Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII

Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, has long been the subject of controversy over his failure to speak out against Hitler's Final Solution. In Hitler's Pope, award-winning journalist and Roman Catholic John Cornwell shows that, even well before the Holocaust, Pope Pius XII was instrumental in negotiating an accord that helped the Nazis rise to unhindered power--and sealed the fate of the Jews in Europe. Drawing upon secret Vatican and Jesuit archives to which he had exclusive access, Cornwell tells the full, tragic story of how narcissism, longstanding personal antipathy for the Jews, and political and spiritual ambition combined to make Pius the most dangerous churchman in history. A firm and final indictment of Pius XII's papacy, Hitler's Pope is also a searing exploration of its lingering consequences for the Catholic church today.