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Summary: Maybe John Cornwell is the Bigot or a sensationalist
Review: John Cornwell was not in Rome, not even in Italy from 1935 to 1944. If he were there then he would have needed Hitler's permission. In fact the Facists and Nazi controled not only Rome but the entire country. The Allies didn't free Rome (and the Vatican) until 1944. I was in Italy in 1944 and know that Hitler controlled Rome as he did Greece, and most of Europe. Before Hitler got to Italy His Buddy Mussollini had taken over convents, churches and other Catholic Church properties. To say that Pope Pius X11 could have stopped or impeded Hitler is absolutely rediculous. The Jewish people in Italy and in fact all over the world admired the man. So John Cornwell made himself a few milion dollars condemning a Pope he never knew. He is not a scholar in my mind. He is a sensationalist making a cheap buck and of course he has a right to printing such trash.John
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Summary: It is a good thing to tread again the well-trod ground!
Review: Its flamboyant title notwithstanding, this book compellingly explores the tragedy of the Catholic Church's treacherous silence in the face of the evils of National Socialism, a silence embodied in the striking person of Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII. Pius XII was thankfully the last in a wicked and long line of particularly anti-democratic popes in the 'modern age', beginning with the ignominious Pius IX, 'affectionately' known as Pio Nono, kidnapper and intemperate autocrat whose personal fantasies disabled the Church's genuine charism for at least fifty years successive to his reign; and while that list of tyrants yields a number of fascinatingly tragic stories, surely none is as disheartening as that of Pius XII. A great hope was placed on him by many loyalists who longed for the Church to move transcendently into the modern world and make its considerable voice a relevant one. Such hopes were dashed with one of the most remote and triumphalist papacies in the history of the Church. And, as this book makes clear, Pacelli's personal ambition and obsession with papal power, far from transforming him into a good angel, tended to turn him ever inward toward the dark heart of the Church's centuries long history of anti-Jewish legislation, liturgy, and indeed persecution. Cornwell began research on his subject believing the evidence would exonerate Pius XII after years of quiet and not-so-quiet controversy over the inaction of the Church in confronting the racial policies of the Nazi's. He came away from his research convinced in his heart of the wickedness of the pontiff's silence and dissembling in the face of evil. Pius XII's defenders have always deflected these particular criticisms by references to the intracacies of papal diplomacy, and the necessity of preserving the 'greater good' rather than taking the tempting road of direct confrontation with Hitler. Cornwell deflates this line of argument throughout the book with careful documentation, not speculation, fact, not fiction. In the end, one is hard put to give credence to a policy which, instead of showing forth the fruit of its wisdom, finally renders its own arguments, however subtle, hollow and callous at best, and criminal at worst. It is a good thing to find these tragic facts laid bare again and again by scholars of distinction. Only by ardent study of the meaning of the reckless manipulation and squandering of high opportunities by those institutions and persons wielding great power, especially spiritual power, do we come to some better understanding of the responsibilities incumbent on us all in finding our way to true goodness, true caring, true humaneness in an increasingly challenging moral climate. Scholarship as worthy as that exemplified by this book can lead to change that is genuine, and indeed beneficial, however painful the learning may be. And the book's cover photograph is worth a thousand words! Read this book and find your own silences in the face of evil, your own sorrow at humanity's predicament.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating and Horrifying
Review: I couldn't put this book down. It's absolutley fascinating and horrifying at the same time. Cornwell paints a picture of a master manipulator and political genius during the 1920s and 1930s. However during WWII Cornwell portrays the Pope, in my reading of his book, as a cowardly wimp, a non-committal politician lacking any decision-making skills and generally a well rounded narrow-minded and self-congratulatory egotist with no thought about the hoorors unfolding around him of which he could have spoken-out. Pius XII comes off as an arrogant individual who truly believed he was a god-king on Earth. Fortunately the current Pope apologized to the world for the sins of ommission of Pius XII and many predecessors who made their own peculiar marks on the world during the middle ages and the enlightenment. Cornwell is an excellent writer and a well-informed historian. I was really impressed with his research and collation of the material. Excellent book for Vatican-Watchers - get it.
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Summary: An exercise in delusion.
