Holy Silence

12/15/2024

Some impressive archive research has gone into this otherwise rather shallow analysis of the Popes Pius XI & Pius XII as they tried to reconcile their faith and their church with the increasing fascist nationalism that was gripping Europe in the 1930s. With contributions from various American academics it tries to speculate as to the extent to which the former pontiff was prepared to take a much more proactive stance condemning anti-semitosm before his death led to the elevation of his politically savvy Secretary of State to a papacy that he felt had to tread a very fine line between acquiescence and condemnation. Sadly, though it does use the actuality to illustrate their predicament quite well, the underlying journalism doesn't really ask anything especially penetrating, nor does it cons