The Pope And Mussolini

  the pope and mussolini: The Pope and Mussolini David I. Kertzer, 2014-01-28 PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE From National Book Award finalist David I. Kertzer comes the gripping story of Pope Pius XI’s secret relations with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. This groundbreaking work, based on seven years of research in the Vatican and Fascist archives, including reports from Mussolini’s spies inside the highest levels of the Church, will forever change our understanding of the Vatican’s role in the rise of Fascism in Europe. The Pope and Mussolini tells the story of two men who came to power in 1922, and together changed the course of twentieth-century history. In most respects, they could not have been more different. One was scholarly and devout, the other thuggish and profane. Yet Pius XI and “Il Duce” had many things in common. They shared a distrust of democracy and a visceral hatred of Communism. Both were prone to sudden fits of temper and were fiercely protective of the prerogatives of their office. (“We have many interests to protect,” the Pope declared, soon after Mussolini seized control of the government in 1922.) Each relied on the other to consolidate his power and achieve his political goals. In a challenge to the conventional history of this period, in which a heroic Church does battle with the Fascist regime, Kertzer shows how Pius XI played a crucial role in making Mussolini’s dictatorship possible and keeping him in power. In exchange for Vatican support, Mussolini restored many of the privileges the Church had lost and gave in to the pope’s demands that the police enforce Catholic morality. Yet in the last years of his life—as the Italian dictator grew ever closer to Hitler—the pontiff’s faith in this treacherous bargain started to waver. With his health failing, he began to lash out at the Duce and threatened to denounce Mussolini’s anti-Semitic racial laws before it was too late. Horrified by the threat to the Church-Fascist alliance, the Vatican’s inner circle, including the future Pope Pius XII, struggled to restrain the headstrong pope from destroying a partnership that had served both the Church and the dictator for many years. The Pope and Mussolini brims with memorable portraits of the men who helped enable the reign of Fascism in Italy: Father Pietro Tacchi Venturi, Pius’s personal emissary to the dictator, a wily anti-Semite known as Mussolini’s Rasputin; Victor Emmanuel III, the king of Italy, an object of widespread derision who lacked the stature—literally and figuratively—to stand up to the domineering Duce; and Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, whose political skills and ambition made him Mussolini’s most powerful ally inside the Vatican, and positioned him to succeed the pontiff as the controversial Pius XII, whose actions during World War II would be subject for debate for decades to come. With the recent opening of the Vatican archives covering Pius XI’s papacy, the full story of the Pope’s complex relationship with his Fascist partner can finally be told. Vivid, dramatic, with surprises at every turn, The Pope and Mussolini is history writ large and with the lightning hand of truth.
  the pope and mussolini: The Pope and Mussolini David I. Kertzer, 2014 Analyzes the relationship between Pius XI and the notorious Italian dictator, tracing how after coming into power in the same year they forged covert ties to one another to consolidate power and pursue political goals.
  the pope and mussolini: The Pope at War David I. Kertzer, 2022-06-07 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The most important book ever written about the Catholic Church and its conduct during World War II.”—Daniel Silva “Kertzer brings all of his usual detective and narrative skills to [The Pope at War] . . . the most comprehensive account of the Vatican’s relations to the Nazi and fascist regimes before and during the war.”—The Washington Post “Tolstoyan.”—Cynthia Ozick Based on newly opened Vatican archives, a groundbreaking, explosive, and riveting book about Pope Pius XII and his actions during World War II, including how he responded to the Holocaust, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Pope and Mussolini WINNER OF THE JULIA WARD HOWE AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD • A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, his papers were sealed in the Vatican Secret Archives, leaving unanswered questions about what he knew and did during World War II. Those questions have only grown and festered, making Pius XII one of the most controversial popes in Church history, especially now as the Vatican prepares to canonize him. In 2020, Pius XII’s archives were finally opened, and David I. Kertzer—widely recognized as one of the world’s leading Vatican scholars—has been mining this new material ever since, revealing how the pope came to set aside moral leadership in order to preserve his church’s power. Based on thousands of never-before-seen documents not only from the Vatican, but from archives in Italy, Germany, France, Britain, and the United States, The Pope at War paints a new, dramatic portrait of what the pope did and did not do as war enveloped the continent and as the Nazis began their systematic mass murder of Europe’s Jews. The book clears away the myths and sheer falsehoods surrounding the pope’s actions from 1939 to 1945, showing why the pope repeatedly bent to the wills of Hitler and Mussolini. Just as Kertzer’s Pulitzer Prize–winning The Pope and Mussolini became the definitive book on Pope Pius XI and the Fascist regime, The Pope at War is destined to become the most influential account of his successor, Pius XII, and his relations with Mussolini and Hitler. Kertzer shows why no full understanding of the course of World War II is complete without knowledge of the dramatic, behind-the-scenes role played by the pope. “This remarkably researched book is replete with revelations that deserve the adjective ‘explosive,’” says Kevin Madigan, Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard University. “The Pope at War is a masterpiece.”
