Mussolini was never neutral after August 1939. He had long schemed to subjugate Europe in alliance with Germany. If the Duce embodied the state, neither was Italy neutral. But his ‘l’état c'est moi' – like conceit and his posture of representing all Italians – reflected wishful thinking and propaganda. Italian society encompassed many political segments: Fascist hierarchs; Party and militia members; the monarchy; military leaders; diplomats; industrialists; large landowners; professionals and smaller landowners; workers, shopkeepers, petty bureaucrats, and white-collar employees; and peasants and farm workers, the largest group. From August 1939 to April 1940, they favoured peace.

Catholic leaders and the Vatican formed a special group. Church authorities were simultaneously Italian subjects, Fascist-ruled citizens, and papal appointees. Thirty-five Italian cardinals out of a total of sixty-two dominated the Roman Church in 1939–40. Pius Ⅻ was latest in a continuous succession of Italian pontiffs since 1523. While Italian-born priests in Vatican posts became papal subjects, they retained their national identity. The 1929 Lateran Accords required Italian priests' loyalty to Italy. But Italian clergy could not ignore papal pronouncements. War and peace have moral and political aspects. Nazi aggression against Catholic Poland troubled even pro-Fascist Italian prelates.