Book description
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…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Pope at War as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I feel that stylistically and in terms of passion, this is non-fiction at its best; it reads like a thriller.
Kertzer is a master of narrative, and his indictment of the indifference of the church before the German occupation of Europe and the Holocaust troubled me deeply as a person of faith. Despite being a professional historian, I was impressed by the humanity of his treatment of real people.
His description of the round-up of the Jews of the Rome Ghetto is genuinely moving, highly disturbing, and brought tears to my eyes. My particular enjoyment of the book came from…
From Ambrogio's list on politics and Catholicism during the twentieth century.
Whether Pius XII collaborated with Fascism and Nazism during the 1940s remains controversial.
Pope Francis’ decision to open the Vatican’s files relating to the Second World War in March 2020 has been game-changing. David Kertzer was the first scholar to access these files and publish an in-depth study on Pope Pacelli’s role during WWII.
The result has been both moving and disturbing in equal measure. Kertzer reveals in his lyrically written book the Pope’s disturbing willingness to negotiate with Hitler and Mussolini, maintaining a rigid diplomatic silence on the atrocities they committed. Despite this, Pius XII was often willing to…
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