Vatican Diplomacy and the Jews During the Holocaust, 1939-1945

A Catholic priest and teacher focuses on the response of Nuncios and Papal Secretaries of State to anti-Jewish laws and atrocities. The study, largely based on published Vatican sources, regrets what one document of the time called-approvingly-"the prudent delay and enlightened reserve" of Pope Pius XII. The author measures official inaction by papal claims, and his judgments are naïve and repetitive. A contribution, nonetheless, to our growing awareness of the role of the passive bystander in the unfolding of the Holocaust.