican's bank (IOR; see Finance)
was involved in a scandal in which the head of Italian
Banco Ambrosiano, Roberto Calvi (called the "banker of
God"), washed mafia money through accounts in his own
bank and in IOR. According to prosecutors, the Vatican
Bank's then-chief, Paul Marcinkus, was involved in the
deal but escaped trial. Pope John Paul II left him as
IOR chief. When Banco Ambrosiano went bankrupt, IOR lost
the equivalent of over SEK 1 billion in compensation to
account holders.
Pope Benedict XVI takes office
During John Paul's time as Pope, a new concord was
signed between Italy and the Vatican. It happened in
1984 after 17 years of negotiations, on the initiative
of Italy. The changes meant that Catholicism was no
longer state religion in Italy and that most of the
special privileges of the Catholic Church were
abolished.
John Paul II sought a closer dialogue with leaders of
other religions and Christian communities, but conflicts
arose that prevented a real approach. Unlike the
Vatican, the Anglican and Lutheran churches accept
female priests, and with the Russian Orthodox Church,
riots arose as Catholics tried to gain new followers in
Eastern Europe. During a visit to India, the Pope called
on people to convert to Catholicism, which upset many
Hindus.
A large number of noted Catholics were blessed or
sanctified by John Paul II. In 2003, Mother Teresa was
blessed, known for her efforts for the poor in the slum
of the Indian city of Calcutta. John Paul himself was
blessed six years after his death, 2011.
When John Paul II died in 2005, German-born Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger was elected new Pope under the name
Benedict XVI. He emphasized the importance of defending
the traditional values of the Church and pointed to
relativism (the denial of objective moral truth) as one
of the greatest dangers of our time. Benedict XVI shared
his representative's resistance to, for example,
divorce, abortion, contraception and female priests.
Sexual abuse of children
Pope Benedict XVI's term of office came to be
troubled. It was characterized by both internal power
struggles and corruption scandals in the Vatican. All
this, however, was overshadowed by the revelations in
2010 of a large number of child abuse by Catholic
priests and other church representatives. In the United
States, hundreds of priests were accused of sexual
assault on hundreds of children. Sex offenses were also
targeted at priests in Belgium, Ireland, Australia and
Germany. It was also revealed that several bishops have
darkened information about abuse that came to their
notice.
The Vatican had been trying to deal with similar
accusations ever since the 1990s and when new sexual
assaults emerged today, the Vatican was accused of
blaming the scandal. Many felt that the Church was
trying to protect the perpetrators rather than the
victims. Among other things, the Vatican preferred that
the church itself, instead of the police, should
investigate the charges.
Also, Pope Benedict XVI was criticized for not acting
on suspected perpetrators during his time as responsible
cardinal of the department that had to deal with
allegations of sexual abuse.
As a result of the criticism the same year, the
Vatican presented guidelines on how bishops and other
church leaders should deal with suspected sexual
offenses; they should now be reported to the police
rather than previously handled in secret courts within
the church.
Excuse and damages
All allegations of sexual abuse could not be proven,
but the Catholic Church in the United States was forced
to pay a total of over $ 2 billion in damages to the
victims. Diocese went bankrupt, bishops were forced to
resign and hundreds of priests were dismissed or left
their offices. At a state visit to the United States in
2008, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the abuses committed
within the Church.
The Pope acknowledged in 2010 that the scandals had
reached an extent that the Vatican could not imagine. He
apologized and expressed the shame of the Catholic
Church over what had happened.
With Ireland, the abuse scandal led to a diplomatic
conflict. In an official Irish investigation in 2011,
the Catholic Church was accused of darkening abuse,
prompting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to criticize
the Vatican, who rejected the charges and exchanged its
envoy to Ireland. The Irish government responded by
closing its embassy in the Vatican.
In 2012, the Vatican decided to set up a global
church center with the task of combating child abuse
through the Internet.
Unique decision when the Pope leaves
In early 2012, information came from a Catholic
archbishop on widespread corruption within the Vatican's
administration, the influential courier. At the same
time, the United States identified the Vatican as
vulnerable to money laundering. In addition, the Council
of Europe criticized the Vatican's bank for lack of
transparency (see Finance). The same year, the Vatican
was hit by "Vatileaks," when secret documents leaked
from the Pope's office revealed corruption, malpractice
and internal power struggles.
85-year-old Benedict XVI emerged as a tired and weak
leader surrounded by intrigue. The Pope's butler was
sentenced in October 2012 to 18 months in prison for
theft of secret acts. Some observers felt that the
butler was merely a tool for more powerful forces, and
that the Vatican's head of government, the cardinal and
the state secretary, Tarcisio Bertone, was really the
target of Vatileaks. In December of that year, the Pope
pardoned his old butler but banned him from the Vatican
area.
In February 2013, Pope Benedict XVI surprisingly
announced his departure. He explained that failing
health and strength no longer made him able to exercise
the papacy during a time of rapid change. His departure
was a unique event as it was the first time in six
centuries that a pope chose to resign. The usual thing
is that a pope remains alive.
Pope Benedict XVI was seen as one of the foremost
theologians of the Catholic Church. He placed more
emphasis on defending the Church's doctrine than leading
the Vatican's political activities. He emphasized that
Christian beliefs and intellectual reason were
connected, he pointed out secularization and moral
relativism (the denial of objective moral truth) as the
fundamental problem of the EU, and he urged Europe to
return to a Christian foundation of values.
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