Michael Cardinal Von Faulhaber

Michael Cardinal '' Ritter'' von Faulhaber (5 March 1869 – 12 June 1952) was a German Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Munich for 35 years, from 1917 to his death in 1952. Created Cardinal in 1921, von Faulhaber criticized the Weimar Republic as rooted in treason in a speech at the 62nd German Catholics' Day of 1922. Cardinal von Faulhaber was a leading member and co-founder of the Amici Israel, a priestly association founded in Rome in 1926 with the goal of advocating Jewish-Christian reconciliation.

After the Nazi Party seized control of German government in 1933, Cardinal von Faulhaber recognized the new Nazi government as legitimate, required Catholic clergy to be loyal to the government and maintained diplomatic bridges between the regime and the Church, while simultaneously condemning certain Nazi policies, including persecution of members of the clergy, and actively supporting Catholic regime critics such as Fritz Gerlich and other persecuted persons. In 1937 Cardinal von Faulhaber was involved in drafting the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge. Von Faulhaber ordained Joseph Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI) as a priest in 1951, and was the last surviving Cardinal appointed by Pope Benedict XV.

Life until after the First World War

Michael Faulhaber was born in Klosterheidenfeld, Bavaria, the third of seven children of the baker Michael Faulhaber (1831–1900) and his wife Margarete (1839–1911). He was educated at gymnasiums in Schweinfurt and Würzburg. In 1887-88 he was a soldier and non-commissioned officer in the Bavarian army. In 1889 he entered the Kilianeum (Catholic) Seminary in Würzburg and was ordained on 1 August 1892. Faulhaber was a priest in Würzburg from 1892 until 1910, serving there for six years. His studies included a specialisation in the early Christian writer Tertullian. In 1895 he graduated from his studies with a doctorate in theology. From 1894 to 1896, he was prefect of the Kilianeum Seminary. From 1896 to 1899, he was engaged in studying manuscripts at the Vatican and other Italian museums. From 1899 to 1903, he was privatdocent in Greek palaeography, Biblical archaeology, homiletics, and exegesis of the Psalms, at the University of Würzburg. In 1900 he visited England to study manuscripts of early Christian literature, spending one semester at Oxford. In 1902 he visited Spain for a similar purpose. In 1903 he became professor of theology at the University of Strasbourg. He also wrote a number of articles for the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''.

In 1910, Faulhaber was appointed Bishop of Speyer by Prince Regent Ludwig; in accordance with the statutes of this order, Faulhaber was ennobled with the style of "'' Ritter von Faulhaber''". In 1916 he won the Iron Cross (as the first clergyman in the German Empire) at the Western Front for his frontline support of troops by acting as a military chaplain.Speaking Symbol
23 June 1952. ''Time Magazine'' article on Cardinal von Faulhaber. In 1917, his appointment as Archbishop of Munich followed. In 1921 he became a Cardinal, with the title of Cardinal-Priest of ''Sant'Anastasia'', and at his death was the last surviving Cardinal appointed by Pope Benedict XV.

Faulhaber felt little allegiance to the Weimar Republic. At the national Catholic conference (''Katholiikentag'') of 1922 in Munich, he declared that the Weimar Republic was a "''perjury and betrayal''", because it had arrived through the overthrow of the legitimate civil authorities, the monarchies, and had included in its constitution the separation of church and state. The declaration disturbed Catholics who were committed to the Weimar Republic. Faulhaber had praised the monarchy a few months earlier at the funeral of King Ludwig.

Faulhaber publicised, and supported by creating an institutional link for the association, the work of ''Amici Israël''. He supported the group by distributing its writings, saying "we must ensure wide distribution of the writings of the Amici Israel" and admonishing preachers to steer clear of any statements that "might sound in any way anti-Semitic" – this even though, "he himself was somewhat tainted by anti-Semitic stereotypes that placed Jews in the same category as Freemasons and Socialists." Faulhaber was friends with the group's promoter, Sophie Francisca van Leer; its special aim was to seek changes to the Good Friday prayer and some of its Latin phrases such as ''pro perfidis Judaeis'' (for treacherous Jews) and ''judaicam perfidiam'' (Jewish treachery) and sought the cessation of the deicide accusation against Jews. It was dissolved in March 1928 on the decree of the Vatican's Congregation of the Holy Office on the grounds that its perspectives were not in keeping with the spirit of the Church.

