by David Kertzer, 2022, Audiobook narrated by Arthur Morey, Random House Audio  

In 2020 the Vatican opened up numerous documents in their archives relating to communications and meeting between the Vatican and the Italian and German governments before and during WWII. Kertzer makes extensive use of this new information in his latest book about the history of the Vatican and their dealings. This book paints a very disturbing picture of the Vatican and particularly, Pope Pius XII, and the incidents that took place during that time.

The picture I got of Pius XII from this book was that he was a very weak individual. His main mode of conduct was to curry favor with Hitler and Mussolini to avoid any additional friction between the Catholic Church and the Fascist governments. Pius’ only objection to the anti-Jewish laws was that there was no leeway for baptized Jews and children of mixed marriages. He had absolutely no compassion for any human beings who were outside of the Catholic Church. In fact, one gets the impression that he did not even consider them as human beings. This attitude was, no doubt, the result of the longstanding views of the Church over the centuries vis-a-vis the Jews, but Pius XII was definitely not a person who would speak up on behalf of the Jews.

The book seems well researched and is easy to follow. I did detect a bit of disgust in the narrator’s tone of voice as he read, but I think it would be very difficult for anyone to recite so many failings on the part of the Church and Pius XII without conveying some of one’s personal reactions.

I would recommend this book to anyone to read as it shows how complicit and disgusting the actions (and inactions) of the Vatican and Pius XII were during that time.