Who allegedly said: 'How many divisions has he (the Pope) got?'?

The public figure who allegedly said: 'How many divisions has he (the Pope) got?' was Joseph Stalin (1878–1953). The phrase 'How many divisions has he (the Pope) got?' was used by Stalin to note the dilemma between material power and moral strength. He wanted to seemingly dismiss the latter.

The quote was originally in response to a question allegedly posed to Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili), as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Leader of the USSR. He was giving an answer to the French Prime Minister Pierre Laval in 1935. This cryptic remark created a story that was reported several times and is not undoubtedly apocryphal.

The Russian Government and Stalin showed time and again that they understood nothing but the idea of power. Stalin directly demonstrated it when he made his remark about the Pope. The Pope might have deeply appreciated Stalin's ceasing to oppress Catholics in Russia. Instead, Stalin decided to scoff and make his dry and unsettling comment.

It appeared that Stalin didn't want to improve the situation of Catholics living in the Soviet Union; Stalin, in fact, seemed to want to provoke a quarrel with the Pope. Stalin was showing a brutal sense of humor. "The Pope...How many divisions has he (the Pope) got?" This was just another example of the many in history, where a conflict between the Church and State exists overpower (moral vs. political).