The possibility of this, “virtual elimination of the Catholic church in the Reich” [Source C], was due to the fact that many Catholics did not fully support Hitler and his ideals, and so the Church, and those within it, risked arrest and life in a concentration camp. As head of an institutional church, Pope Pius XI was responsible for the protection of the Catholic Church and the then 20 million German members. The need to protect the Catholic people from persecution was one of the main factors that caused Pope Pius XI, Cardinal Pacelli and the German bishops to sign the Reichskonkordat in
The possibility of this, “virtual elimination of the Catholic church in the Reich” [Source C], was due to the fact that many Catholics did not fully support Hitler and his ideals, and so the Church, and those within it, risked arrest and life in a concentration camp. As head of an institutional church, Pope Pius XI was responsible for the protection of the Catholic Church and the then 20 million German members. The need to protect the Catholic people from persecution was one of the main factors that caused Pope Pius XI, Cardinal Pacelli and the German bishops to sign the Reichskonkordat in