Faulhaber and the Nazi Party

Rise of the Nazi Party

Faulhaber helped persuade Gustav von Kahr not to support Hitler during the Beer Hall Putsch. Its supporters turned against Faulhaber, who had denounced the Nazis in letters to Gustav Stresemann and Bavaria's Heinrich Held and blamed him for its failure; protests followed against Faulhaber, as well as the Pope, for an entire weekend.Michael von Faulhaber
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 22 September 2011.Burleigh, Michael
Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror
p. 169, HarperCollins, 2008.

In 1923 Faulhaber declared in a sermon that every human life was precious, including that of a Jew. When the Nuncio wrote to Rome in 1923 complaining about the persecution of Catholics, he commented that "The attacks were especially focused on this learned and zealous" Faulhaber, who in his sermon and correspondence "had denounced the persecutions against the Jews."Blamires, Cyprian
World fascism: a historical encyclopedia, Volume 1
p. 231, ABC-CLIO, 2006.

In February 1924, Faulhaber spoke of Hitler and his movement to a meeting of Catholic students and academicians in Munich.Lewy, 1964, p. 7. He spoke of the "originally pure spring" that had been "poisoned by later tributaries and by Kulturkampf." But Hitler, he asserted, knew better than his minions, and that the resurrection of Germany would require the help of Christianity.

During the run up to the elections of March 1933, Faulhaber, unlike several other bishops who endorsed the Centre party, refrained from any comment in his pastoral letter issued on 10 February. The book of a Catholic author issued later in the year attributed the losses incurred by the Bavarian People's Party to the neutral position adopted by Faulhaber by asking "Had the Cardinal not indirectly pointed out the path to be followed in the future?"

On 1 April 1933, the government supported a nationwide boycott of all Jewish stores and businesses. German bishops discussed possible responses against these measures but Faulhaber was of the opinion it would only make matters worse. In the days preceding the boycott Cardinal Bertram asked for the opinion of brother bishops on whether the Church should protest. Faulhaber telegrammed Bertram that any such protest would be ''hopeless''. And after the 1 April 1933 boycott of Jewish-owned-and-operated stores Cardinal Pacelli received a letter from Faulhaber explaining why the Church would not intervene to protect Jews: "This is not possible at this time because the struggle against the Jews would at the same time become a struggle against Catholics and because the Jews can help themselves as the sudden end of the boycott shows." To Father Alois Wurm who asked why the Church did not condemn racist persecution in straightforward terms Faulhaber responded that the German episcopacy was "concerned with questions about Catholic schools, organizations, and sterilization which are more important for the Church in Germany than the Jews; the Jews can help themselves, why should the Jews expect help from the Church?" According to Saul Friedländer, "The 1933 boycott of Jewish businesses was the first major test on a national scale of the attitude of the Christian churches toward the situation of the Jews under the new government. In historian Klaus Scholder's words, during the decisive days around the first of April, no bishop, no church dignitaries, no synod made any open declaration against the persecution of the Jews in Germany."Friedlaender, Saul. (1997)
"Consenting Elites, Threatened Elites"
Chapter 2 in ''Nazi Germany and the Jews, Vol I – The Years of Persecution 1933–1939''. New York. History-of-the-Holocaust.org. Retrieved 8 May 2005.

Advent sermons

During Advent 1933 Faulhaber preached five sermons that Scholder describes as "being not directed against the practical, political anti-Semitism of the time, but against its principle, the racial anti-Semitism that was attempting to enter the oman CatholicChurch." The sermons were given in St. Michael's, the largest church in Munich, though crowds were so great that both the neighbouring churches, the Studienkirche and Bürgersaal, had to be connected by loudspeakers.