Review: The title of this review is sufficent. Pope Pius XII was a good pope or a bad pope. Anyone who knows Vatican history knows that there have been both kinds of popes in the history of the Church... and it's certainly possible that Pius XII was the callous, immoral fraud that Cornwell depicts him as being. But there are two things that have always troubled me about this denunciation of Pius XII plainly also despise the Catholic Church for other reasons; and, more significantly, (2) the people who actually LIVED through World War II (including the former Chief Rabbi of Rome) had only PRAISE for Pius XII's courage when dealing with the Nazis (who were, by the way, stationed with tanks about 100 yards from where the pope slept!). Cornwell fails utterly to explain why, if Pius XII was so bad... 1. Golda Meir, the former prime minister of Israel, said upon Pius XII's death that " During the ten years of Nazi terror, when our people passed through the horrors of martyrdom, the Pope raised his voice to condemn the persecutors and to commiserate with their victims." 2. Elio Toaff, the Chief Rabbi of Rome during the Nazi terror, said, "More than anyone else, we have had the opportunity to appreciate the great kindness, filled with compassion and magnanimity, that the Pope displayed during the terrible years of persecution and terror." 3. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, said that, "with special gratitude we remember all he has done for the persecuted Jews during one of the darkest periods in their entire history." 4. The Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Isaac Herzog, sent the Pius XII a personal message of thanks on February 28, 1944, in Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion which form the very foundations of true civilization, are doing for us unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of divine Providence in this world." 5. The New York Times, in its Christmas editorial of 1941, said of Pius would be expected to express in time of war. Yet his words sound strange and bold in the Europe of today, and we comprehend the complete submergence and enslavement of great nations, the very sources of our civilization, as we realize that he is about the only ruler left on the Continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all." 6. Former Israeli diplomat and now Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Pinchas Lapide stated that Pius XI "had good reason to make Pacelli the architect of his anti-Nazi policy. Of the forty-four speeches which the Nuncio Pacelli had made on German soil between 1917 and 1929, at least forty contained attacks on Nazism or condemnations of Hitler's doctrines. . . . Pacelli, who never met the Führer, called it 'neo-Paganism.' " 7. Lapide, in his book "Three Popes and the Jews," insisted that the Catholic Church saved more Jewish lives than all other relief efforts (such as those of the International Red Cross, the Haganah, and American Jewish organizations) Catholic Church had been the instrument is thus at least 700,000 souls, but in all probability it is much closer to . . . 860,000." 8. Albert Einstein, again someone who fled Hitler personally and lived through the the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty. Up till then I had not been interested in the Church, but today I feel a great admiration for the Church, which alone has had the courage to struggle for spiritual truth and moral liberty." In conclusion, it is plainly obvious that Pius XII didn't do enough to save Jewish refugees in Europe -- anyone who has visited Dachau or Yad veh-Shem, as I have, knows that -- as it is obvious that the Allied Forces, the International Red Cross, and American Jewish groups in the U.S. didn't do enough. No one did enough. Eleven million people were murdered in cold blood. But why is the Catholic Church in general, and Pius XII in particular, singled out for attacks? For Cornwell and other critics of Pius XII to be credible, they have to explain, once again, why SO MANY people (including the most prominent Jews who survived) heaped PRAISE on Pius XII for his efforts on behalf of the Jews. Until Cornwell CAN explain this, his book will appear to be yet another screed against the Vatican by a former Catholic. It is scholarship in the service of rage, a sad waste of talent and time. ENDeld:33@
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Summary: Pacelli: Patron Saint for White Supremists.
