The Defamation of Pius XII

by Ralph McInerny

Eugenio Pacelli, Pius XII, was one of the few unalloyed heroes of World War II. At great personal risk, he saved some 800,000 Jews from extermination by the Nazis. Jewish refugees were given asylum in the Vatican, swelling the number of Swiss Guards. No Allied leader can match his glorious record. Golda Meir lauded Pius XII after the war, and the chief rabbi of Rome became a Roman Catholic, taking the name of Eugenio in tribute to Eugenio Pacelli.Why then has such a man been vilified and all but accused of being responsible for the Holocaust? Rolf Hochhuth's infamous play, The Deputy, marked the turning point. The outrageous distortions of this play turned the greatest friend the Jewish people had during World War II into an anti-Semite. This book restores Pius XII to the rank of hero, demolishes the ludicrous charges against him, and identifies the true target of this infamous calumny: the Church, the papacy, and the Christian moral teaching which confronts and condemns the Culture of Death.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 20, 2001

About the author

Ralph Matthew McInerny was an American Catholic religious scholar and fiction writer, including mysteries and science fiction. Some of his fiction has appeared under the pseudonyms of Harry Austin, Matthew FitzRalph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin, and Monica Quill. As a mystery writer he is best known as the creator of Father Dowling. He was Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in June 2009. He died of esophageal cancer on January 29, 2010.

Reviews

[Donna Chappell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat repetitious, but it did clarify the reasons for the decisions made by Pope Pius XII.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly Recommended! All Catholics and historians searching for real truth against slander should read this answer to the BS charges of Nazi sympathies towards Pius XII. The same folks who attack the Pope as sympathtic to the Nazis are strangly silent when it comes to the Grand Mufi of Jeursalem and Planned Parenthood founder Margeret Sanger who had actual and documeted symapathies towards Hitler and Nazism. Pius XII for Sainthood!