CHAPTER V THE VATICAN HIDES AND DEFENDS THE FLEEING ASSASSINS

THE fleeing war criminals promoted “political refugees”, and helped by the Pontifical Assistance Commission. — Conspirators in cassocks: traitors and criminals hidden in the monasteries; false papers, escape relays and chains. — Martin Bormann, condemned to death, becomes Father Martini, Marcel Deat disguises himself as a Franciscan Brother. — Deat at the”Russicum”. He receives a special benediction from Pius XII, who hides him at Castel Gandolfo. — Darnand, protected by the Holy Father, avails himself of the Vatican’s exchange services. — Pius XII intervenes on behalf of the Japanese war criminals. — A ghost: Ante Pavelitch, the man of the”20 kilogrammes of human eyes”, enjoys a well earned rest in Argentina.—The Pontifical Assistance does not limit itself to the living: Mussolini’s body hidden in the monastery of the Angelicum, at Milan. The Holy Father knows”how to recognize his own”. — A purge of the Roman Catholic Church should start at the head.

WE have just seen how ardently Pius XII redoubled his most compromising interventions in favour of those who, after so many years of systematic massacre, were at last to pay for their sins. We have seen also that these efforts were not in vain ; that to the glory of having raised men of blood to power the Papacy was able to add that of having rescued them from punishment so far as it was in its power to do so.

This “charitable” attitude will have had the principal result of restoring to freedom—and hence to activity—some of the most dangerous criminals the world has ever known. Knowing what we do, it is difficult to see this only as a matter of chance. Moreover, besides the criminals arrested and brought before the tribunal, there were those who were able to disappear in time, the fugitives. It was only logical that the Holy Father should exert his Christian charity in their favour also.

That is precisely what happened:

“In Vatican circles, it is said that the Church feels bound to help all those who appeal to her and that the creation of a ‘Pontifical Assistance Commission‘, destined to help political refugees, pursues precisely this aim.

Thus, by an opportune euphemism, the assassins in flight became “political refugees”. If they had deported, massacred—and even incinerated, with all due deference to the Holy Father—a few million of their fellow creatures, it was only, after all, through “political” conviction. It would be mean to confuse them with common criminals, and the Church took great care not to do so. It was thus with a clear conscience that she was able to take in and hide in the depths of her monasteries these many outlaws who asked for shelter. Yet, this elastic casuistry gave rise to vehement protests from almost every quarter.

Conspirators in cassocks

“Five superiors of various orders were arrested, as well as the President of the Catholic Youth Movement. Searches in the many convents that were sheltering the traitors led to the discovery of a vast network whose threads reached straight back to the Vatican.

. . . And then the Church joined in. She also had her plot, her conspirators in cassocks; her clandestine organizations,, her machinery for false papers, her relays and her chains for the escape and the placing in safety well beyond our frontiers of those whom the Law was after. Her hand was outstretched to the collaborators and traitors. It was already widely known that the convents were persistently extending the broadest and most attentive right of shelter to all who belonged to the Militia, the LVF, or the Gestapo, provided they knocked on the right door and knew the password. . . . The first link of the chain was in Italy.”

After this and all that we know of the sorry role played by the Church’s representatives in Poland, Slovakia, Croatia and all the countries fallen under the German yoke, we are surprised to read the following declaration (which is daring, to say the least):

“During a sermon at Notre-Dame de Paris, Father Riquet declared: ‘If we are not of the party of those that were shot, we have for 2,000 years belonged to the party of martyrs. . . .'”

Hum! Has not the Reverend Father overlooked the Albigeois, the Vaudois, the “camisards”, and the “incinerated” of the Holy Inquisition?

But let us continue. … To this rash assertion, Georges Altman sharply replied:

“. . . Whilst the official Church and most of her high dignitaries were dealing in treachery, lay and religious Christians were saving the honour of their faith. It is doubtless also to the assassins of resistant Christians that the monasteries of the cassock plot have opened their doors; certain monks are today taking in and sending abroad avowed executioners and torturers—this is remarkably more than charity demands. . . . It is a happy but normal thing that in the old days monasteries should have sheltered the innocent or those who were fighting to defend men against hell. But it is scandalous that victims should today be confused with executioners. How, indeed, can the blood of the martyrs find justice between the amnesty of crimes which is being advocated by a certain policy and the sheltering of criminals which is admitted by the Church?”

