If you imagine that the consciences of the members of their R C C were being aroused against such atrocities,
you would be mistaken, because the following was what was happening, instead:

The German-speaking American sociologist, Gordon C. Zahn, made news when he went to Germany in the 1950's, in the hope of finding evidence of resistance on the part of his R. C. church to the NAZI regime, and instead was astounded to learn that it took little more than one hand to count the number of Roman Catholics who had refused to be good patriots and to serve in Hitler's armed services!  And far from being inspired by their Catholic church to "resist evil", several of these heroic conscientious objectors, which included at least one priest, were actually refused the sacraments on the grounds that their refusal to cooperate with the NAZI government was proof that they were bad Catholics!
        "Despite repeated inquiries among the chancery officials and Catholics who had been active in the pre-Hitler peace movement, the writer (Zahn) was able to learn of no more than seven Catholics who openly refused military service.  Six of these men were executed for their refusal.  The seventh, charged with a capital offense, was fortunate enough to escape death only by being placed in indefinite custody in what one informant described as a military mental institution."
        In 2007, one of these, Franz Jagerstatter, was "beatifed" by the Vatican, the step that leads to "canonization", whereby a person is declared a saint. What few of the hierarchy of his church were able to fathom at the time Franz formulated very clearly in a letter from prison to his wife, "Can there be any talk of defense of the Fatherland when one invades countries that owe one (i.e. Germany) nothing and robs and murders there? What more can we Catholic Austrians lose if we fight no further for the German state? ... That we Catholics must make ourselves tools of the worst and most dangerous anti-Christian power that has ever existed is something I cannot and never will believe."
See http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2007d/110907/110907a.htm .
        Looking back on this period, the heart-wrenching but honest conclusion that this devout R. C. C. sociologist reached and published was : "The (ordinary) German Catholic supported Hitler's wars not only because such support was required by the NAZI ruler but also because his religious leaders formally called upon him to do so; not only because the actions and opinion of his fellow citizens made him feel obligated to share the nation's burdens and sorrows but also because, by example and open encouragement, the Catholic press and Catholic organizations gave their total commitment to the nation's cause; not only because of deep-felt fears of the terrible price (that) nonconformity would bring or the warm surge of satisfaction accompanying nationalistic or patriotic identification with the war effort, but also because his most cherished religious values had been called into play to encourage him to take his post 'on the field of honor'  'in the defense of Volk and Vaterland.' (the people and the fatherland) " ( p. 56) , and
        "The German Catholic who looked to his religious superiors for spiritual guidance and direction regarding service in Hitler's wars received virtually the same answers he would have received from the NAZI ruler himself." { German Catholics and Hitler's Wars, p. 17 )

"What about the hundreds of German priests serving the German army and occupation forces in eastern Europe, who were in the thick of killing operations, holding services for and hearing the confessions of the killers?   Did they see Jews as innocent and the mass slaughtering of Jews as wrong?  Did the priests tell the many Catholics among the hundreds of thousands of Germans participating in the mass annihilation that they were sinning?  The evidence strongly suggests that they did not.  If they had viewed the killing of the Jews as a crime and a sin, then we would in all likelihood know about such a view and of their initiatives among the perpetrators, because it has been the practice of the Church to put forward any evidence that would cast a favorable light upon itself.  The testimony that does exist is not heartening.  Of an estimated one thousand Catholic and Protestant clergy serving as military chaplains, fewer than ten cases (most are Catholic priests) have come to light - some of which are dubious - where it can be said that the chaplains conveyed disapproval of or urged resistance to the mass murder. . .
       That Catholic priests in the thick of the mass murder greeted the annihilation of the Jews with silence or worse should come as no surprise, since the Catholic military bishop, Franz Justus Rarkowski, the spiritual leader of the priests assigned to the Wehrmacht, was deeply Nazified." ( Moral Reckoning, pp.62-63)

. . . the great majority of German military chaplains, Catholics and Protestants, "weighed in on the side of the perpetrators, condoning and blessing their crimes through words, actions, and silence.  One of the most obvious manifestations of this function was the provision of group absolution for soldiers."
        How could we not maintain that the German priests who gave succor to the genocidal executioners were at least collaborators with the Nazi regime, if not partners in this mass-murdering onslaught?  Why did the Pope not instruct them to counsel all Catholics among the executioners that they must stop murdering Jews?  This virtually unknown and unmentioned chapter of the Catholic Church and its clergy's role in the Holocaust has barely been investigated."  ( Moral Reckoning, pp. 62-63)

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