Topics

Piusmania 25 Years Later: Apology, Reaction & Remedy

GUEST COLUMN

Alex Pinelli

As historians correct a faulty narrative, their work receives less fanfare than Pius’s detractors, but they have brought light to a contentious issue.

Fr. Peter Gumpel, R.I.P.

GUEST COLUMN

Ronald J. Rychlak

He treated people with respect but was not afraid to challenge a superior. John Paul II said of Gumpel that at last someone had the courage to be honest with him.

Subsidiarity of the Body

PERCEIVING THE FACE OF THE OTHER

Jason M. Morgan

The subsidiarity of the body is a testament to the theology of the body; it says that the human body is a marvel fit to host the human soul.

Pope Pius XII

Mary McWay Seaman

Riebling's use of archival material to write "heart-pounding" history makes for an outstanding vindication of Pope Pius XII.

Cardinal Mindszenty & His Small, Honest Nation

A PORTRAIT OF COURAGE AT GREAT COST

Ronald J. Rychlak

Mindszenty was a Christian voice crying for freedom and liberation from behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War. The West barely heard his voice.

Heroes or Villains?

William Doino Jr.

Lapomarda has a true historian's ability to synthesize a vast array of material and keenly assess it for the reader's edification.

The Role of Dezinformatsiya in the Framing of Pius XII

THE SECRET HISTORY BEHIND THE ONGOING CAMPAIGN

Ion Mihai Pacepa & Ronald J. Rychlak

The false charge that Pius was "Hitler's Pope" was designed to discredit not just a Pope, but the Church, Christianity, Western values, and even the very idea of religion.

What Yad Vashem Reveals About the Jewish Sense of History

SELECTIVE MEMORY, COLLECTIVE GUILT

Paul Michael Ferguson

To honor Pius XII would be to honor the Catholic Church. Doing so would render nonsensical the placement of the Church among the Complicit.

The Role of 'Ramparts' Magazine in the Campaign Against Pius XII

A CATHOLIC FRONT FOR COMMUNIST AGITATION

Ronald J. Rychlak

The change in Pius XII's reputation was not an organic result of honest inquiry. Something else was at play.

The Conscience of Croatia

STEPINAC, TITO & USTASHE

Ronald J. Rychlak

John Paul II called Archbishop Stepinac "one of the outstanding figures of the Catholic Church," who endured "the atrocities of the Communist system."

Pius XII as ‘Phayer’s Pope’

Vincent A. Lapomarda

The Pope realized that the Church would not have been able to save as many Jews as she did had he not been concerned with saving Rome.

The Coronation of the Prophet of Peace

GUEST COLUMN

Margherita Marchione

Pius XII's first radio message to the world was: "Peace, gift of God, desired by all upright men, the fruit of love and justice." His appeals were not heeded.

The Latest Skirmish in the Pius Wars...

The beatification process of Pope Pius XII should present no insurmountable obstacle to friendly Catholic-Jewish relations or Vatican-Israel alliances. But some don't see it that way.

The Miracle of Christ in Dachau

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

Atheists of all stripes -- criminals, socialists, communists, and SS agents -- joined forces in Dachau to persecute Catholic priests.

Hitler’s Mad Plot to Sack the Vatican

James Bemis

Kurzman makes clear that the Nazis meant to crush Christianity and replace it with a new Nazi religion of the state.

Selected Quotes of Pope Pius XII

GUEST COLUMN

Margherita Marchione

Pius XII spoke out on many issues of moral concern and of public policy. He was a highly respected 20th-century Church leader.

The Christmas Addresses of Pope Pius XII

SQUARELY AGAINST HITLERISM

Charles J. Gangi

Starting at Christmas 1939, Pius XII issued a Christmas Eve broadcast in which he attacked the ideologies of those who had brought the war to mankind.

With God in Russia

GUEST COLUMN

Joseph P. Bonchonsky

That fewer than 500 fanatic atheist Communists succeeded in overthrowing a deeply Christian nation is a lesson to be remembered.

'Righteous Among the Nations'

PIUS XII & YAD VASHEM

Margherita Marchione

A considerable body of scholarly opinion maintains that Pius XII is responsible for saving 500,000 to 800,000 Jewish lives.

The Commission That Couldn't Shoot Straight

THE VATICAN: GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT?

Dimitri Cavalli

Critics of Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust put the Vatican in a position where it has to prove its innocence against every allegation.

Here We Go Again

Vincent A. Lapomarda

That Pius XII allegedly failed to speak out "unequivocally" in defense of the Jews is a theme that constantly emerges as an unproven assumption.

Not Hitler's Pope

Vincent A. Lapomarda

Review of Hitler, the War, and the Pope

What the Vatican Archives Really Say About Pius XII

Dimitri A. Cavalli

Review of Pius XII and the Second World War: According to the Archives of the Vatican

Why Pope Pius XII Was Right

THE HOLY SEE VS. THE THIRD REICH

Ronald J. Rychlak

Pius guided the Church with a combination of caution, courage, and compassion. In so doing, he lessened suffering, saved many lives, and even helped the Allies win.

The Moral Challenge of the Holocaust in 1998

OUR FALSE SENSE OF MORAL SUPERIORITY

Kevin M. Doyle