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The Life & Pontificate of Pope Pius XII: Between History & Controversy . By Frank J. Coppa . Washington, D.C. : The Catholic University Press of America , 2013. xxix + 306 pp. $29.95 paper.
Book Reviews and Notes
Frank Coppa's insightful biography of Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII (1939-1958), is a welcome contribution to ongoing debates about the controversial pontiff whose policy of appeasement during World War II continues to fuel the so-called "Pius Wars." The pope's actions are not in dispute but scholars disagree "in their assessment of the motivation for and the consequences" of Pacelli's conduct during the war and the Holocaust (247). In his own analysis, Coppa places considerable emphasis on the Vatican's entrenched diplomatic policy of impartiality that, he argues, largely drove the pope's wartime actions.
The Vatican's relative recent opening of papers of the pontificates of Benedict XV (1914-1922) and Pius XI (1922-1939) has allowed scholars to also gain fresh insights into the young Eugenio Pacelli's life. Using these sources, Coppa makes a strong case that Pacelli learned crucial lessons in diplomacy during World War I that "provided the rationale" for his "public silence during the latter war and the Holocaust" (54). At the time, the future pontiff was part of the Vatican's diplomatic corps, where, under the tutelage of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri, his career advanced rapidly. The author argues that Gasparri's importance to Pacelli's life and legacy went far beyond his mentorship because...