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The Holy See, Italian Catholics and Palestine under the British Mandate: Two Turning Points

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2016

PAOLO ZANINI
PAOLO ZANINI*
Affiliation:
University of Milan, Department of Historical Studies, Via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122 Milan, Italy; e-mail: paolo.zanini@unimi.it
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Abstract

This paper analyses the reactions of the Holy See and Italian Catholic public opinion towards two events which can be considered as turning points in the history of British Palestine: the disturbances of August 1929 and the presentation of the Peel Plan in the summer of 1937. Through this analysis, based on a wide range of sources, it shows how the Vatican attitude towards the Palestinian question changed during the interwar period. At the same time it aims to ascertain whether or not the Holy See and the Catholic hierarchy in Palestine were in accord with the Italian government's Near East initiatives.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 67 , Issue 4 , October 2016 , pp. 799 - 818
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

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21 See Caviglia, Elena, ‘Il sionismo e la Palestina negli articoli dell'Osservatore Romano e della Civiltà Cattolica (1919–1923)’, Clio xvii (1981), 79–90 Google Scholar, and Minerbi, Sergio, Il Vaticano la Terra Santa e il sionismo, Milan 1988, 88–138 Google Scholar.

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23 See, for example, Henry Chilton to Austen Chamberlain, 18 Jan. 1929, CO 732/40/7; Pascal Robinson to Pietro Gasparri, 24 Jan. 1929, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 102, fasc. 99, fos 55r–56v; Anglo-Vatican relations: 1914–1939: confidential annual reports of the British ministers to the Holy See, ed. Hachey, T. E., Boston 1972, 44–5Google Scholar.

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25 Instructions for Valerio Valeri, 23 Feb. 1929, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o 78, fasc. 85, fos 44r–45v; Istruzione a mons. Valeri quale Delegato Ap. Della Transgiordania Palestina e Cipro, ACO, GP, fasc. 930/28, doc. 62.

26 Luigi Barlassina to Gasparri, 29 Aug., 10 Sept. 1929, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 108, fasc. 102, fos 21r–29r, 44r–46r.

27 Valeri to Gasparri, 18 Sept., 7 Oct. 1929, ibid. fos 52r–56v, 71r–72r.

28 Valeri to Gasparri, 18 Sept. 1929, ibid. fo. 55r. On Christian-Muslim relations see Valeri to Gasparri, 22 Dec. 1929, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 108, fasc. 103, fos 3r–6r.

29 Telex 2078/500, ASMAE, ASS, b. 18, fasc. 9/1.

30 Valeri to Eugenio Pacelli, 4 Jan. 1932, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 105, fasc. 101, fos 24r–28r. On the Congress see Kramer, Martin, Islam assembled: the advent of the Muslim Congresses, New York 1986, 126–40Google Scholar; Freas, Erik, ‘Hajj Amin al-Husayni and the Haram al-Sharif: a pan–Islamic or Palestinian nationalist cause?’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies xxxiv (2012), 19–51 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

31 Fidelis, ‘Lettere di Terrasanta’, OR, 17 Nov. 1932.

32 Valeri to Gasparri, 26 Apr. 1929, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 105, fasc. 100, fos 48r–49v.

33 See Secretariat of State to Borgongini Duca, 27 Jan. 1931, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 125, fasc. 109, fos 82r–83v.

34 Fidelis, ‘Il cattolicesimo in Terrasanta’, OR, 7 Mar. 1930. See also Besozzi, Alessandro, Italia e Palestina, Milan 1930 Google Scholar.

35 On the context, motivations and outbreak of the revolt see Bowden, Tom, ‘The politics of the Arab rebellion in Palestine, 1936–1939’, Middle Eastern Studies xi (1975) 147–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Porath, Yehoshua, The Palestinian-Arab national movement: from riots to rebellion, 1929–1939, London 1977, 162–260 Google Scholar; Yazbak, Mahmoud, ‘From poverty to revolt: economic factors in the outbreak of the 1936 rebellion in Palestine’, Middle Eastern Studies xxxvi (2000), 93–113 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Hughes, Matthew, ‘From law and order to pacification: Britain's suppression of the Arab revolt in Palestine, 1936–39’, Journal of Palestine Studies xxxix (2010), 6–22 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

36 Sinanoglou, Penny, ‘The Peel Commission and partition, 1936–1939’, in Miller, R. (ed.), Britain, Palestine and empire: the Mandate years, Farnham 2010, 119–39Google Scholar at pp. 120–1. On the Peel Commission's work see also El-Eini, Roza, Mandated landscape: British imperial rule in Palestine, 1929–1948, London 2006, 316–30Google Scholar.

