He was a Cardinal with some influence. Moreover, what of the previous Pope?
A Cardinal of influence over who? Yes, at the Vatican he had influence, but how much power does a cardinal have? Even the pope has mostly only the power the attention of his office can bring. Pope Pius XI (who died in 1939) release the Encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge in 1937. (It was mostly written by the future Pius XII)It was clearly directed at the situtation in Germany, and if anyone thinks that wasn't obvious, they took the highly unusual step of writing it in German, not the usual Latin. Did Hitler care that the Pope didn't approve of his policies? Hitler had no intention of listening to the Pope. As Stalin said, ``How many divisions does the pope have?'' Did the Pope have the authority to force other nations to invade Germany? Winston Churchill was in his country's government, but he still couldn't convince them of the danger of Germany. Pius also tried to put anti-Hitler german officials in touch with the British.
If you had been pope, what do you think you could have done to make a difference?