Hitler, the War and the Pope
This sympathetic portrait of Pope Pius XII serves as a direct rebuttal to John Cornwall's recently publishedHitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII(1999), a scathing indictment of the controversial pontiff's wartime record. After placing the beleaguered pope's actions firmly into historical context, Rychlak concludes that Pius did everything within his limited scope of power to condemn Hitler and to save Jews without endangering even more innocent lives. Although this respectful, painstakingly researched account of an undoubtedly compassionate and well-intentioned holy man mired in incomprehensibly difficult circumstances provides a wealth of thoughtfully outlined rationalizations, it fails in its mission to completely convince doubters that Pius XII could not have taken a more heroic public stand against Nazism.Margaret FlanaganCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved