V březnu 2020 byly otevřeny archivy z doby pontifikátu Pia XII., takže dnes lze vyprávět ucelený příběh o tom, jaké kroky tento kontroverzní papež podnikal během války. Kniha Papež ve válce nabízí čtenářům první vyčerpávající popis těchto událostí, který z nedávno zpřístupněných archivů čerpá. Její stránky jsou plné dosud neznámých materiálů a nových odhalení. Autor při přípravě této knihy přečetl tisíce těchto dokumentů, především těch, které se bezprostředně dotýkají rozhodnutí, jež Pius XII. učinil v letech 1939—1945. Papež ve válce představuje podrobnou kroniku dramatu, jehož hodnocení začalo již krátce po válce vyvolávat vášnivé debaty.
Papež a Mussolini vypráví fascinující příběh dvou mužů, kteří se v roce 1922 dostali k moci a zásadně ovlivnili dějiny 20. století. Pius XI. byl učený a zbožný, zatímco Mussolini byl násilnický antiklerikální štváč. Přesto oba sdíleli společné rysy: nedůvěru v demokracii a nenávist k komunismu. Jejich vzájemná závislost byla klíčová pro udržení moci a dosažení politických cílů.
Kertzer v knize odhaluje, jak Pius XI. posílil Mussoliniho moc. Výměnou za podporu Vatikánu Mussolini vrátil církvi ztracená privilegía. Církev nejenže neprotestovala proti diskriminaci Židů, ale poskytla Mussolinimu argumenty pro přísná opatření vůči nim.
Kniha obsahuje zajímavé portréty osobností ze Svatého stolce i Mussoliniho okolí, včetně detailů o jeho soukromém životě a vztazích s německým vůdcem a dalšími fašistickými lídry. Autorovo rozhodnutí napsat tuto knihu vzniklo v roce 2002, kdy Jan Pavel II. schválil otevření archivů týkajících se pontifikátu Pia XI. V roce 2003 byly zpřístupněny materiály o vztazích Vatikánu s Německem a v roce 2006 následovalo zveřejnění vatikánských archivů. Během sedmiletého výzkumu Kertzer shromáždil digitální kopie 25 000 stran dokumentů a prozkoumal tisíce stran diplomatické korespondence a memoárů.
David Kertzer has an eye for a story, an ear for the right word, and an
instinct for human tragedy. They all come together in The Pope and Mussolini
to document, with meticulous scholarship and novelistic flair, the complicity
between Pius XI and the Fascist leader in creating an unholy alliance between
the Vatican and a totalitarian government rooted in corruption and brutality.
This is a sophisticated blockbuster. -Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning
author of Revolutionary Summer 'Much more attention has been given to the
Vatican's compromises and complicity with Hitler, but Kertzer tells a
fascinating and tragic story of its self-interested support for Mussolini when
he was vulnerable early on.' - The New Yorker 'Revelatory . . . [a] detailed
portrait of the inner workings of the Vatican in this period . . . The general
outlines of this story have always been matters of public record, but
Kertzer's book deepens and alters our understanding considerably. The portrait
that emerges from it suggests a much more organic and symbiotic relationship
between the Church and fascism. Rather than seeing the Church as having
passively accepted fascism as a fait accompli, Kertzer sees it as having
provided fundamental support to Mussolini in his consolidation of power and
the establishment of dictatorship in Italy.' - The New York Review of Books
'Gripping storytelling . . . a book whose narrative strength is as impressive
as its moral subtlety . . . Kertzer has uncovered a fascinating tale of two
irascible-and often irrational-potentates, and gives us an account of some
murky intellectual finagling, and an often startling investigation of the
exercise of power.' - The Guardian 'Captivating . . . the real Da Vinci Code
-only it's rigorously documented and far less implausible.' - San Francisco
Chronicle 'The papacy of Pius XI remained essentially a foil for discussing
his successor. Kertzer's excellent volume will change all of that. . . . From
the outset of his new book, Kertzer deftly reconstructs the parallel lives of
Achille Ratti, who became Pius XI, and of Benito Mussolini, both men whose
beginnings do not point to the historic role that they began to play in 1922.
The narration unfolds along the separate political, ideological, and
institutional backgrounds of the Pope's and Duce's careers and brings up in
fascinating detail the issues on which their interests converged and clashed.
. . . Kertzer's essential book reveals a window on this sordid history-a
window that for a long time was shuttered, but will not be obscured anymore.'
