The Catholic Church Opposed Benito Mussolini’s Invasion of Ethiopia

Upon learning that Italy planned to invade and devastate Ethiopia—a country that had fought for centuries to defend Christianity against Islam—the Catholic Church could not remain silent, and indeed, it did not, as we shall see below. On August 25, 1935, Pope Pius XI made the following statement during a public audience with an international group of about 2,000 nurses:
"We already hear talk of a war of conquest, an offensive war: here is an assumption we do not even want to entertain, an unsettling assumption. A war different from one of conquest would obviously be an unjust war: here is something that surpasses all imagination, something indescribably sad and horrifying. We cannot even consider an unjust war; we cannot admit its possibility and deliberately reject it. We do not believe, nor do we want to believe, in an unjust war."
On August 27 of the same year, Pius XI once again condemned the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. However, this condemnation was met with pressure and appeals from the Italian government, during which Benito Mussolini himself intervened, stating that the Pope should not have spoken about the war if he intended to maintain good relations with Italy.
Pius XI condemned Italy’s war against Ethiopia on three occasions, calling it a crime against moral law and referring to Mussolini as a "reckless madman," because he considered Italy’s war against Ethiopia to be an "abominable thing." On September 29, 1935, Father Pietro Tacchi Venturi pleaded with Mussolini to avoid war with Ethiopia "so as not to place Italy in a state of mortal sin." Unmoved, Mussolini responded that the democracies were determined "to strike a fatal blow against fascism."
Italy then invaded Ethiopia. On October 3, 1935, Italian riflemen fired upon Ethiopian soldiers on horseback, armed only with swords. Mussolini authorized his troops to use mustard gas against the Ethiopians. After Italy’s invasion and war against Ethiopia, Archbishop Domenico Tardini wrote: "The ambition of one man is digging the grave for all Italians." And when Mussolini ordered all of Rome to be illuminated to celebrate Italy’s victories in the Ethiopian war, the Vatican remained in darkness.
REFERENCES:
https://www.ilmantellodellagiu....stizia.it/articoli-m
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/....Papa_Pio_XI#Rapporti
https://www.catholicleague.org..../media-pope-disinfor