Europe after World War I, the war that was to end all wars, was not like it is today. The continent was geographically different. Not only were the borders different, but names of the nations were different. The area was very different economically. Following the war, the European continent was devastated. Refugees were present everywhere; economic collapse for many nations, especially Germany, was a very real possibility. The Great Depression, which hit the United States in 1929, began 10 years earlier in Europe, creating runaway inflation in many places. The image of one carrying a wheelbarrow full of money to market so as to buy a few groceries was not that far from the reality of the day.

            Such disastrous conditions required solutions. Human solutions, since they are tangible and readily available, were the most attractive to those who sought answers to the dilemma that plagued their lives. Thus, governments and their leaders offered various plans. In Italy, the solution attempted was the dictatorship of Mussolini and the fascist state. In Germany, Adolf Hitler and his nascent Nazi machine were already making overtures that would lead to his grasping power in the mid-1930s.

            The Christian churches also recognized the need for answers to the problems that plagued Europe. Pope Pius XI, perceiving a need to rebuild confidence and hope which had been shattered by the War, sought answers in the realm of the sacred rather than the human or secular. In 1925 the Pope

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