  the pope and mussolini: The Pope who Would be King David I. Kertzer, 2018 Days after the assassination of his prime minister in the middle of Rome in November 1848, Pope Pius IX found himself a virtual prisoner in his own palace. The wave of revolution that had swept through Europe now seemed poised to put an end to the popes' thousand-year reign over the Papal States, if not indeed to the papacy itself. Disguising himself as a simple parish priest, Pius escaped through a back door. Climbing inside the Bavarian ambassador's carriage, he embarked on a journey into a fateful exile.Only two years earlier Pius's election had triggered a wave of optimism across Italy. After the repressive reign of the dour Pope Gregory XVI, Italians saw the youthful, benevolent new pope as the man who would at last bring the Papal States into modern times and help create a new, unified Italian nation. But Pius found himself caught between a desire to please his subjects and a fear--stoked by the cardinals--that heeding the people's pleas would destroy the church. The resulting drama--with a colorful cast of characters, from Louis Napoleon and his rabble-rousing cousin Charles Bonaparte to Garibaldi, Tocqueville, and Metternich--was rife with treachery, tragedy, and international power politics.David Kertzer is one of the world's foremost experts on the history of Italy and the Vatican, and has a rare ability to bring history vividly to life. With a combination of gripping, cinematic storytelling, and keen historical analysis rooted in an unprecedented richness of archival sources, The Pope Who Would Be King sheds fascinating new light on the end of rule by divine right in the west and the emergence of modern Europe.
  the pope and mussolini: The Pope's Last Crusade Peter Eisner, 2013-03-19 Drawing on untapped resources, exclusive interviews, and new archival research, The Pope’s Last Crusade by Peter Eisner is a thrilling narrative that sheds new light on Pope Pius XI’s valiant effort to condemn Nazism and the policies of the Third Reich—a crusade that might have changed the course of World War II. A shocking tale of intrigue and suspense, illustrated with sixteen pages of archival photos, The Pope’s Last Crusade: How an American Jesuit Helped Pope Pius XI's Campaign to Stop Hitler illuminates this religious leader’s daring yet little-known campaign, a spiritual and political battle that would be derailed by Pius’s XIs death just a few months later. Peter Eisner reveals how Pius XI intended to unequivocally reject Nazism in one of the most unprecedented and progressive pronouncements ever issued by the Vatican, and how a group of conservative churchmen plotted to prevent it. For years, only parts of this story have been known. Eisner offers a new interpretation of this historic event and the powerful figures at its center in an essential work that provides thoughtful insight and raises controversial questions impacting our own time.
  the pope and mussolini: Hitler's Pope John Cornwell, 2000-10-01 The “explosive” (The New York Times) bestseller that “redefined the history of the twentieth century” (The Washington Post ) This shocking book was the first account to tell the whole truth about Pope Pius XII's actions during World War II, and it remains the definitive account of that era. It sparked a firestorm of controversy both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Award-winning journalist John Cornwell has also included in this seminal work of history an introduction that both answers his critics and reaffirms his overall thesis that Pius XII fatally weakened the Catholic Church with his endorsement of Hitler—and sealed the fate of the Jews in Europe.
