The Life & Pontificate of Pope Pius XII: Between History & Controversy. By Frank J. Coppa. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University Press of America, 2013. xxix + 306 pp. $29.95 paper.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)The Life & Pontificate of Pope Pius XII: Between History & Controversy . By Frank J. Coppa . Washington, D.C. : The Catholic University Press of America , 2013. xxix + 306 pp. $29.95 paper.Book Reviews and NotesFrank Coppa's insightful biography of Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII (1939-1958), is a welcome contribution to ongoing debates about the controversial pontiff whose policy of appeasement during World War II continues to fuel the so-called "Pius Wars." The pope's actions are not in dispute but scholars disagree "in their assessment of the motivation for and the consequences" of Pacelli's conduct during the war and the Holocaust (247). In his own analysis, Coppa places considerable emphasis on the Vatican's entrenched diplomatic policy of impartiality that, he argues, largely drove the pope's wartime actions.The Vatican's relative recent opening of papers of the pontificates of Benedict XV (1914-1922) and Pius XI (1922-1939) has allowed scholars to also gain fresh insights into the young Eugenio Pacelli's life. Using these sources, Coppa makes a strong case that Pacelli learned crucial lessons in diplomacy during World War I that "provided the rationale" for his "public silence during the latter war and the Holocaust" (54). At the time, the future pontiff was part of the Vatican's diplomatic corps, where, under the tutelage of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri, his career advanced rapidly. The author argues that Gasparri's importance to Pacelli's life and legacy went far beyond his mentorship because the cardinal was also the architect of the Vatican's policy of impartiality during World War I. Impartiality differed from neutrality in that it allowed Pope Benedict XV "to denounce principles and even policies in general, without naming particular parties or embroiling the Church in partisan politics or favoring one side over another in conflicts" (53). It also enabled the Holy See to act as a neutral broker of peace.Eugenio Pacelli's personality was well suited to Benedict's cautious diplomacy. From early on, Pacelli "pragmatically sought to avoid fights that might prove detrimental to his career and interests" (49). Coppa is an astute biographer who sketched an intriguing portrait of Pacelli that goes beyond his well-known reticence and highlights the future pontiff's strong will, his seeming inability to admit mistakes, and his marked sense of entitlement. For instance, on a papal peace mission to Germany in 1917, Pacelli's extravagant travel arrangements included a whole train compartment "holding some sixty cases of groceries to sooth his sensitive stomach" that resulted in excessive transportation costs at a time when many Germans were starving during the war (63). When the mission failed, Pacelli convinced himself that others were to blame.After the war, when it became clear that Benedict XV's policy of impartiality had proved a failure overall, Pacelli and most members of the curia still saw no reason to abandon it. The confrontational Pope Pius XI (1922-1939), who did not believe that Hitler could be reasoned with, clashed with this ingrained Vatican culture of appeasement. …