Article 24 of the National Socialist program decried the Old Testament as offensive to moral values. Faulbaber was a former professor of the Old Testament at Strasbourg. In the sermons Faulhaber declared that he could not remain silent against attacks on, "the sacred books of the Old Testament... en racial research, in itself not a religious matter, attacks the foundations of Christianity." In Faulhaber defended the Old Testament against Nazi antisemitic readings, especially those advanced by Nazi theorist Alfred Rosenberg.Allen, John L.
Cardinal Ratzinger
p. 26, Continuum International Publishing 2000.

Saul Friedländer notes that Faulhaber himself later stressed he was not in these sermons "commentating on contemporary aspects of the Jewish issue."Friedländer, 1997, p. 48. Friedländer notes that these sermons employed some of the more common stereotypical depictions of traditional religious antisemitism: "The daughters of Zion received their bill of divorce and from that time forth, Ahasuerus wanders, forever restless, over the face of the earth."
In his 17 December Advent sermon, Faulhaber spoke to the "People of Israel" about the "Old Testament" and declared "This treasure did not grow in your own garden... this condemnation of usurious land-grabbing; this war against the oppression of the farmer by debt, this prohibition of usury, is certainly not the product of your spirit!."Lapide, 1967, p. 106.

He admonished, "God always punishes the tormentors of his Chosen People, the Jews." He also noted: "No Roman Catholic approves of the persecutions of Jews in Germany." His praise for the Jewish people for having "exhibited the noblest religious values", comforted some and outraged others. The packed sermons had been attended by both Protestants and Jews, as well as Catholics, and "Munich rabbi Leo Baerwald was encouraged by the sermons, even though the cardinal had neither commented on Nazi antisemitism nor broken with the ancient Christian idea of a curse on the Jewish people."Phayer, Michael
The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965
p. 15, Indiana Univ. Press 2001.

Faulhaber's sermons were published week by week during Advent by A. Huber, Munich. The book of sermons was subsequently banned by the Nazis.

Faulhaber on persecution of Jews

In a letter to Pacelli in the early 1930s Faulhaber referred to the Nazi persecution of Jews as "unjust and painful".
Historian Michael Phayer notes that unlike some clerics in Hungary and Croatia, "most German bishops were not mean-spirited toward Jews", and Faulhaber exhibited "typical Christian antisemitism, but it was not Nazi antisemitism." Phayer noted that Faulhaber did not condone Nazi antisemitism, as he was the primary drafter of ''Mit Brennender Sorge'' which denounced racism.

In November 1941, a small group of German Catholic bishops drafted a pastoral letter that proposed to protest against hostile measures taken against the church by the Nazi regime.Friedländer, 2007, p. 302. The proposed letter didn't mention the Jews. Saul Friedländer sees this lack of willingness to take a public stand to the growing awareness of the mass exterminations in the East as being calculated because Faulhaber recorded in a memo his thoughts as to the proposed letter contents and his belief that raising "the Jewish question" and other matters would hurt the reputation of the German people and its government.
In his New Year's Eve sermon in 1938 Faulhaber commented: "That is one advantage of our time; in the highest office of the Reich we have the example of a simple and modest alcohol-and-nicotine-free way of life." Also in 1938 the Nazis raided and turned upside down Faulhaber's office. During Kristallnacht Faulhaber provided the Chief Rabbi of Munich a truck to save the synagogue's possessions before it was destroyed.Rychlak
World fascism: a historical encyclopedia, Volume 1
p. 231, ABC-CLIO, 2006. Pinchas Lapide opined that Faulhaber "preached half-heartedly against the desecration of Jewish prayer-houses" and objects that the truck was only provided at the behest of the pope. Martin Rhonheimer, who, although he notes that Faulhaber "had long been known as a friend of the Jews", wrote of Faulhaber's Advent sermons: "It is clear that Faulhaber's steadfast opposition to Nazi racial theories was never intended as a defence of post-Christian Jewry or of his Jewish fellow citizens against their persecutors." Despite Rhonheimer and Lapide's objection to the speeches as half-hearted, they nonetheless resulted in the arrival of uniformed Nazis at Faulhaber's home, shouting "Take the traitor to Dachau!" and breaking his shutters and window frames.