  the pope and mussolini: Controversial Concordats Frank J. Coppa, 1999 Controversial Concordats offers an engaging survey of the relationship of the Roman Catholic Church with three dictatorial figures in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler.
  the pope and mussolini: Fascist Voices Christopher Duggan, 2013-06-01 Today Mussolini is remembered as a hated dictator who, along with Hitler and Stalin, ushered in an era of totalitarian repression unsurpassed in human history. But how was he viewed by ordinary Italians during his lifetime? In Fascist Voices, Christopher Duggan draws on thousands of letters sent to Mussolini, as well as private diaries and other primary documents, to show how Italian citizens lived and experienced the fascist regime under Mussolini from 1922-1943. Throughout the 1930s, Mussolini received about 1,500 letters a day from Italian men and women of all social classes writing words of congratulation, commiseration, thanks, encouragement, or entreaty on a wide variety of occasions: his birthday and saint's day, after he had delivered an important speech, on a major fascist anniversary, when a husband or son had been killed in action. While Duggan looks at some famous diaries-by such figures as the anti-fascist constitutional lawyer Piero Calamandrei; the philosopher Benedetto Croce; and the fascist minister Giuseppe Bottai-the majority of the voices here come from unpublished journals, diaries, and transcripts. Utilizing a rich collection of untapped archival material, Duggan explores the cult of Il Duce, the religious dimensions of totalitarianism, and the extraordinarily intimate character of the relationship between Mussolini and millions of Italians. Duggan shows that the figure of Mussolini was crucial to emotional and political engagement with the regime; although there was widespread discontent throughout Italy, little of the criticism was directed at Il Duce himself. Duggan argues that much of the regime's appeal lay in its capacity to appropriate the language, values, and iconography of Roman Catholicism, and that this emphasis on blind faith and emotion over reason is what made Mussolini's Italy simultaneously so powerful and so insidious. Offering a unique perspective on the period, Fascist Voices captures the responses of private citizens living under fascism and unravels the remarkable mixture of illusions, hopes, and fears that led so many to support the regime for so long.
  the pope and mussolini: Prisoner of the Vatican David I. Kertzer, 2006-02-20 A Pulitzer Prize winner’s “fascinating” account of the political battles that led to the end of the Papal States (Entertainment Weekly). From a National Book Award–nominated author, this absorbing history chronicles the birth of modern Italy and the clandestine politics behind the Vatican’s last stand in the battle between the church and the newly created Italian state. When Italy’s armies seized the Holy City and claimed it for the Italian capital, Pope Pius IX, outraged, retreated to the Vatican and declared himself a prisoner, calling on foreign powers to force the Italians out of Rome. The action set in motion decades of political intrigue that hinged on such fascinating characters as Garibaldi, King Viktor Emmanuel, Napoleon III, and Chancellor Bismarck. Drawing on a wealth of secret documents long buried in the Vatican archives, David I. Kertzer reveals a fascinating story of outrageous accusations, mutual denunciations, and secret dealings that will leave readers hard-pressed to ever think of Italy, or the Vatican, in the same way again. “A rousing tale of clerical skullduggery and topsy-turvy politics, laced with plenty of cross-border intrigue.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
  the pope and mussolini: Mussolini and Italian Fascism Hamish Macdonald, 1999 Students will benefit from the provision of a structured route through the A-Level History process that is clearly explained. The books maintain focus on narrative in a readable style, while presenting additional topical information alongside. The approach concentrates on providing students with the essential information, keeping their attention on important and key issues throughout. The series is extremely cost-effective and can be used alongside any main A-Level topic book or resource. Teachers can use Pathfinder as a multi-role resource that can be used in as many ways as they determine: as an introduction at the start of the course, as a guide throughout a topic, or as a revision guide.
  the pope and mussolini: "The Tragic Couple" James Bernauer, Robert Aleksander Maryks, 2013-11-07 The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) has become a leader in the dialogue between Jews and Catholics as was manifested in the role that the Jesuit Cardinal Augustin Bea played in the adoption by the Second Vatican Council of Nostra Aetate, the charter for that new relationship. Still the encounters between Jesuits and Jews were often characterized by animosity and this historical record made them a tragic couple, related but estranged. This volume is the first examination of the complex interactions between Jesuits and Jews from the early modern period in Europe and Asia through the twentieth century where special attention is focused on the historical context of the Holocaust.