In Yugoslavia, also, protests are raised

On 1 February 1947, Yugoslavia addressed two notes to the Holy See: one asking for the extradition of five Yugoslav collaborating war criminals who had taken refuge in the Vatican, the other protesting against “the facilities granted by the Holy See for the journey to South America to certain Yugoslav subjects claimed by their country as war criminals”.

As the Yugoslav note very rightly pointed out, the “charitable” activity of the Vatican was openly violating the international agreements which provided that war criminals should be handed over to the Law, and not that they should be rescued.

But Plus XII took no notice of international agreements, and the Yugoslavs were unwelcome for daring to sermonize him who, according to the dogma, is infallible in this matter. Moreover, he made this clear.

Martin Bormann, condemned to death, becomes Franciscan Father Martini

“According to a Neo-Nazi leader, Eberhard Stern, former member of the Reichstag, Martin Bormann, condemned to death in his absence for war crimes by the Tribunal of Nuremberg, is living in a Roman monastery, as Father Martini, a Franciscan monk from the monastery of Saint Anthony. ‘I met Bormann, on 16 January’, asserts Stern, ‘Bormann did not seek to hide his identity.”As you see”, he said to me “I am alive. I do not wish to be disturbed”.'”

Brother Marcel

“It is officially recognized today”, writes Olivier Merlin, “that Marcel Deat died on 4 January 1955 of a lesion of the lung, at the ‘Villa dei Colli’ clinic, above Turin, not far from that hill where he loved to walk. . . .

“‘On 3 May 1945’, explained Madame Deat, unasked, ‘we left Feldkirch aboard a black motor car driven by our chauffeur, Briand, taking with us our papers, a few typewriters, weapons, and a small case containing silver ware, dollars and some pounds sterling. . . .

“‘At Bolzano, we went straight to the office of the Pontifical Commission . . . which directed us by train towards Milan. From there, the same commission advised us to go to Genoa. . . .

“A few months later, Marcel Deat and his wife settled quietly at Turin. Deat found shelter in the Franciscan monastery. Helene, his wife, was staying in the convent of the sisters of Divine Providence, a few hundred yards away. . . .”

“In Rome, he was seen in a car, in the company of two prelates. It appeared, according to the police, that Deat was staying with his wife at the Palazzo which was reserved for important visitors. His file, registered at the Rome police headquarters as outgoing on 18 December 1947, would not appear to have been returned when the French police asked to see it.

“On 17 March 1948, it was learned at the Surete that Deat was living at a property situated near Monterondo, 25 km from Rome. The former minister was in the habit of paying a weekly visit to the Vatican. On 18 April 1948 he was said to be at Castel-Gandolfo.

“It is even claimed that Deat found refuge at the papal residence thanks to the support of Cardinal Canali. .. .”

Marcel Deal at the “Russicum”

“. .. It is thanks to the Vatican’s protection”, writes Jean Bedel, “that Marcel Deat was not arrested. He could have been, from one day to another, had the French Government insisted. Not only was Deat not tracked down but, ever since 1945, he had been pursuing an intense political activity. . . .

“In April 1947, reliable information reached the Surete to the effect that Deat was in Italy, where he was taking part in the ‘Black International’, formed by the Fascists and Nazis in flight. Several Italian newspapers announced his presence in Rome. It was correct. Deat was then at the ‘Russicum’ College, hidden by the Pallotin Fathers. . . .

“Deat is dead, but the former Nazis, the Neo-Fascists and the war criminals at large are pursuing their maleficent activity throughout Europe under the high protection of the Vatican. . . .”

We shall not be surprised to discover, among the “personalities” to have enjoyed the Sovereign Pontiff’s protection, the name of the all-too-famous Darnand who, in the days of Vichy, commanded the cavaliers of the truncheon with that vigour we so well remember.