Racial theory

The writer Sidney Ehler has written that Faulhaber's series of sermons, in December 1933, condemned "the fundamental errors contained in the racial theory and its 'German Christian' offshoot." And Ronald Rychlak has averred that Faulhaber defended the principles of racial tolerance and instructed Germans to respect Judaism. The Nazis took objection to these sermons and his palace was fired upon. Martin Niemöller, the Protestant clergyman who spent seven years in concentration camps for resistance, said Faulhaber's sermons demonstrated that he was a "great and courageous man".

Some historians, while granting that Faulhaber objected to Nazi racism, assert that he insufficiently objected to antisemitism, asserting that he merely defended Judaism and the Old Testament, not sufficiently Jews themselves. Such historians have noted qualifying comments in his sermons regarding the acceptability of a "community of blood": "Blood and race... have participated in the shaping of German history." In August 1934, the Prague Socialist newspaper Sozialdemokrat carried what Pinchas Lapide considers a mistaken report that Faulhaber had preached against racism which was copied by several Swiss newspapers. Lapide says Faulhaber immediately cabled the newspaper ''Basler Nationalzeitung'' "Faulhaber sermon against racism never held. Request denial of false report." On the following day he wrote to Hitler's Minister of the Interior:
:It is urgent that the public sale of such a heinous article, which is based on a Marxist forgery, be forbidden by the police and that the public be swiftly enlightened about this shameless lie.
Lapide also notes, when the World Jewish Council heard of the supposed preaching of Faulhaber they sent a communication to him thanking him for his courageous words. Faulhaber wrote back to them "protesting vigorously against the very mention of his name at a conference which demands a commercial boycott against Germany.

According to Ronald Rychlak the Nazis called for Faulhaber to be killed in 1935 and in 1936 Nazi police seized and destroyed one of his sermons, and did the same two times in 1937.

Faulhaber was a major contributor to the only Papal encyclical ever written in German (in the hopes of having a greater impact on the offenders), '' Mit brennender Sorge''.Burleigh, Michael
Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror
p. 189, HarperCollins, 2008. Faulhaber spent three nights working a draft which condemned the Nazi's idolization of race and state. The encyclical sought to undercut the Nazi's attempt to alter Christianity to support racism: ''"The culmination of Revelation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is final, is binding forever. This revelation has no room for addenda made by human hand, still less for an ersatz or substitute religion based on arbitrary revelations, which some contemporary advocates wish to derive from the so-called myth of blood and race."'' One historian praised Faulhaber as "one of the most fearless" German churchmen who in pastoral letters and sermons "denounced in no uncertain terms the treatment of Jews, the theories of German christians, and various actions of the Nazis" and that he noted the "debt of Christianity to the Jews".

Rabbi David G. Dalin has described him as "a famous opponent of the Nazis". One historian of modern Germany described him as "the most articulate anti-Nazi in the Catholic hierarchy". Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, a noted American voice for the Jewish cause during the war, called Faulhaber "a true Christian prelate", saying he tried to protect Jews when he "had lifted his fearless voice".

Relations with Hitler

Faulhaber, like other members of the German Catholic hierarchy, desired to have " a working relationship with ��government and found it difficult to believe when Hitler used them for his own propaganda purposes and then abandoned them with empty promises."