37 Palestine Royal Commission (Peel Commission), London 1937 Google Scholar [Cmd. 5479].

38 Galnoor, Itzhak, The partition of Palestine: decision crossroads in the Zionist movement, Albany 1995, 36 Google Scholar; Shlaim, Avi, The politics of partition: King Abdullah, the Zionists and Palestine, 1921–1951, Oxford 1998, 54–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

39 Pacelli to Filippo Bernardini, 31 July 1937, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 171, fasc. 149, fo 15r.

40 ‘Progetto britannico per la spartizione della Palestina’, ASMAE, GAB, 1061, b. 4. See also ‘Il progetto per la spartizione della Palestina’, Relazioni Internazionali iii (1937), 553–4Google Scholar.

41 De Felice, Il fascismo e l'Oriente, 177–86.

42 Ibid. 16–20; Arielli, Nir, Fascist Italy and the Middle East, 1933–1940, Basingstoke 2010, 33–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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44 On these suggestions see Beer, Emilio, ‘Perennità Mediterranea’, RN lix/2 (1937), 116–23Google Scholar, and ‘Oriente e Occidente’, RN lx/1 (1938), 9–13 Google Scholar.

45 On this last point, see James Eric Drummond to Anthony Eden, 6 Aug. 1937, FO, 371/20811.

46 Pasquale Pennisi, ‘Il giudizio di Salomone’, L'Italia, 14 July 1937.

47 See ‘Conclusioni’, ASMAE, GAB, 1061, b. 4.

48 Quinto Mazzolini to Ministry, 22 July 1937, ASMAE, GAB, 1061, b. 4, fasc. Rivolta in Palestina.

49 See G. G. [Guido Gonnella], ‘Acta Diurna’, OR, 14 July 1937.

50 Regarding the Vatican's reaction to the presentation of the Peel Plan see Enardu, Maria Grazia, Palestine in Anglo-Vatican relations, 1936–1939, Florence 1980 Google Scholar; Kreutz, Vatican policy, 63–9; Christian Rossi, Partition of Palestine and political stability: Ottoman legacy and international influences (1922–1948) (EUI, RSCAS, Working Papers, 2010), 13–5; Zanini, Paolo, ‘Italia e Santa Sede di fronte al piano Peel di spartizione della Palestina: il tramonto della carta cattolica ’, Studi Storici liv (2013), 51–77 Google Scholar; and Russo, Lucia, ‘La Santa Sede e la Palestina dall'approvazione del mandato britannico alla conferenza di St James (1922–1939)’, Ricerche di Storia sociale e religiosa lxxxiii (2013), 75–108 Google Scholar at pp. 96–102.

51 Valeri to Pacelli, 5 July 1937, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 171, fasc. 149, fos 11r–12r; Bernardini to Pacelli, 10 July 1937, fos 7r–8r.

52 Gustavo Testa to Pacelli, 23 July 1937, ibid. fasc. 151, fos 4r–7v. See also Testa to Pietro Fumasoni Biondi, 23 Feb. 1937, ASV, ADAGP, b. 3, fasc. 13, fos 52r–53v.

53 Barlassina to Pacelli, 29 Aug. 1937, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 171, fasc. 152, fo. 63r.

54 Rapporto sulla Palestina, ibid. fasc. 151, fos 15r–21r.

55 On this point it is worth remembering that, a few years earlier, Barlassina had been the promoter of the International Centre for the Protection of Catholic interests in Palestine, an institution whose purpose was to remind public opinion of the difficulties facing Catholicism in the Holy Land. See Zanini, Paolo, ‘Il Centro internazionale per la protezione degli interessi cattolici in Palestina’, Studi Storici liv (2013), 393–417 Google Scholar.

56 Risposte supplementari al Rapporto del 3 agosto, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 171, fasc. 152, fos 43r–46r.

57 Rapporto sulla Palestina, ibid. fasc. 151, fos 18r–19r.

58 Anonymous handwritten note, 25 Aug. 1937, ibid. fos 66r–71r.

59 Anonymous undated note, ibid. fasc. 150, fo. 9r.

60 Delegation's note, 14 July 1937, ASV, ADAGP, b. 2, fasc. 8, fo. 116r. On the nationalist leanings of Hajjar see Brunella, Giulio, ‘Sulla posizione nazionalistica del vescovo melchita Grigurius al-Hajjar (1875–1940)’, Alifba iv/6–7 (1986), 57–78 Google Scholar, and Robson, Laura, Colonialism and Christianity in Mandate Palestine, Austin 2011, 35–6Google Scholar.