“Darnand, Ex-chief of the Militia, had taken refuge at the home of Father Bonfiglio, who, in the little town of Eldolo, was leading a devout, comfortable and mysterious life. It needed nothing more to awaken the particular interest of the British authorities, for reasons which concern only the Intelligence Service.. . . The English military police, having no use for Darnand, handed him over with little ceremony to the French. Darnand then had to account for his luggage, archives and money. He said that it had all been hidden in many different places. In fact, much of it was found. Only one sum of 21 million francs was missing, and Darnand explained: It was a sum in the earlier type of French note. Father Bonfiglio, a very knowledgeable man, offered to deposit the sum with the Vatican, which would take care of the exchange operation. This is what took place, according to Darnand . . .”

What has since happened to the twenty-one million that was “changed”? A mystery! Like the author, we might wonder whether this small viaticum taken by the Militia chief for his travel expenses, is not still in the cellars of the Vatican: “We shall not of course go there to find out. It is not done.” But this question brings home to us the strange anomaly, in a Europe that has been bled and systematically plundered by the Nazis, of a Vatican that has become so rich as to figure among the most colossal financial powers of the world.

The Pope’s protection extends as far as the Japanese war criminals

“The missionary agency ‘Fides’ announced that Pope Pius XII had used his influence with the Government of Washington, in favour of the Japanese leaders who had been condemned to death by the international tribunal at Tokyo. . . .”

As can be seen, the charity of Our Holy Father the Pope is impeded by neither race nor distance.

Among so many high-ranking people who in times of adversity had recourse to the help of the Holy Father, there could not fail to figure one of the greatest stars, a “practising Catholic” who, moreover, had already been covered in apostolic benedictions—in a word, the famous killer Ante Pavelitch.

In 1957, a press item was indisputably to confinn the presence of the former crusader in Argentina, a very Catholic country.

A ghost

“Where could he be hiding, this man with the monstrous and tremendous ears, who for twelve years was being hunted everywhere?

“The Ustashi, chief of the Ustashis—the most sinister of all butchers of the last war (so say many a tribunal sentence, including that of Nuremberg) was enjoying the shade of th e palm trees and the best of health, despite his 68 years. At Buenos-Aires, the most blood-thirsty pasha that the Balkans has ever known, the ‘Poglavnik’ —the Croatian Fuhrer—with his thick moustache, was said to be peacefully eating ‘chachlic’ and pistachio ice-creams . . . and, as was his wont, to be tirelessly dreaming of better days. . . .

“In the garden city with its muddy streets, six shots rang out. Ante Pavelitch received the fifth in the spine. . . . The sixth got him full in the chest. Two blond athletes who, as if by chance, were escorting him, took him to the nearest hospital. . . . The medical diagnosis was simple: two bullets to be extracted. The police diagnosis was less so: Engineer Pablo Aranjos, building contractor, was Ante Pavelitch—who had been declared dead ten times, condemned to death three times, once in France, and categorically declared by the Government of General Peron never to have set foot on the soil of the Argentine Republic and therefore unable to be extradited in accordance with the untiringly reiterated wish of the Yugoslav Embassy.

“But where did his money come from? There again he had nothing to hide and, before the baffled police, he calmly began to enumerate his alleged benefactors:… The Pontifical Assistance of Rome.. . .”

This question has now been answered. Ante Pavelitch has reappeared in the news for the last time, with the announcement of his death. He died on 28 December 1959 in the German Hospital in Madrid. From Paraguay, where he stayed for some time after his departure from Argentina, he went to Spain—with that facility of movement, of crossing frontiers, for oneself and one’s “capital” enjoyed by certain figures who are strongly protected by the Roman Church. (Evidently, murderers’ spoils are not subject to exchange control, a privilege shared also by Vatican funds.)

On 31 December 1959, Le Monde wrote: “The short news item published in this morning’s press has awakened among the Yugoslavs memories of a past of suffering as well as bitterness against those who, by concealing Pavelitch for almost fifteen years, have prevented justice from taking its course.”

The same day, other papers, including Paris-Presse, pointed out that this chief killer so dearly loved by the Roman Church, before being treated at the German Hospital, was living “in a Franciscan monastery in Madrid.”