Pinchas Lapide wrote that Faulhaber, in common with virtually all the German episcopacy, assured Hitler of their sincere cooperation. On 24 April 1933, the Premier reported to the Bavarian Council of Ministers that Faulhaber had issued an order to the clergy to support the new Nazi regime in which Faulhaber had confidence. On 12 March 1933, Faulhaber was received by Pope Pius XI in Rome. On his return he reported:
:After my recent experience in Rome in the highest circles, which I cannot reveal here, I must say that I found, despite everything, a greater tolerance with regard to the new government. ... Let us meditate on the words of the Holy Father, who in a consistory, without mentioning his name, indicated before the whole world in Adolf Hitler the statesman who first, after the Pope himself, has raised his voice against Bolshevism

After the signing of the Concordat between Germany and the Holy See in 1933 Faulhaber sent a note of congratulations to Hitler:
:What the old parliaments and parties did not accomplish in 60 years, your statesmanlike foresight has achieved in six months. For Germany's prestige in East and West and before the whole world this handshake with the Papacy, the greatest moral power in the history of the world, is feat of immeasurable blessing.Lewy, 1964, p. 104.
Faulhaber ended his note with a wish "coming from the bottom of my heart: May God preserve the Reich Chancellor for our people." In June 1936, the German press reported the case of a Swiss Catholic who prayed for the death of Hitler and by extension accused all Catholics of sharing a similar inclination towards sedition. Faulhaber responded in a sermon:
"A lunatic abroad has had an attack of madness – does this justify wholesale suspicion of the German Catholics? You are all witnesses for the fact that on all Sundays and holidays at the main service we pray in all churches for the Führer as we have promised in the Concordat. And now one can read in big letters of the papers at the street corners, 'They pray for Hitler's death!' We feel offended on account of this questioning of our loyalty to the state. We will today give an answer, a Christian answer: Catholic men, we will now pray together a paternoster for the life of the Führer. This is our answer."

After the failed assassination attempt by Georg Elser he held a solemn mass celebrating Hitler's escape.

Faulhaber meets Hitler near Berchtesgaden, November 1936

In August 1936, the German bishops met for their annual conference, at Fulda. Discussion of the Spanish Civil War dominated the proceedings. The German bishops fundamentally accepted the Nazi presentation of the role of Bolsheviks in this war – Goebbels's propaganda ministry instructed reporters to call the Republicans simply ''the Bolsheviks'', and in a letter the joint episcopacy stated; "German unity should not be sacrificed to religious antagonism, quarrels, contempt and struggles. Rather our national power of resistance must be increased and strengthened so that not only may Europe be freed from Bolshevism by us, but also that the whole civilized world may be indebted to us."

Nuncio Cesare Orsenigo arranged for Faulhaber to have a private meeting with Hitler. On 4 November 1936, Faulhaber travelled to Hitler's mountain retreat near Berchtesgaden. According to Michael Burleigh's account of this meeting, Hitler dominated the conversation, expressing his disappointment in the Church's response to Nazi actions and dismissing the Reich's attacks on the Church – the meeting sputtering out in a reciprocal lack of understanding. Historian Beth Griech-Polelle however, delivers a quite different account in which, following Faulhaber's own account, early tension eased as the meeting progressed and when Hitler had argued his goal was to protect the German people from ''congenitally afflicted criminals such as now wreak havoc in Spain'' Faulhaber had immediately replied: " The Church, Mr Chancellor, will not refuse the state the right to keep those pests away from the national community within the framework of moral law."

In his notes on the November 1936 meeting Faulhaber recorded that Hitler "spoke openly, confidentially, emotionally, at times in a spiritual way he lashed out at Bolshevism and at the Jews" saying 'How the sub-humans, incited by the Jews, created havoc in Spain like beasts." Faulhaber noted "on this he was well informed. ... He would not miss the historical moment." Faulhaber recalled to Hitler how he had been present when Pope Pius XI said that Hitler was the first statesman who had agreed with the Pope about the danger of Bolshevism. Friedländer comments that Faulhaber seemed to agree with Hitler's points by noting Faulhaber's comments "All of this was expressed by Hitler in a moving way in his great speech at the Nuremberg Party rally." Hitler discussed with Faulhaber tensions between the Church and Party:
:Think about all this, Cardinal, and consult with other leaders of the Church how you can support the great undertaking of National Socialism to prevent the victory of Bolshevism and how you can achieve a peaceful relationship to the state. Either National Socialism and the church are both victorious or they perish together. Rest assured, I shall do away with all these small things that stand in the way of a harmonious co-operation. ... I do not wish to engage in horse trading. You know I am opposed to compromises, but let this be a last attempt.Lewy, 1964, p. 208.

