I didn't say Hitler "wanted" to kidnap the Pope. (he was only a baby at the time, and unaware of what was going on) Buchanan knows Hitler planned to kidnap the Pope and actually ordered the kidnapping. (He was frustrated by his own people , as well) Buchanan opposed stopping Hitler, ergo he had no problem with it. Buchanan's inability to acknowledge or criticize Hitler and Pius XII's mutual hatred of each other is kind of at odds with your description of him as pro-Catholic. Both Pius XI and Pius XII thought Hitler was the most dangerous man in the world, not to mention a complete threat to the existence of Catholicism in Germany.
So Buchanan's position is that he knew more about Hitler that Pius XI and Pius XII, and they were incompetent?
“Buchanan’s inability to acknowledge or criticize Hitler and Pius XII’s mutual hatred of each other is kind of at odds with your description of him as pro-Catholic.”
I don’t think we have read the same book. Buchanan spends most of his time (like many other British historians) criticizing the stupidity of British foreign policy that resulted in the destruction of the British Empire.
The idea that Buchanan is “anti-Catholic” is risible. Buchanan himself is a Catholic and spends much of his time in this book, you know, the one that I actually reviewed above bemoaning the decline of the Catholic Church in America.
“Both Pius XI and Pius XII thought Hitler was the most dangerous man in the world, not to mention a complete threat to the existence of Catholicism in Germany.”
Hitler has been dead since 1945.
What happened to the Catholic Church after the triumph of the victorious Allies? Hitler lost you know. Was that a victory for the Catholic Church? Is the Catholic Church stronger in Italy and Spain today than it was under Franco and Mussolini?
Is the Catholic Church stronger today in America? Is it stronger today in France?
“So Buchanan’s position is that he knew more about Hitler that Pius XI and Pius XII, and they were incompetent?”
Buchanan’s position, which is really not his own position, but a position which has been advanced by number of British historians, is that giving the war guarantee to Poland was a foolish decision that resulted in the destruction of Poland, arguably a more foolish decision than the Stamp Act or the Quebec Act which ignited the American Revolution.
Even mainstream historians no longer take seriously the absurd idea that Hitler was out to “conquer the world” or that he was going to “invade America.” Hitler couldn’t even conquer Britain and his own writings make clear that he admired Britain and actually wanted an alliance with Britain.
The only country that Hitler really wanted to go to war with was Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union. Instead of a Second World War, there could have been a Nazi-Soviet war, which would have been infinitely better for America, for Poland, for Britain, and France than the world war which came out of the Polish war guarantee.