  the pope and mussolini: Revolutionary Summer Joseph J. Ellis, 2013-06-04 The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of First Family presents a revelatory account of America's declaration of independence and the political and military responses on both sides throughout the summer of 1776 that influenced key decisions and outcomes.
  the pope and mussolini: The Popes Against the Jews David I. Kertzer, 2007-12-18 In this meticulously researched, unflinching, and reasoned study, National Book Award finalist David I. Kertzer presents shocking revelations about the role played by the Vatican in the development of modern anti-Semitism. Working in long-sealed Vatican archives, Kertzer unearths startling evidence to undermine the Church’s argument that it played no direct role in the spread of modern anti-Semitism. In doing so, he challenges the Vatican’s recent official statement on the subject, We Remember. Kertzer tells an unsettling story that has stirred up controversy around the world and sheds a much-needed light on the past.
  the pope and mussolini: Mussolini and Fascism Patricia Knight, 2013-10-08 The early twentieth century in Italy was a crucial period in its history. Mussolini and Fascism surveys all the important issues and topics of the period including the origins and rise of Fascism, Mussolini as Prime Minister and Dictator, the Totalitarian state, foreign policy and the Second World War. It also examines how Italian Fascism compared to other inter-war dictatorships.
  the pope and mussolini: Consensus and Controversy Margherita Marchione, 2002 From the author of the controversial Pope Pius XII: Architect of Peace comes her strongest defense of the former pope yet. Fighting revisionist history that has smeared Pius XII's name as anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi, Marchione collects extensive documentation from the war years that paints an entirely different picture.
  the pope and mussolini: The Popes against the Protestants Kevin Madigan, 2021-08-17 An account of the alliance between the Catholic Church and the Italian Fascist regime in their campaign against Protestants Based on previously undisclosed archival materials, this book tells the fascinating, untold, and troubling story of an anti-Protestant campaign in Italy that lasted longer, consumed more clerical energy and cultural space, and generated far more literature than the war against Italy’s Jewish population. Because clerical leaders in Rome were seeking to build a new Catholic world in the aftermath of the Great War, Protestants embodied a special menace, and were seen as carriers of dangers like heresy, secularism, modernity, and Americanism—as potent threats to the Catholic precepts that were the true foundations of Italian civilization, values, and culture. The pope and cardinals framed the threat of evangelical Christianity as a peril not only to the Catholic Church but to the fascist government as well, recruiting some very powerful fascist officials to their cause. This important book is the first full account of this dangerous alliance.
  the pope and mussolini: The Malta Exchange Steve Berry, 2019-03-05 A deadly race for the Vatican’s oldest secret fuels New York Times bestseller Steve Berry’s next international Cotton Malone thriller: The Malta Exchange. Berry is the master scientist with a perfect formula. — Associated Press The pope is dead. A conclave to select his replacement is about to begin. Cardinals are beginning to arrive at the Vatican, but one has fled Rome for Malta in search of a document that dates back to the 4th century and Constantine the Great. Former Justice Department operative, Cotton Malone, is at Lake Como, Italy, on the trail of legendary letters between Winston Churchill and Benito Mussolini that disappeared in 1945 and could re-write history. But someone else seems to be after the same letters and, when Malone obtains then loses them, he’s plunged into a hunt that draws the attention of the legendary Knights of Malta. The knights have existed for over nine hundred years, the only warrior-monks to survive into modern times. Now they are a global humanitarian organization, but within their ranks lurks trouble — the Secreti — an ancient sect intent on affecting the coming papal conclave. With the help of Magellan Billet agent Luke Daniels, Malone races the rogue cardinal, the knights, the Secreti, and the clock to find what has been lost for centuries. The final confrontation culminates behind the walls of the Vatican where the election of the next pope hangs in the balance.
