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The Pope at War

The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler

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The Pope at War

By: David I. Kertzer
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
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 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The most important book ever written about the Catholic Church and its conduct during World War II.”—Daniel Silva

“Kertzer brings all of his usual detective and narrative skills to [The Pope at War] . . . the most comprehensive account of the Vatican’s relations to the Nazi and fascist regimes before and during the war.”—The Washington Post

“Tolstoyan.”—Cynthia Ozick

Based on newly opened Vatican archives, a groundbreaking, explosive, and riveting book about Pope Pius XII and his actions during World War II, including how he responded to the Holocaust, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Pope and Mussolini

WINNER OF THE JULIA WARD HOWE AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD • A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, his papers were sealed in the Vatican Secret Archives, leaving unanswered questions about what he knew and did during World War II. Those questions have only grown and festered, making Pius XII one of the most controversial popes in Church history, especially now as the Vatican prepares to canonize him.

In 2020, Pius XII’s archives were finally opened, and David I. Kertzer—widely recognized as one of the world’s leading Vatican scholars—has been mining this new material ever since, revealing how the pope came to set aside moral leadership in order to preserve his church’s power.

Based on thousands of never-before-seen documents not only from the Vatican, but from archives in Italy, Germany, France, Britain, and the United States, The Pope at War paints a new, dramatic portrait of what the pope did and did not do as war enveloped the continent and as the Nazis began their systematic mass murder of Europe’s Jews. The book clears away the myths and sheer falsehoods surrounding the pope’s actions from 1939 to 1945, showing why the pope repeatedly bent to the wills of Hitler and Mussolini.

Just as Kertzer’s Pulitzer Prize–winning The Pope and Mussolini became the definitive book on Pope Pius XI and the Fascist regime, The Pope at War is destined to become the most influential account of his successor, Pius XII, and his relations with Mussolini and Hitler. Kertzer shows why no full understanding of the course of World War II is complete without knowledge of the dramatic, behind-the-scenes role played by the pope. “This remarkably researched book is replete with revelations that deserve the adjective ‘explosive,’” says Kevin Madigan, Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard University. “The Pope at War is a masterpiece.” Christianity History Military War Interwar Period
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I read Hitlers Pope years ago….this backs up the sad truth of this man…he did everything to save his church and not human beings regardless of religious belief….he did nothing but save his own ass

He saved his own ass

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I found this an excellent, well cited and impartial account of the papacy during World War II. The narration was clear and very easy to listen to. I finished it very quickly as the story was quite gripping, though disturbing. The author sets out the documentary evidence in a detailed chronological fashion, drawing particularly on the newly released documents of the Vatican's own archive material for the period. This allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about what may have motivated the pope's actions and inactions during the war. It is an important history to be told and acknowledged, lest the same terrible mistakes be made by the Vatican again.

Impressive historical account of the Pope in WWII

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But fair. Exhaustively researched and beautifully read but too much benefit of the doubt for Pius XII. I preferred “Hitler’s Pope” …. Mythology over truth, perhaps.

Revisionism

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