Vatican Secret Diplomacy: Joseph Hurley and Pope Pius XII: Joseph P. Hurley and Pope Pius XII Book

In the corridors of the Vatican on the eve of World War II, American Catholic priest Joseph Patrick Hurley found himself in the midst of secret diplomatic dealings and intense debate. Hurleyâ??s deeply felt American patriotism and fixed ideas about confronting Nazism directly led to a mighty clash with Pope Pius XII. It was 1939, the earliest days of Piusâ??s papacy, and controversy within the Vatican over policy toward Nazi Germany was already heated. This groundbreaking book is both a biography of Joseph Hurley, the first American to achieve the rank of nuncio, or Vatican ambassador, and an insiderâ??s view of the alleged silence of the pope on the Holocaust and Nazism. Drawing on Hurleyâ??s unpublished archives, the book documents critical debates in Pope Piusâ??s Vatican, secret U.S.-Vatican dealings, the influence of Detroitâ??s flamboyant anti-Semitic priest Charles E. Coughlin, and the controversial case of Croatiaâ??s Cardinal Stepinac. The book also sheds light on the powerful connections between religion and politics in the twentieth century. (20080801)Read More