Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII [Paperback]

John Cornwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2000

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This devastating account of the ecclesiastical career of Eugenio Pacelli (1876-1958), who became Pope Pius XII in 1939, is all the more powerful because British historian John Cornwell maintains throughout a measured though strongly critical tone. After World War II, murmurs of Pacelli's callous indifference to the plight of Europe's Jews began to be heard. A noted commentator on Catholic issues, Cornwell began research for this book believing that "if his full story were told, Pius XII's pontificate would be exonerated." Instead, he emerged from the Vatican archives in a state of "moral shock," concluding that Pacelli displayed anti-Semitic tendencies early on and that his drive to promote papal absolutism inexorably led him to collaboration with fascist leaders. Cornwell convincingly depicts Cardinal Secretary of State Pacelli pursuing Vatican diplomatic goals that crippled Germany's large Catholic political party, which might otherwise have stymied Hitler's worst excesses. The author's condemnation has special force because he portrays the admittedly eccentric Pacelli not as a monster but as a symptom of a historic wrong turn in the Catholic Church. He meticulously builds his case for the painful conclusion that "Pacelli's failure to respond to the enormity of the Holocaust was more than a personal failure, it was a failure of the papal office itself and the prevailing culture of Catholicism." --Wendy Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Relying on exclusive access to Vatican and Jesuit archives, an award-winning Roman Catholic journalist argues that through a 1933 Concordat with Hitler, Pope Pius XII facilitated the dictator's riseAand, ultimately, the Holocaust.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140296271
• ISBN-13: 978-0140296273
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (269 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #683,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Catholicism > Popes

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Scandal Sells, May 31, 2000

By 

gary d wentz (seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII (Hardcover)

I was fascinated by this book and went on to do some more digging. I found so much material contrary to Cornwell's account that I keep asking myself why an historian would go to such efforts to smear a man who, it seems, saved so many lives. I can only assume that marketing considerations determined the tone of this book.

A few quotes: "When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for it's victims." Golda Meir

"He (Pope Pius)is the only ruler left on the continent of Europe who dares raise his voice at all." New York Times editorial Dec. 25, 1942

"Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign." Albert Einstein (Time magazine 1944)

It is a "regretable irony that the one person in all of occupied Europe who did more than anyone else to halt the dreadful crime...is today made the scapegoat for the failures of others." Jeno Levai (Jewish historian specializing in the Holocaust in Hungary)

"The Catholic Church under Pius XII was instumental in saving the lives of as many as 860,000 Jews" Pinchas Lapide (Israeli diplomat)

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too biased, October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII (Hardcover)

I don't like this book because I think that it is bad research, and even worse targetting at misleading the masses. BTW I am not Catholic, so I have no interest or particular reason to defend Pius XII. The argumentation of the book is poor and the evidence very selective. Cornwell ignored the mass of evidence that sustained the contrary thesis, and the reasons that led Pius to use a soft policy for helping the Jews (Hitler reacting with more persecution when the pope would condemn antisemitism strongly, and Hitler's becoming full of hate just by hearing the word "Jew".) For those who are interested in a much better book on the same topic, I definitely recommend Pierre Blet's book on Pius XII. (Pius XII and the Second World War : According to the Archives of the Vatican)

51 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating new information, but overwrought, November 22, 1999

By 

Gregory E. Graham (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII (Hardcover)

The principal strength of this book lies in its source material, not all of which has been available previously. However, it is also packaged with a fair amount of invective against Pius XII and the institution of the papacy itself. Yet, there is enough there so that a discerning reader can pick out the important details and ignore the fluff. It is unfortunate that Cornwell was not more professional in his treatment; it could have been a much more powerful indictment.

For example, Cornwell strongly implies that Pius XII's extravagant coronation is evidence of his autocratic tendencies. But this is taken out of context; Pius XII quite obviously was trying to boost morale of Catholics around the world during very trying times. Cornwell unfortunately, here as in many places in Hitler's Pope, simply squeezes too many biased conclusions out of innocuous data. Also, Cornwell's use of pictures taken out of context to bolster his case does show a lack of professionalism.

That being said, there is also enough raw information provided that can enable the discerning reader to reach valuable conclusions about the role of the papacy in the context of WWII. There is ample evidence provided in the book to support the conclusion that the papacy undermined local Catholic resistance to Hitler and that Pacelli in his role of nuncio to Germany played a large role in bringing that about. There is also ample evidence presented of the casual anti-Judiasm that pervaded the church at the time. And where I feel that Cornwell is strongest is in arguing for the capacity of the Catholic Church and its members to do good : particularly in presenting cases where Catholic opposition to barbarity during WWII did in fact bring about change; both in Germany and in other fascist regimes in eastern Europe. Finally, Cornwell is also strong in showing that Pius XII knew what was happening to the Jews in Nazi Germany and yet said nothing. Cornwell's book, despite the sometimes obviuos bias of the author, shows that the silence was indeed deafening. At the very least, Pius XII was inept on the scale of Neville Chamberlain, largely (perhaps willingly) blind to the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust, and certainly unwilling to spend any political capital to join the fight against one of the most evil regimes in history.

Apologists continue to defend Pius XII as defending the church from being stamped out in Germany and its conquered regions during WWII. However, in light of Cornwell's work, this can no longer be considered justification, but only perhaps an excuse. Also it is evidence of the lengths that high ranking officials of the Catholic Church went during WWII to sacrifice principle in favor of themselves and their institution : which I painfully view as an astounding lack of Faith in the triumph of the Church by its very own leader.