Faulhaber left the meeting convinced that "Hitler was deeply religious" and that 'The Reich Chancellor undoubtedly lives in belief in God. ... He recognises Christianity as the builder of Western culture." Some modern critics have painted the meeting as a failure on Faulhaber's part with regard to Jews. Michael Phayer, however, notes that Saul Friedländer, based on the what Phayer calls the "distorted" work of Ernst Klee, "tenuously links" Faulhaber with Nazi racism, but his own analysis of the text of Faulhaber's notes of the meeting leads him to reject this suggestion. Phayer observes that the meeting was not about Jews but about church-state relations.

On 18 November, Faulhaber met with leading members of the German hierarchy of cardinals to ask them to warn their parishioners against the errors of communism. On 19 November, Pius XI announced that communism had moved to the head of the list of "errors" and that a clear statement was needed. On 25 November, Faulhaber informed the Bavarian bishops that he had promised Hitler that the bishops would issue a new pastoral letter in which they condemned "Bolshevism which represents the greatest danger for the peace of Europe and the Christian civilization of our country." In addition, Faulhaber stated, the pastoral letter "will once again affirm our loyalty and positive attitude, demanded by the Fourth Commandment, toward today's form of government and the ''Führer.'' "

When the timetable for this announcement fell through – suppressed for its reference to state violations against the Reich-Vatican Concordat – Faulhaber set to work on another draft that he submitted to the German bishops. On 24 December 1936, the German joint hierarchy ordered its priests to read the pastoral letter entitled ''On the Defense against Bolshevism'', from all their pulpits on 3 January 1937. The letter pointed out that the Church's support for the Nazi battle against Bolshevism would be more effective if the Church were to enjoy the freedoms guaranteed by divine law and the Concordat.Lewy, 1964, p. 210. Lewy asserts that the letter fulfilled the bishops' share of the bargain made with Hitler by declaring their support for Hitler's foreign policy and by encouraging the Catholic laity to have confidence in Hitlers leadership. However, Hitler never kept his part of the "quid pro quo" as the Nazis were unsympathetic to the Church's desire for Catholic organisations and schools outside the direct control of the Nazis.

"The pastoral letter's text revealed the capitulation of Faulhaber to Hitler's wishes : "Bolshevism has begun its march from Russia to the countries of Europe. ... the fateful hour has come for our nation and for the Christian culture of the Western world. ... the Führer and Chancellor Adolf Hitler saw the march of Bolshevism from afar and turned his mind and energies towards averting this enormous danger.. The German bishops consider it their duty to do their utmost to support the leader of the Reich with every available means in this defense." The bishops also warned Catholics they should not fall into discontent, as "such a mood has always provided fertile soil for Bolshevik sentiments."

He also notes Faulhaber's remarks to the German bishops that the comments of "emigrants" regarding this pastoral letter were of no consequence ("we do not care a rap") and that they all knew who the "emigrants" referred to were. In Lewy's opinion Faulhaber is referring to Catholics who had left Germany.Lewy, 1964, pp. 209–210. The Dutch Catholic newspaper "Der Deutsche Weg" expressed disappointment of the pastoral letter: "We find it hard to understand that despite the events of 30 June .e. Night of the Long Knives">Night_of_the_Long_Knives.html" ;"title=".e. Night of the Long Knives">.e. Night of the Long Knives despite the inhuman brutalities perpetrated in concentration camps, despite the currency and defamation trials, despite the personal insults against individual princes of the Church, against the Holy Father [i.e., Pope">the Pope