The Popes Against The Jews: The Vatican's Role In The Rise Of Modern Anti-Semitism. . - Spring books: book takes on papal anti-Semitism - book review

National Catholic Reporter, Feb 1, 2002 by John T. Pawlikowski

Part Three with its chapters on "A Future Pope in Poland" and "Antechamber to the Holocaust" is poorly done. He skims through the papacy of Pius XII in a few pages while offering a clear indictment. Either he should have stopped his narrative with the papacy of Pius XI or done a far more extensive analysis of Pius XII. Obviously he did not have the kind of archival material available to him for this period that he did for the earlier papacies. This part of the book does not reflect sound scholarship.

In sum, this book is a challenging volume. While significantly flawed at the end, it presents us with a basically accurate picture of direct, active involvement of the papacy in the spread of anti-Semitism in the modern world. It is a history that Catholics today need to integrate into their faith perspective rather than bury in a cave.

Servite Fr. John T. Pawlikowski is professor of social ethics and director of Catholic-Jewish Studies at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. He is also a member of the Bishops' Advisory Committee on Catholic-Jewish Relations and since 1980 a member by presidential appointment of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.