61 Giuseppe Cesarini to Gregorios Hajjar, 27 Sept. 1937, ACO, L, fasc. 457/48, doc. 11. On the mistrust surrounding Hajjar's trip to Europe see Barlassina to Giuseppe Pizzardo, 1 Aug. 1937, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 171, fasc. 151, fos 82r–83r; Testa minute, 23 Sept. 1937, ASV, ADAGP, b. 5, fasc. 23, fo. 338rv.

62 Anonymous note, dated Monday, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 171, fasc. 150, fos 80r–81r; Aldo Laghi to Pacelli, 11, 13 Aug. 1937, fasc. 152, fos 22r–24v, 35r.

63 Circular letter and attached promemoria, 18 Aug. 1937, ibid. fasc. 151, fos 51r–53r.

64 All the points which would be included in the final version of the aide-mémoire appear already defined, even if in a preliminary form, in a handwritten note, probably made at the beginning of the document's preparation, ibid. fasc. 150, fos 28r–29r.

65 Francis D'Arcy Osborne to Owen St Clair O'Malley, 23 July 1937, FO, 371/20810; Osborne to Eden, 4 Aug. 1937, FO, 371/29011. See also Enardu, Palestine, 13–16, and Anglo-Vatican relations, 376–7.

66 See the anonymous undated note, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 171, fasc. 150, fo. 102r. On the different views of the two ministries see Klieman, Aaron S., ‘The divisiveness of Palestine: Foreign Office versus Colonial Office on the issue of partition, 1937’, Historical Journal xxii (1979), 423–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

67 Osborne to Eden, 4 Aug. 1937, and C. J. W. Torr to Eden, 6 Aug. 1937, FO, 371/29011.

68 See the aide-mémoire, attached to the letter from Torr dated 6 Aug., which contained further instructions received verbally from monsignor Pizzardo, in order to explain the meaning of the note: ibid.

69 Edward Maurice Ingram to Torr, 2 Sept. 1937, CO, 733/353/5.

70 Lacy Baggallay minute, 16 Aug. 1937, FO, 371/20811; T. S. Bennet note, 24 Aug. 1937, CO, 733/353/5.

71 See Enardu, Palestine, 18–23; Kreutz, Vatican policy, 65–9.

72 On this point, the silence maintained by Pius xi about the Holy Places during the Christmas celebrations 1937 is significant: a reticence attributed by British diplomats accredited to the Holy See to the pope's desire not to support Italian claims in any way: Torr to Ingram, 30 Dec. 1937, CO, 733/369/9.

73 For the diverse positions in the Vatican see Ferrari, Silvio, Vaticano e Israele dal secondo conflitto mondiale alla guerra del Golfo, Florence 1991, 23–5Google Scholar.

74 Porath, Emergence, 293–303, and From riots to rebellion, 269–71; Robson, Colonialism and Christianity, 36–43, 158–61.

75 See Anglo-Vatican relations, 158, 246, 272.

76 See Giovagnoli, Agostino, ‘Pio xii e la decolonizzazione’, in Riccardi, Andrea (ed.), Pio XII, Rome–Bari 1985, 179–90Google Scholar.

77 For further analysis see Kreutz, Vatican, 93–4, and Ferrari, Vaticano e Israele, 52–4.

78 Ferrari, Silvio, ‘Pio xi, la Palestina e i Luoghi santi’, in Achille Ratti pape Pie XI, Rome 1996, 909–24Google Scholar at p. 920. See also the anonymous note dated 25 Aug. 1937, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o 171, fasc. 151, fos 66r–71r.

79 On Catholic theology regarding the diaspora see the useful account by Pawlikowski, John T., ‘The contemporary Jewish-Christian theological dialogue agenda’, Journal of Ecumenical Studies xi (1974), 599–616 Google Scholar. For the implications that such concepts had in anti-Zionist Catholic polemic see Ferrari, ‘Pio xi’, 917–19. With regard to the presence of similar scriptural interpretations among the most able Vatican diplomats see Valeri to Pacelli, 25 July 1930, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 108, fasc. 103, fos 23r–24v.

80 Among the possible examples see Fidelis, ‘Lettere di Terrasanta’, OR. 24 June 1931, and Testa to Pacelli, 27 Mar. 1936, AAEESS, Stati Ecclesiastici iv periodo, p.o. 474, fasc. 482, fos 6r–7v.

81 Chenaux, Philippe, L’Église catholique et le communisme en Europe (1917–1989): de Lénine à Jean-Paul II, Paris 2009, 32–9Google Scholar, 86–108.

82 For more about these fears see, for example, Nota d'archivio sul Sionismo, AAEESS, T.iv, p.o. 7, fasc. 23, fos 68r–71r, and anonymous note, p.o. 171, fasc. 150, fos 82r–84r.