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Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler

Amazon.com Price:  $4.10 (as of 25/04/2019 19:05 PST- Details)

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Description

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, within the long-awaited Church of Spies, Riebling documents an epic secret battle within the Second World War — and reframes probably the most 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 within the Holocaust and dubbed him “Hitler’s Pope.” But a key a part of the tale 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 with reference to his chest. He sent birthday cards to Hitler–at the same time as 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 pinnacle 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, in keeping with secret transcripts and unsealed files, Church of Spies throws open the Vatican’s doors to show one of the crucial most astonishing events within the history of the papacy. 


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