THE POPE AND THE HOLOCAUST Pius XII and the Vatican Secret Archives By MICHAEL HESEMANN

Description

For over two decades, Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, has been blasted in the public square as “Hitler’s Pope”, accused by bestselling authors of cowardice in the face of the Nazi regime. some have even said that the pope was complicit in Hitler’s grab for power, privately fueled by a hatred for the Jewish people. and if they are right, who would not join in condemning a leader like this, especially one who claims to represent all Christians? But what if this image of Pius XII is completely backward? Archival and archaeological researcher Michael Hesemann has unearthed thousands of documents–including from the Vatican Secret Archives (or the Vatican Apostolic Archive), only recently opened to scholars–to give a startling picture of Eugenio Pacelli as a shrewd diplomat and a champion of the Jewish people during World War II. This book traces Pacelli’s fight for peace in the 1930s and 1940s. What emerges clearly from the author’s evidence is a portrait of a man radically committed to the Jews and the revelation God gave to them. Paper.