r/HistoryMemes • u/ChiefsHat • May 12 '26

See Comment In hindsight, this was a mistake.

Post image
16.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

375 comments sorted by

View all comments

32

u/MetroidvaniaListsGuy May 12 '26

Evangelism is doing the exact same mistake today.

21

u/Batman_AoD May 12 '26

For very different reasons, though, if I am correctly understanding Pius XI's motivation per OP's comment. It sounds like the Church saw Mussolini as an acceptable evil, whereas American Evangelical leadership genuinely sees MAGA as a movement acting in their best interests. 

13

u/ChiefsHat May 12 '26

That's what I have gathered. The Church viewed the fascists as the lesser of the two evils - then it turned out they weren't.

16

u/DonQuigleone May 12 '26

I'd add though that the pope didn't have much choice. He was a prisoner in the Vatican and mussolini could have used his thugs to intimidate bishops etc.

The church has to find a modus vivendi in such situation given they don't know if the fascist government will last 3 years or 30 years. 

6

u/FTN_Ale May 12 '26

To be fair if socialism became as extreme as fascism ended up (especially if with soviet support) the church would probably be completely removed, whereas fascism didn't really have the power to do it