  the pope and mussolini: The Cardinal's Mistress Benito Mussolini, 1928
  the pope and mussolini: Philosophy of Psychedelics Chris Letheby, 2021 This book is the first scholarly monograph in English devoted to the philosophical analysis of psychedelic drugs. Its central focus is the apparent conflict between the growing use of psychedelics in psychiatry and the philosophical worldview of naturalism.
  the pope and mussolini: Mussolini's Cities ,
  the pope and mussolini: The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965 Michael Phayer, 2000 Phayer explores the actions of the Catholic Church and the actions of individual Catholics during the crucial period from the emergence of Hitler until the Church's official rejection of antisemitism in 1965. 20 photos.
  the pope and mussolini: Pius XII and the Second World War Pierre Blet, 1999 The first one-volume history, based on the Vatican archives, of Pope Pius XII and his dealings with the contesting powers and with the Jews during World War II.
  the pope and mussolini: The UnAmericans: Stories Molly Antopol, 2014-02-03 Traces the experiences of protagonists from a range of cultures, including a blacklisted Hollywood actor who struggles to connect with his son, and a dissenting gallery worker who begins smuggling and curating underground art.
  the pope and mussolini: A Special Mission Dan Kurzman, 2007-05-07 In September, 1943, Adolf Hitler, furious at the ouster of Mussolini, sent German troops into Rome with plans to deport Rome's Jews to Auschwitz. Hitler also ordered SS General Karl Wolff, who had been Heinrich Himmler's chief aide, to occupy the Vatican and kidnap Pope Pius XII. But Wolff began playing a dangerous game: stalling Hitler's kidnap plot, while blackmailing the pope into silence as the Jews were rounded up. This tale of intrigue and betrayal is one of the most important untold stories of World War II, and A Special Mission is the only book to give the full incredible account of Hitler's kidnap plot and its far-reaching consequences.
  the pope and mussolini: Eight Popes and the Crisis of Modernity Russell Shaw, 2020 Assaults on the dignity and the rights of the human person have been central to the ongoing crisis of the modern era in the last hundred years. This book takes a searching look at the roots of this problem and the various approaches to it by the eight men who led the Catholic Church in the twentieth century, from Pope St. Pius X and his crusade against Modernism to Pope St. John Paul II and his appeal for a renewed rapprochement between faith and reason. Thus it offers a distinctive, illuminating interpretation of recent world events viewed through the lens of an ancient institution, the papacy. The fascinating story is told by a veteran observer of Church affairs through short profiles of the eight popes, which include crucial, often little-known facts. The book includes substantial excerpts from the writings of the popes that give important insights into their personalities and thinking. It also includes a useful overview of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and its pivotal role in reshaping the Catholic Church. Serious and open-minded readers, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, as well as students of Church history will find this unique work an informative, timely, and inspiring guide to understanding many central events and issues of our times.
  the pope and mussolini: Mussolini's Theatre Patricia Gaborik, 2021-05-06 A vividly written portrait of Benito Mussolini, whose passion for the theatre profoundly shaped his ideology and actions as head of fascist Italy This consistently illuminating book transforms our understanding of fascism as a whole, and will have strong appeal to readers in both theatre studies and modern Italian history.
  the pope and mussolini: Mussolini and Hitler Christian Goeschel, 2018-09-25 This fresh treatment of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany reveals how the close relationship between Mussolini and Hitler influenced both men. From 1934 until 1944 Mussolini met Hitler numerous times, and the two developed a relationship that deeply affected both countries. While Germany is generally regarded as the senior power, Christian Goeschel demonstrates just how much history has underrepresented Mussolini’s influence on his German ally. A scholar of twentieth-century Germany and Italy, Goeschel revisits all of Mussolini and Hitler’s key meetings to examine how they constructed a powerful image of a strong Fascist-Nazi relationship that still resonates with the general public. His portrait of Mussolini draws on sources ranging beyond political history to reveal a leader who, at times, shaped Hitler’s decisions and was not the gullible buffoon he’s often portrayed as. The first comprehensive study of the Mussolini-Hitler relationship, this book is a must-read for scholars and anyone interested in the history of European fascism, World War II, or political leadership.
