page_title: Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII
section_title: Persecution of religious institutes
hierarchical_section_title: Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII / Communist persecutions / Persecution of religious institutes
context_page_description: Persecutions against the Catholic Church took place throughout the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. Pius' reign coincided with the Second World War, the commencement of the Cold War and the accelerating European decolonisation. During this time, the Catholic Church faced persecution under Fascist and Communist governments.
  The Nazi persecution of the church was at its most extreme in Occupied Poland. The defeat of Fascism at the end of World War II ended one set of persecutions, but strengthened the position of Communism throughout the world, intensifying a further set of persecutions – notably in Eastern Europe, the USSR, and, later, the People's Republic of China. The Catholic Church was under attack in all Communist governed countries and lost most of its existence in Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Communist China and the Soviet Union.
context_section_description: Religious institutes and institutions are historically visible targets in time of conflict and strife. Their houses, convents or monasteries were looted, burned or destroyed throughout Europe for centuries in virtually all European countries. The beginning of the pontificate of Pius XII coincided with the end of the Civil War in Spain, in which, in addition to thousands of faithful, some 4184 secular priests, 2365 religious, and 283 female religious were killed within a three-year period.
  In World War II, the religious of Poland suffered from an exceptionally brutal German occupation. A 1940 thirteen-point program provided that "all religious institutes, convents and monasteries will be closed because they do not reflect German morality and population policy." The German policy, to treat Poles as subhuman "Untermenschen" was especially brutal against representatives of religious orders. Gestapo raids led to the murdering, assassination, and deportation to concentration camps of numerous religious, including the Franciscan friar Maximilian Kolbe.
  In the Dachau concentration camp alone, some 2800 Polish priests and religious were incarcerated, of whom approximately 1000 were killed or died of hunger. Between April and October 1942, 500 Polish religious died in Dachau, in part due to mistreatment, hunger or the gas chambers. Long-time inmate Bishop Kozlowiecki reports: "What a happy day if I was beaten only once or twice." Especially brutal was Holy Week in 1942. One thousand and eight hundred Polish priests and religious went through punishment drills and exercises uninterrupted from morning to night every day. Pope Pius XII informed the cardinals in 1945 that among all the horrors which priests and religious had to endure in concentration camps, the fate of Polish inmates was by far the worst.
  After 1945, Poland was resurrected, but the Polish government continued the attacks against the Catholic Church. All religious were forced to leave hospitals and educational institutions and their properties were confiscated. Within seven years, fifty-four religious were killed. One hundred and seventy priests were deported to gulags. However, after a change of government in 1956, the condition of the Church improved. Harassment and persecution of the Church continued but religious vocations were permitted and Poland became the only Eastern country which contributed in great numbers religious missionaries to worldwide service.
  In all East European countries, after World War II, persecution of religious assumed new dimensions. All religious houses in the Ukraine were confiscated and their inhabitants either jailed or sent home. All religious houses were confiscated and closed in Lithuania as well. In Albania, all religious orders were forcibly disbanded. In Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia, all monasteries and religious institutes ceased to exist after 1950. In Hungary, 10,000 members of religious orders were ordered to leave their residences within three months; some 300 were permitted to remain and through an agreement between the Hungarian hierarchy and the government eight Catholic schools were reopened.
  In Yugoslavia, all orders were disbanded after the war and properties confiscated. In Bosnia, numerous religious figures were killed, among them 139 Franciscan priests. However, as Yugoslavia distanced itself increasingly from Moscow, significant improvements were noticed in Slovenia and Croatia during the last two years of the Pacelli pontificate. In China and North Korea Catholic religious no longer existed. Foreign missionaries were expelled and the fate of most local religious is unknown.
caption: Chapel of Saint Casimir with his coffin in Vilnius, Lithuania
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