In 1938 Pope Pius XI, known for having refused to excommunicate Hitler, delivered a speech in defence of the Jews to a group of Belgian pilgrims:

"We know well from the Catholic Mass that Abraham is our patriarch and forefather. Antisemitism is incompatible with the lofty ideals of Christianity. It is a movement in which we Christians can have no part whatever. No, no, I tell you that it is impossible and impermissible for a Christian to take part in antisemitism. Through Christ and in Christ we are all the spiritual descendants of Abraham. Spiritually, we are all Semites."

Oddly enough, this passage of the address was not mentioned in the official printed organ of the Holy See, the daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano (“The Roman Observer”), and was not broadcast on Vatican Radio. The speech was a response to the racial "Manifesto of Race", which explained that the Italians were descendants of the Aryan race, and to Italy's anti-Jewish laws, which deprived Jews of their civil rights and property and forbade marriages between Christians and Jews.

Still, for all such sensible words, widely circulated across the world afterwards, Pius XI went on behaving inconsistently, suggesting, for instance, that the troubles of the Church might be connected with the anti-Christian spirit of Judaism.