  the pope and mussolini: Hitler, the War, and the Pope Ronald J. Rychlak, 2000 Perhaps no modern day leader of the Catholic Church has sparked as much controversy as Pope Pius XII, the bishop of Rome during World War II. Was he a Nazi sympathizer? Or did he vehemently oppose Hitler's regime? The conflicting opinions about Pius XII's wartime performance indicate not only the complexities of the man, the former Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, but also the difficulty in understanding the Hitler era and the inherent conflict between political posturing and pastoral actions.
  the pope and mussolini: The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara David I. Kertzer, 1998-06-30 Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg. A National Book Award Finalist The extraordinary story of how the vatican's imprisonment of a six-year-old Jewish boy in 1858 helped to bring about the collapse of the popes' worldly power in Italy. Bologna: nightfall, June 1858. A knock sounds at the door of the Jewish merchant Momolo Mortara. Two officers of the Inquisition bust inside and seize Mortara's six-year-old son, Edgardo. As the boy is wrenched from his father's arms, his mother collapses. The reason for his abduction: the boy had been secretly baptized by a family servant. According to papal law, the child is therefore a Catholic who can be taken from his family and delivered to a special monastery where his conversion will be completed. With this terrifying scene, prize-winning historian David I. Kertzer begins the true story of how one boy's kidnapping became a pivotal event in the collapse of the Vatican as a secular power. The book evokes the anguish of a modest merchant's family, the rhythms of daily life in a Jewish ghetto, and also explores, through the revolutionary campaigns of Mazzini and Garibaldi and such personages as Napoleon III, the emergence of Italy as a modern national state. Moving and informative, the Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara reads as both a historical thriller and an authoritative analysis of how a single human tragedy changed the course of history.
  the pope and mussolini: Pope and Devil Hubert Wolf, 2010 Wolf presents astonishing findings from the recently opened Vatican archives--discoveries that clarify the relations between National Socialism and the Vatican. He vividly illuminates the inner workings of the Vatican.
  the pope and mussolini: How Fascism Works Jason Stanley, 2018-09-04 “No single book is as relevant to the present moment.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen “One of the defining books of the decade.”—Elizabeth Hinton, author of From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • With a new preface • Fascist politics are running rampant in America today—and spreading around the world. A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics, and charts their horrifying rise and deep history. As the child of refugees of World War II Europe and a renowned philosopher and scholar of propaganda, Jason Stanley has a deep understanding of how democratic societies can be vulnerable to fascism: Nations don’t have to be fascist to suffer from fascist politics. In fact, fascism’s roots have been present in the United States for more than a century. Alarmed by the pervasive rise of fascist tactics both at home and around the globe, Stanley focuses here on the structures that unite them, laying out and analyzing the ten pillars of fascist politics—the language and beliefs that separate people into an “us” and a “them.” He knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations. He makes clear the immense danger of underestimating the cumulative power of these tactics, which include exploiting a mythic version of a nation’s past; propaganda that twists the language of democratic ideals against themselves; anti-intellectualism directed against universities and experts; law and order politics predicated on the assumption that members of minority groups are criminals; and fierce attacks on labor groups and welfare. These mechanisms all build on one another, creating and reinforcing divisions and shaping a society vulnerable to the appeals of authoritarian leadership. By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent today as ever, Stanley reveals that the stuff of politics—charged by rhetoric and myth—can quickly become policy and reality. Only by recognizing fascists politics, he argues, may we resist its most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals. “With unsettling insight and disturbing clarity, How Fascism Works is an essential guidebook to our current national dilemma of democracy vs. authoritarianism.”—William Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope
  the pope and mussolini: Mussolini and the Eclipse of Italian Fascism R. J. B. Bosworth, 2021-03-02 An incisive account of how Mussolini pioneered populism in reaction to Hitler's rise--and thereby reinforced his role as a model for later authoritarian leaders On the tenth anniversary of his rise to power in 1932, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) seemed to many the good dictator. He was the first totalitarian and the first fascist in modern Europe. But a year later Hitler's entrance onto the political stage signaled a German takeover of the fascist ideology. In this definitive account, eminent historian R.J.B. Bosworth charts Mussolini's leadership in reaction to Hitler. Bosworth shows how Italy's decline in ideological pre-eminence, as well as in military and diplomatic power, led Mussolini to pursue a more populist approach: angry and bellicose words at home, violent aggression abroad, and a more extreme emphasis on charisma. In his embittered efforts to bolster an increasingly hollow and ruthless regime, it was Mussolini, rather than Hitler, who offered the model for all subsequent authoritarians.
