Righteous Gentiles

A relentless band of propagandists has convinced much of the world that Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church, in the face of the great moral crisis of the twentieth century, were little more than Nazi lapdogs. The myth of 'Hitler's pope', however, is grounded not in the facts of history but in the ideological agenda of Pius's detractors. Given unprecedented access to Church archives, including a confidential Vatican report on Pius XII, Ronald J. Rychlak documents the heroic response of the Holy Father and countless other Catholics to the plight of Jews under Nazi rule. From the end of World War II until well after his death, Pius XII was universally respected for his leadership...