- The New Republic§'Stunning . . . remarkable . . . Kertzer authoritatively
banishes decades of denial and uncertainty about the Vatican's relationship
with Italy's fascist state.' - The Christian Science Monitor 'A capstone on
David Kertzer's already crucial work, The Pope and Mussolini carefully and
eloquently advances the painful but necessary truth of Vatican failure to meet
its greatest moral test. This is history for the sake of justice.' -James
Carroll, National Book Award-winning author of Constantine's Sword 'Sweeping
and nuanced . . . required reading for anyone with an interest in the Roman
Catholic Church and early twentieth-century European history.' - St. Louis
Post-Dispatch 'The author spares no toes in his crushing of the Church's
'comforting narrative' around its relationship with Mussolini's Fascist
regime. . . . Kertzer is unflinching and relentless in his exposure of the
Vatican's shocking actions. . . . Deeply troubling revelations around Vatican
collaboration with evil.' - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)'A compelling case
that the Catholic Church should pay greater penance for its support of
Mussolini and the rise of fascism . . . The Pope and Mussolini matches
rigorous scholarship with a fair yet forceful prose voice. It is an impressive
work of history.' - The Daily Beast§'[Kertzer] reconstructs, as if in a
historical docudrama, the paths taken b
Filled with discoveries, this is the dramatic story of Pope Pius XII's
struggle to response to the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Nazi
domination of Europe.
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.
In the wake of the fall of the Berlin wall, and with the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe collapsing, Italian Communist Party (PCI) head Achille Occhetto shocked his party in 1989 by insisting that the PCI jettison its old name and become something new. This dramatic book tells of the ensuing struggle within the PCI, which at the time was Italy's second-largest party and the most powerful Communist party in the West. David I. Kertzer's vivid depiction of the conflict brings to life the tactics that party factions employed and the anguish of party members for whom Communism was the core of their identity. Kertzer also tells a larger story from an anthropologist's the story of the importance of symbols, myths, and rituals in modern politics.Those who seek dramatic political change, Kertzer contends, must remake history. He recounts how those who succeeded in transforming the PCI into the new Democratic Party of the Left effectively used ritual and manipulated political symbols. Bringing the views of Antonio Gramsci, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, and other political thinkers into his discussion, Kertzer explores theoretical issues involving the relation between symbolism and political power, concluding that modern politics is fundamentally a struggle over symbols and the redefinition of history.
Kertzer writes lucidly, navigating the crowded scenery of his tale with great
deftness. His narrative achieves momentum without sacrificing reflective
depth, and makes spaces for the many stories spun by the protagonists
themselves as they reasoned their way into and out of the predicaments they
faced. Christopher Clark, London Review of Books
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.
David Kertzer's work delves into the complex relationship between the Vatican and the Italian state, exploring the political and social dynamics of the time. The narrative uncovers the intrigues and power struggles surrounding the papacy, particularly during the late 19th century. Kertzer's meticulous research brings to light the lesser-known aspects of this historical period, highlighting the impact of these events on both the Church and Italy. The book offers a compelling examination of the interplay between religion and politics, making it a significant contribution to historical scholarship.
Wie stand Papst Pius XI. zum Faschismus? Während sein Nachfolger, Papst Pius XII., öffentlich zum Holocaust schwieg, galt Pius XI. (1922-1939), lange Zeit als wahrer Stellvertreter Christi, der auf der Seite der verfolgten Juden stand und Hitler durch die Enzyklika ›Mit brennender Sorge‹ in seine Schranken verwies. In der packenden Geschichte über die Geheimbeziehungen des Vatikan zur faschistischen Führung wird deutlich, dass sich Mussolini und Pius XI. zwar hassten, sich aus Gründen des Machterhalts aber dennoch stützten. Der ungebildete, ungläubige Duce und der gottesfürchtige Kleriker schlossen einen verhängnisvollen Pakt. Erst mit Einführung der Rassengesetze 1938 und der immer größer werdenden Nähe zu Nazi-Deutschland dämmerte es Pius XI., mit wem er da paktiert hatte. Als er starb, konnte sein Nachfolger Eugenio Pacelli diesen Pakt fortsetzen. David Kertzers bahnbrechende Arbeit, die mit dem Pulitzer-Preis ausgezeichnet wurde, enthüllt das ganze Ausmaß der faschistischen Verstrickung.