  the pope and mussolini: Church of Spies Mark Riebling, 2015-09-29 The heart-pounding history of how Pope Pius XII -- often labeled Hitler's Pope -- was in fact an anti-Nazi spymaster, plotting against the Third Reich during World War II. The Vatican's silence in the face of Nazi atrocities remains one of the great controversies of our time. History has accused wartime pontiff Pius the Twelfth of complicity in the Holocaust and dubbed him Hitler's Pope. But a key part of the story has remained untold. Pope Pius in fact ran the world's largest church, smallest state, and oldest spy service. Saintly but secretive, he sent birthday cards to Hitler -- while secretly plotting to kill him. He skimmed from church charities to pay covert couriers, and surreptitiously tape-recorded his meetings with top Nazis. Under his leadership the Vatican spy ring actively plotted against the Third Reich. Told with heart-pounding suspense and drawing on secret transcripts and unsealed files by an acclaimed author, Church of Spies throws open the Vatican's doors to reveal some of the most astonishing events in the history of the papacy. Riebling reveals here how the world's greatest moral institution met the greatest moral crisis in history.
  the pope and mussolini: The Machine Has a Soul Katy Hull, 2021-01-12 A historical look at the American fascination with Italian fascism during the interwar period In the interwar years, the United States grappled with economic volatility, and Americans expressed anxieties about a decline in moral values, the erosion of families and communities, and the decay of democracy. These issues prompted a profound ambivalence toward modernity, leading some individuals to turn to Italian fascism as a possible solution for the problems facing the country. The Machine Has a Soul delves into why Americans of all stripes sympathized with Italian fascism, and shows that fascism’s appeal rested in the image of Mussolini’s regime as “the machine which will run and has a soul”—a seemingly efficient and technologically advanced system that upheld tradition, religion, and family. Katy Hull focuses on four prominent American sympathizers: Richard Washburn Child, a conservative diplomat and Republican operative; Anne O’Hare McCormick, a distinguished New York Times journalist; Generoso Pope, an Italian-American publisher and Democratic political broker; and Herbert Wallace Schneider, a Columbia University professor of moral philosophy. In fascism’s violent squads they saw youthful glamour and impeccable manners, in the megalomaniacal Mussolini they perceived someone both current and old-fashioned, and in the corporate state they witnessed a politics that could revive addled minds. They argued that with the right course of action, the United States could use fascism to take the best from modernity while withstanding its harmful effects. Investigating the motivations of American fascist sympathizers, The Machine Has a Soul offers provocative lessons about authoritarianism’s appeal during times of intense cultural, social, and economic strain.
  the pope and mussolini: A Moral Reckoning Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, 2007-12-18 With his first book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen dramatically revised our understanding of the role ordinary Germans played in the Holocaust. Now he brings his formidable powers of research and argument to bear on the Catholic Church and its complicity in the destruction of European Jewry. What emerges is a work that goes far beyond the familiar inquiries—most of which focus solely on Pope Pius XII—to address an entire history of hatred and persecution that culminated, in some cases, in an active participation in mass-murder. More than a chronicle, A Moral Reckoning is also an assessment of culpability and a bold attempt at defining what actions the Church must take to repair the harm it did to Jews—and to repair itself. Impressive in its scholarship, rigorous in its ethical focus, the result is a book of lasting importance.
