Vatican II as a Product of the Church's Impotency During World War I and II

I strongly suspect the Church's grotesque impotency (what other word would suffice) during the World Wars led directly to Vatican II and its aftermath, when the Church did its best to simple cease to exist.

Aggiornamento, or bringing up to date, was merely a surrender. A sort of "if  you can't beat 'em, join 'em" sort of reaction. Consider the background:

The Dutch bishops formally protested the Nazis' treatment of Jews (they joined the other Christian denominations on July 11, 1942, in sending a letter to the Nazi general ironically named Friedrich Christiansen). This letter was read in all Catholic churches against German opposition. The Nazis reacted with a total smackdown, and revoked all previous exemptions and so on, and rounded up everyone remotely connected to Jews. It was a disaster, but it was in actually a strategically placed message to Pope Pius XII to keep quiet.

Now this is a minefield, of course: Pius XII and the Jews. I make no judgement because "the Dutch example" made it obvious that the Nazis were willing to shoot every priest, nun, monk, and the old ladies who dusted the churches, were Pius to make a big stink. Pius knew that, and he knew that were he to produce a big-time, world-wide declaration, not only would many religious be murdered, but a lot more Jews would die than he could sneak out or hide. That's certainly what befell Jews in Holland, where the Church had been pretty successful on the Q/T in hiding Jews hither and yon. All that stopped after July 11, 1942.

But let's suppose Benedict 15, pope during WWI, had -- say about the time of Verdun -- gotten up and excommunicated every Catholic man in Europe who dared continue fighting. And then what if he pronounced damnation on any leaders who continued the war via the medieval anathema by "bell, book, and candle", The phrase "bell, book, and candle" is 'medieval speak' for excommunication by anathema, or making one accursed. Modern Catholics fall all over each other to say, "Oh, no! We don't ever damn anyone!" but here I mean, what if Benedict XV had meant exactly, that?

Such a full broadside, take no prisoners policy might have worked in WWI. It would have created consternation, outrage, and all sorts of blah blah from the "Deep State" people of the time, but the masses might have gone along with it. Pressure would have mounted inexorably for the war to stop, I suspect. We can't know, but it might have worked. Better than a 50-50 chance.

As for WWII, doing that would have brought about the martyrdom of multitudes -- but there's a chance it too, maybe, might have worked. Suppose Pius XII did it in such a way as to directly, fully, without doubt, challenge Adolf Hitler personally. It would have been a request for Martyrdom on Pius' part, there's no doubt of that. I think there is little doubt Hitler would have ordered his execution and the occupation of the Vatican City State. (IIRC, Hitler either talked about that or even tried to order it at some late point, but I'd have to check -- if so, it didn't happen.)

Suppose either pope tried these scenarios? WWI might have ended by November 1916 and not Nov 1918, and Hitler's butcher of most of the Church, from its earthly head to the lowest pew-sitters, would have probably lead to his overthrow -- there were many plots to kill him, and a "public relations disaster" on that scale -- of murdering the pope, for Heaven's sake, would have probably forced the issue. We can't know. Maybe. Maybe not.

But my point, the point of all this speculation, is this: AFTERWARDS, the Church's status would have been supreme. Stalin would not have had to ask "How many divisions does the pope have?" The Church's credibility would have been out to the orbit of Pluto.

Any you can bet your last farthing that there would never have been a Vatican II.

We don't know what would have happened, but we know what did. Benedict did little, and no one except Emperor Karl V listened to him (only for Karl to be deposed after the war, soon die in a miserable exile) and that while Pius XII worked assiduously behind the scenes to rescue Jews, even directly ordering his nuncio in Turkey (one Angelo Roncalli) to get with that program (the future John 23 had hesitated to use his diplomatic status in such a way), still, he, Pius, was maligned by anti-Catholics as a Nazi stooge.

No wonder the Church leaders post-WWI were "lower than a snakes belly". Pius himself seemed to see the Apocalypse coming, and stopped appointing Cardinals, and let that foul Bug, Bugnini, do his thing in the bowels of the Vatican's liturgical bureaucracy. (What a lot of people don't remember is that Bugnini trashed out the Easter Week celebrations back in the mid 1950s!)