This in no way surprises us: is not the heart of one’s family the best place to be in?

It was indeed a brotherly bond which united the killer of Orthodox Christians and Jews to these sons of Gentle St. Francis who had all supported him so well in Croatia, not so very long ago. As for the “hierarchy”—and, namely, His Holiness John XXIII—the least they could do was to procure this new asylum for the most faithful of their champions. Had he not, as soon as he had come to power, declared through his Minister of Religion: “The Ustashi Movement is based on religion. Our entire activity rests upon our devotion to religion and to the Roman Catholic Church'”?

This sort of thing is not forgotten by Rome, especially when the “activity” is soon shown to correspond so well to the words. Moreover, the recent confirmation of the former Nazi Vice-chancellor Franz von Papen in his appointment as Privy Chamberlain to the Pope, clearly shows that His Holiness John XXIII intends to exercise the virtue of gratitude as fully as his predecessor Pius XII.

It goes without saying that the few cases mentioned here represent only an infinitesimal part of the “rescues” operated by the Vatican. Alongside the “tenors” whose disappearance excited the public’s curiosity, there were the more modest specimens, as well as the obscure, the other ranks, and all the small fry of plunderers and assassins who were promoted to the status of”political refugees . The “Pontifical Assistance Commission” had a heavy task to spread this crowd over the convents and monasteries and then to arm them with forged passports and discreetly evacuate them towards a sure haven. Whether they came from Germany, Poland, Croatia or any other theatre of “operations”, all these former crusaders in flight knew that they would not knock in vain at the doors of the pious dwellings . . . just as the blood-thirsty fellagha were to discover in North Africa. If Abel has a bad press in the heart of the Roman CathoUc Church, Cain on the contrary has always been the subject of an endless mansuetude there.

What is far better, this edifying charity did not stop at the living, as the three following press cuttings will show us:

Mussolini’s body hidden in the monastery of the Angelicum of Milan

“The mortal remains of Mussolini were found, or, more precisely handed over to the police by certain people who knew what had become of the remains of the Duce after they had been removed from the cemetery of Milan. Yesterday, in the Carthusian monastery of Pavia, a Father of the Order of the Minorites of the Angelicum, named Alberto Parini, handed over to the prefect of the Milan police the mortal remains. The latter had been deposited m a cell. Father Lamberto, Superior of the Carthusian monastery, declared that the macabre object had been entrusted to him that very day by Father Alberto. The prefect of the Milan police declared that Mussolini’s body had for a long time been hidden in the monastery of the Angelicum of Milan.”

Father Alberto Parini and Father Zucca behind bars

“The receivers of MussoUni’s body have been arrested. They are also accused of attempting to reconstitute the Fascist party, and have been detained at the prison of San Vittore.”

Mass is celebrated throughout Italy for Mussolini and the Fascist Chiefs

“During these last forty-eight hours, mass has been celebrated throughout Italy, in memory of Mussolini. At Mantova, the police effected a raid at the end of the service celebrated in memory of the ‘martyr Fascist chiefs’. . . .”

In the eyes of the Holy Father, they are indeed “martyrs”, these men who set in motion the most monstrous of wars, the biggest wave of horror that has ever unfuried across the world. Millions of men, women and children were massacred by their care, but it was all for the “good cause”. Are they not entitled, living, to every help; dead, to every honour?

By unstintingly granting them his help and his blessings, the Holy Father has shown that he knew how “to recognize his own”.

These two Catholics who dare to play tricks on the infallible guide surely are dangerously heterodox: One of them, speaking of those who protected the war criminals, says:

“If they are guilty or harmful politically, they must be fought and judged. The Church has still to be purged. If the affair of the monasteries sets the thing going, it is welcome.”

And another concludes:

“We do not believe that religion can be made to flourish on putrescence.”

One can but reply “Amen” to such noble utterances. But we must remind their authors that the Roman Catholic Church has its hierarchy, that this hierarchy has a head, and that it is this head— and it alone—that issues the irrevocable decisions and orders. The conclusion is self-imposing: to be purified, the Church must be decapitated.