  the pope and mussolini: The Pope's Jews Gordon Thomas, 2012-10-02 This revelatory account of how the Vatican saved thousands of Jews during WWII shows why history must exonerate Hitler's Pope Accused of being silent during the Holocaust, Pope Pius XII and the Vatican of World War II are now exonerated in Gordon Thomas's newest investigative work, The Pope's Jews. Thomas's careful research into new, first-hand accounts reveal an underground network of priests, nuns and citizens that risked their lives daily to protect Roman Jews. Investigating assassination plots, conspiracies, and secret conversions, Thomas unveils faked documentation, quarantines, and more extraordinary actions taken by Catholics and the Vatican. The Pope's Jews finally answers the great moral question of the War: Why did Pope Pius XII refuse to condemn the genocide of Europe's Jews?
  the pope and mussolini: The Mad Sculptor Harold Schechter, 2014 A riveting account of a gruesome triple-homicide at Beekman Place in Depression Era New York, with an intriguing cast of characters including the brilliant but mentally-disturbed sculptor, Robert Irwin.
  the pope and mussolini: The Policies and Politics of Pope Pius XII Frank J. Coppa, 2011 The Policies and Politics of Pope Pius XII delves into the diplomacy of the most controversial pope of the twentieth century: Pius XII (pontificate, 1939-1958), «Advocate of Appeasement» to some and «Apostle of Peace» to others. Disagreement prevails on his quest for peace, recourse to impartiality during the Second World War, and relative public silence during the Holocaust. His abandonment of impartiality to play a prominent role in the Cold War has contributed to the charges and counter-charges leading to what has been deemed the «Pius War.» Unfortunately, a good deal of the literature published by the defenders and denigrators of this papal diplomacy has shed more heat than light. In this book, Frank J. Coppa, who has written on numerous controversial figures including Pius IX (pontificate,1846-1878), seeks to objectively explore the origins and rationale of Pius XII's diplomacy during the war, the Nazi genocide, and its aftermath.
  the pope and mussolini: The Truth about Mussolini and Fascism Martin Goldberg, 2020-10-25 In popular history, Benito Mussolini and Fascism are but minor footnotes beneath the shroud of German militarism and World War II. The Italian dictator and his followers typically find themselves remanded by modern scholars to crude stereotypes of barbarism, malice, warmongering, and service to the capitalist elite, all at the expense of the working class. As it turns out, these perceptions simply do not align with the reality of prewar Italy, or Mussolini's conduct during that period. Because Fascism was joined with the Axis, however, attaining honest sources on the matter has proven an immensely difficult chore in the past. The Truth About Mussolini and Fascism solves this considerable problem by answering the earnest history student's prayers. Pulling from both American academics and direct Italian sources, Goldberg crafts a compelling narrative about the specifics of Mussolini's campaign for peace, the work of Fascism to support organized labor, and a remarkable commitment from the Duce to eradicate slavery in Africa. Perhaps most importantly, the book provides one of the only in-depth examinations of the Italian Social Republic available in the English language, making it an invaluable reference point for those curious about the Second World War.
Pope - Wikipedia
The pope [a] is the bishop of Rome and the visible head [b] of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, [c] Roman pontiff, [d] or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th …

News about the Pope - All the latest news - Vatican News
4 days ago · Follow Vatican News for updates and information on the daily activities of the Pope.

The Holy See - Vatican
Visiting the official website of the Holy See one can browse: the Magisterium of the Supreme Pontiffs; the fundamental texts of Catholicism in various languages (the Sacred Bible, the …

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88 | AP News
Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate …

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6 days ago · Pope is the title given to the bishop of Rome, who is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The title dates to about the 9th century CE. The pope is regarded as the …

Pope Francis Latest News - Catholic News Agency
Jun 6, 2025 · These are the latest news about Pope Francis, the Vatican, and the Catholic Church, provided by the Vatican staff of Catholic News Agency, a service of EWTN News.

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Pope - Wikipedia
The pope [a] is the bishop of Rome and the visible head [b] of the worldwide …

News about the Pope - All the latest new…
4 days ago · Follow Vatican News for updates and information on the daily …

The Holy See - Vatican
Visiting the official website of the Holy See one can browse: the Magisterium …

Pope Francis, first Latin American pon…
Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with …

Pope | Catholicism, Definition, Title, Lis…
6 days ago · Pope is the title given to the bishop of Rome, who is the leader …