Hitler and the Vatican: Inside the Secret Archives That Reveal the New Story of the Nazis and the Church

John Cornwell sparked a massive controversy when he published "Hitler's Pope" in 1999, in which he criticized pope Pius XII and the Vatican for their conduct during Hitler's reign and the Holocaust. Ever since, a series of books have been written in defense of Pius XII and the Vatican, not only to exonerate, but to exalt the Papacy as heroic and courageous: for taking a stance against the Nazis and for saving hundreds of thousands of lives during the war. Nevertheless, on one side of the fence you have your critics; James Carroll, Gary Wills, Daniel Goldhagen, Michael Phayer, and many others. And on the other side of the fence, you have your defenders; David Dalin, Ronald Rychlak, Margherita Marchione, and many others. Both sides claim to have the real story and the evidence to back it up. But when you have such conflicting views, who can you really trust? I suppose one could always read both sides of the argument, evaluate the evidence and form an objective opinion. But not everyone has the time to conduct so much research. Moreover, I'm sure that those faithful to Pius XII have very little interest in reading books like "Hitler's Pope." Likewise, critics of the Vatican can't be too thrilled about books like "Pope Pius XII: Architect for Peace," either. Personally, I thought Susan Zuccotti's "Under His Very Windows" was one of the more balanced books on the subject. But even after reading Zuccotti's book, I still felt like I needed a bit more information, so I gave Godman's book a try. Although it's not as comprehensive as I would have liked it to be (the author does not write about the Vatican's conduct during WWII - a major disappointment), it is, however, fairly unbiased, and contains enough information to give the reader a better understanding of the relationship between the Vatican and The Third Reich during the 1930s. The Vatican's relationship to The Third Reich, according to Godman's findings, was not as black and white as many critics and defenders tend to portray it. It was far more complex. To make his point, Godman illustrates the various religious, diplomatic and political dilemmas that faced the Vatican during the 30s. Although neither pope Pius XI nor Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (who later became pope Pius XII in 1939) shared Nazism's radical views on race and religion, they nonetheless signed a treaty with The Third Reich in 1933 - mainly to ensure Catholicism's place in Germany - as they had done previously with other European countries. The individual who orchestrated this controversial treaty (Reichskonkordat) was Cardinal Pacelli. But as much as Pius XI and Pacelli deemed Nazi beliefs heretical, their efforts to make that clear to the public was very lackluster. If anything, the concordat between the two parties appeared more like some kind of a Vatican approval, which the Nazis fully exploited. Two years later, however, after realizing that terms of their agreement had been violated, the Vatican decided to draft a cond

All of a sudden it seems that a "cottage industry" of books on the subject of Pope Pius XII and the Nazis has arisen. There are the books that condemn him, and the Church by implication, for not doing more (or, in some books, anything) about the Nazi threat. There are others that state the Pope and the Church did all that it could, given the circumstances of the time. This book seems to fall somewhere in the middle, giving the reasons why more was not done, but also showing that, behind the scenes, many things were being planned that did not come to fruition. The reason for this appears to be that both Pius XI and his successor were concerned with the Concordat which had been signed by the Vatican and Nazi Germany, and they wished to avoid any action that might cause Hitler to abrogate it. While this may have made perfect sense to them, at this remove of time it appears to be rather short-sighted. It's difficult to condemn folks who acted more than 60 years ago, given what they knew of the situatuon in front of them. Hindsight is always 20-20, you know, so perhaps this book has the right approach, the middle ground necessary to allow us to see both sides of the questions before the Church leaders. It may not make them less suspect for their inaction, but it perhaps explains why they didn't do what we feel should have been done.

The real issue is not whether one agrees with the Vatican and papal caution in not denouncing the Third Reich. The issue is simply whether the author has sufficent evidence to explain the topic that has aroused so much ire and defensiveness. There is no question that the work presented here does just that. It shows a rather mature understanding that the Vatican did not speak with one voice, that there were serious differences of opinion about what would be effective and what for the Church's future would be prudent. Whether Pius XII and his predecessor should have been more courageous publicly is another matter. For those seeking to understand the Vatican's hesitations, this volume is a well researched must.