When people think of the Vatican and World War II, they think immediately of Pius XII, the controversial pontiff between 1939 and 1958. But before him, there was a little-remembered pope, Pope Pius XI, who was loudly outspoken against the Nazis and was determined to call the world's attention to their atrocities.
The notion of dictators as "criminals" is imprecise because, while their behavior might be considered criminal in the public court of opinion, they are technically "above the law" or, in another sense, they are synonymous with the law, since a dictator's will and the law of the land are, for all practical purposes, one and the same.