From Our Special Correspondelit
Switzerland's Socialist Press has started a sensational campaign against the Church and Pope. It accuses Pius XII of having helped Hitler to his powerful position at the head of the Nazi state. This the Pope is said to have done when he was In Berlin as Nuncio in exchange for the promise that Hitler would respect the interests of the Church, and conclude a Concordate.
The Eipa (Catholic Press Agency of Fribourg) exposes this vulgar anticlerical manceuvre, establishing, with precise facts and dates, the following points:
(1) As Nuncio, Pacelli left Berlin on December 12. 1929—that Is, more than throe years before Hitler came into power—to be named Cardinal and Secretary of State. (2) No negotiation took place from that period up to January. 1933, for a Coneordate with the Reich. (3) The negotiations for the Concordata, concluded on July 20, 1933, are due to the personal initiative of Von Papen, who began to think after the resulte of the elections to the Reichstag of March 5 that the rights and Interests of the Catholic Church would be respected.