Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler - Softcover

Riebling, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465094112 ISBN 13: 9780465094110

Publisher: Basic Books, 2016

Synopsis

Hailed as "powerful and provocative" (Washington Post), "heart-pounding" (New York Times) and "brilliant" (Kirkus), intelligence expert Mark Riebling's groundbreaking book Wedge inspired "no fewer than seven assorted congressional committees, internal evaluators, and blue-ribbon panels" (Wall Street Journal). Now, in the long-awaited Church of Spies, Riebling documents an epic secret battle in the Second World War -- and reframes one of the great historical controversies of our age.

The Vatican's stance toward Nazism is fiercely debated. 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.

Pius ran the world's largest church, smallest state, and oldest spy service. Saintly but secretive, he skimmed from church charities to pay covert couriers, and surreptitiously tape-recorded his meetings with top Nazis. When he learned of the Holocaust, Pius played his cards close to his chest. He sent birthday cards to Hitler--while plotting to overthrow him.

Church of Spies documents this cross-and-dagger intrigue in shocking detail. Gun-toting Jesuits stole blueprints to Hitler's homes. A Catholic book publisher flew a sports plane over the Alps with secrets filched from the head of Hitler's bodyguard. The keeper of the Vatican crypt ran a spy ring that betrayed German war plans and wounded Hitler in a briefcase bombing.

The plotters made history in ways they hardly expected. They inspired European unification, forged a U.S.-Vatican alliance that spanned the Cold War, and challenged Church teachings on Jews. Yet Pius' secret war muted his public response to Nazi crimes. Fearing that overt protest would impede his covert actions, he never spoke the "fiery words" he wanted.

Told with heart-pounding suspense, based on secret transcripts and unsealed files, Church of Spies throws open the Vatican's doors to reveal some of the most astonishing events in the history of the papacy. 

About this title

About the Author

Mark Riebling is a pathbreaking writer and researcher on war, secret intelligence, and national security.  He is Fellow in 20th-Century History at the Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, Pontificia Università Gregoriana, in Rome, and a lecturer at the Jan Karski Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Education, in the Center for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University. Previously he was Editorial Director at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and co-founder and Research Director of the NYPD Center for Policing Terrorism.  At the Center for Policing Terrorism, Mr. Riebling implemented a Presidential Finding to make New York the first city state since the Renaissance to build its own spy service.  A native of Pasadena, California, he studied at Dartmouth College, the University of California at Berkeley, and Columbia University as a President's Fellow.  Mark Riebling is a member of the Author's Guild and of the Association for Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). He lives in New York City.

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465094112
• ISBN 13: 9780465094110
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 392