Review: There is little remaining to be said about this book, and whether ornot the case has been made concerning Pacelli's concern forHebrews. ... There is another reason to read this book, it makesit clear that Pacelli drank deep of the aryan philosophy which madethe African races less than human. In 1920, Pacelli attacked Francefor using African troops in the Rhineland. A US Congressionalinvestigation debunked these charges completely. In the aftermath ofWWII, Pius XII begged Eisenhower not to put African American troops inRome, because of their race. Notwithstanding, Franco was supported inSpain, when he invaded the Republic with his Moors. African Americantroops defended Italy and Rome from Hitler's Catholic Austrian troopsat Christmas 1944 at Sommocolonia Italy at a terrible price.TheVatican Archives have been purged: the Jesuits in charge of Pius causewould place their fourth oath above historical accuracy. St. Peter'sChurch was saved at the expense of deportation of Rome's Hebrewpopulation. If Pacelli had spoken out against the Final Solution,would Rome have been declared an "Open City?" Or would Rome havesuffered the fate of London, Munich, Dresden, Coventry, and CatholicHiroshima? Was it worth a thousand Jewish lives to preserve theSistine Chapel?END
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Summary: A compelling and Fair Review of a Controversial Man
Review: Cornwall's book is a very exhaustive review of Pacelli's pre-war and war years. I felt he did a good job in his research, including spelling out the areas that we re still in question. It shows that Pacelli was not a monster, but a man clearly focused on keeping the Catholic Church together, even at the expense of other peoples. His failure was not using the power he had to help humanity in it's darkest hour. This is clearly not a condemnation of the Catholic Church and it's members, and should not be taken as such. The majority of the responsibility of the Church's failure to act during the Holocaust falls squarly on Pacelli. This is a must read book for anyone of any religion, because it shows the danger of religion mixing so closely with politics.
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Summary: A conspiracy-driven view of Pius XII
Review: In reading Cornwall's account of Pius XII's consecration as Titular Archbishop of Sardes, he relates that Achille Ratti, the future Piux XI (he who named Pius XII as Secretary of State in February, 1930) was present at the "secret consecration." The phrase rings of conspiracy and like-mindedness. Ratti could very well have been there, but in May, 1917, he was head of the Vatican Library, not yet a Bishop, and nowhere near the center of power (Ratti rose like lightning between the end of World War I and his election as Pope on Feb. 22, 1922). The consecration was not secret or private, and Ratti, as a middle-level Vatican official, would have been expected to be present. This small piece indicates to me a mentality on the part of the author that all the Vatican officials danced to the beat of the same music in the same step. It makes me ask whether his approach, lacking the subtleties necessary to understand Vatican politics, tells the whole story. We shall need to see the secret archives of Pius XII's time as Secretary of State and Roman Pontiff to arrive at a fair judgment.
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Summary: Not the final word on the subject, but pretty convincing
Review: According to many reviewers, Cornwell's standards of scholarship are abysmally low. To the contrary, I think he has made a serious effort to examine the archives. His book is meticulously sourced, as a careful reading of the footnotes indicates. The problem is, not all the relevant Vatican archives are open. Thus Cornwell's account cannot be the last word on Pius XII. Surely, though, what he has done is provide additional confirmation of the widely held view among historians that the Catholic Church, and Pius in particular, did not exactly cover themselves in glory in their policies toward Nazi Germany - both in the 1933-39 period and during the war. It should come as no surprise that the Church's principal concern throughout this era was to look after its own interests and those of its faithful. That, after all, is its eternal raison d'etre.
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Summary: Compelling reexamination of Pius XII
Review: The title of this book is a bit sensationalist: Cornwell never seriously argues that Pius XII believed in the Nazi cause. Rather, he claims that Pius XII failed to resist effectively, and did not speak out against the Holocaust. This much is undisputable, and it will be difficult for readers of this book to view the pope as a hero. My only complaint is that Cornwell doesn't spend enough time examining Pius's reasons for acting as he did: the pope claimed that he was worried about retaliation against the city of Rome. This is a plausible excuse, and makes Pius XII far more sympathetic that if one considers him a Nazi sympathizer. Cornwell should have done more work here.
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Summary: Does anyone ever think to check this research of Cornwell's?
Review: I find that, after having written a report on Pius XII, he was a great friend to Jews. Over 85% percent of Jews survived in Italy - more than any other country in Europe. And virtually every Jewish organization worldwide congratulated Pius after the war. The New York Times called Pius a "lonely voice against Nazi atrocities". Approximately 500,000 people took refuge in the Vatican during the Nazi occupation of Rome, a large number of which were Jews. The Chief Rabbi of Rome himself was present there. 2 years after the occupation, when Rome was free again, the Chief Rabbi converted to Catholicsm, and took the name Eugenio - Pius XII name. So please, before you spread this erroneous research as truth, CHECK IT!
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