What was the stance of Vatican City during World War 2? Was it occupied?
A very challenging question to answer, but I’ll try to summarize the main points. Vatican City was in a very difficult position during the Second World War. The Lateran Pact had essentially granted independence to Vatican City, and the world community had recognized this independence. However, the pact had in fact been authorized by Mussolini, and this put the Pope (and the Church, to a lesser extent) in a very difficult position. Let us also consider the fact that the Church had as many problems with Bolsheveism as it did with Fascism and Nazism and that Fascism, of the three major “anti Democratic” political systems in the world at the time, actually permitted freedom of religion (something Communism and Nazism did not do). At any rate, the military reality of the situation should be analyzed. Vatican City was surrounded by the capital of one of the three major Axis powers (Rome, Italy). To announce war for the Allied cause would have very likely resulted in the destruction of the Va
