Synopses & Reviews
The Vaticans 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 “Hitlers Pope.” But a key part of the story has remained untold.
Pius ran the worlds 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 secretly plotting to kill him.
Church of Spies documents this cloak and dagger intrigue in shocking detail. Gun-toting Jesuits stole blueprints to Hitlers homes. A Catholic book publisher flew a sports plane over the Alps with secrets filched from the head of Hitlers 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 Vaticans doors to reveal some of the most astonishing events in the history of the papacy. The result is an unprecedented book that will change perceptions of how the worlds greatest moral institution met the greatest moral crisis in history.
Review
KirkusRiebling, an expert on secret intelligence, compellingly explores the papacys involvement in espionage during World War II.... This book has much to surprise, especially the many German officers, separately and together, involved in attempts on Hitlers life.... Pius, vilified by critics who believed he ignored Germanys atrocities, comes off as a politically savvy man who realized his interference would precipitate Hitlers mortal overreaction against German Catholics. Not only a dramatic disclosure of the Vaticans covert actions, but also an absorbing, polished story for all readers of World War II history.”
Sir Martin Gilbert, official biographer of Winston Churchill
While the Pope hesitated to publicly provoke Hitler in foolhardy way, he had no hesitation in secretly opposing the Third Reich and its crimes. The record of the assistance Pius XII provided, through his representatives, to the German resistance, and the actions they took, under his guidance, is extraordinary. Without minimizing the complicity of individual Christians, or the role of Christian anti-Semitism, Mark Riebling shows that the Vatican took a very powerful stance against the Nazis. It is especially important for Jewish peopleand I am Jewish myselfthat this information is now being gathered for all to see.”
Col. Rose Mary Sheldon, Burgwyn Chair in Military History, Virginia Military Institute
Mark Riebling has set himself a high bar in turning conventional wisdom on its head. He has taken on one of the most controversial and polarizing issues in the history of World War II: the role of the wartime Vatican in fighting the Nazis. By combining new archival material with a lively and convincing narrative he has created a new account of a secret war previously overlooked. This is a highly original contribution to intelligence history.”
Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich: A New History
Mark Rieblings work on Vatican espionage makes an invaluable contribution the scholarship on the wartime Church. He is the first historian writing in English to draw on new evidence from previously untranslated German documents and from archives around the world, showing that Catholic collaboration with Hitlers would-be killers was far closer than previously thought.”
David Thomas Murphy, Professor of Holocaust History, Anderson University
Church of Spies fills an important gap in the record. In a field where nearly everything written is either an apology or polemic, Mark Riebling presents the predicament of the wartime Vatican without rancor or agenda, equivocation or innuendo, apology or elision. A major achievement.”
Ronald J. Rychlak, author of Hitler, the War, and the Pope
Mark Riebling has unearthed vital new sources, and he writes elegantly and persuasively on a fascinating subject that has remained hidden in historys shadows.”
Rabbi David G. Dalin, editor of The Pius War
Church of Spies breaks new ground. Rather than imposing the perspectives of our own day, his research draws on the thoughts, words, and actions of those who lived through that terrible time. In the process, he not only documents the Vaticans covert achievements, but offers a new framework for assessing the conduct of the wartime Church. The result deepens our understanding of Western Civilization in its moment of greatest crisis.”
Review
Military History[A] revealing history of Pius wartime dealings with the German resistance to Nazi rule.... Readers will be surprised at the steady stream of anti-Hitler conspiracies, several of which reached the point where dates were set and bombs assembled.”
Kirkus
Riebling, an expert on secret intelligence, compellingly explores the papacys involvement in espionage during World War II.... This book has much to surprise, especially the many German officers, separately and together, involved in attempts on Hitlers life.... Pius, vilified by critics who believed he ignored Germanys atrocities, comes off as a politically savvy man who realized his interference would precipitate Hitlers mortal overreaction against German Catholics. Not only a dramatic disclosure of the Vaticans covert actions, but also an absorbing, polished story for all readers of World War II history.”
Library Journal
Clandestine organizations are hard to reconstruct and Riebling has mined an impressive array of archival sources to tell this fascinating story.”
Gerald Posner, author of Gods Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican
Mark Riebling takes readers into the seldom-explored mysterious world of Vatican espionage with a deeply researched and fresh account that reads like a spy thriller. The crackling narrative of Church of Spies delivers an important and compelling addition to the debate over the legacy of Pius XII, the most powerful and complex Pope of modern times.”
Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith
A fascinating contribution to the literature on the Holocaust, the history of the papacy, and the life of Pius XII.”
Sir Martin Gilbert, official biographer of Winston Churchill
While the Pope hesitated to publicly provoke Hitler in foolhardy way, he had no hesitation in secretly opposing the Third Reich and its crimes. The record of the assistance Pius XII provided, through his representatives, to the German resistance, and the actions they took, under his guidance, is extraordinary. Without minimizing the complicity of individual Christians, or the role of Christian anti-Semitism, Mark Riebling shows that the Vatican took a very powerful stance against the Nazis. It is especially important for Jewish peopleand I am Jewish myselfthat this information is now being gathered for all to see.”
George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
This gripping book, the product of extensive and fine-grained historical research, should change the course of the 'Pius Wars, if both critics and defenders of Pius XII take its evidence seriously.”
Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich: A New History
In this exciting and original work, Mark Riebling has unearthed vital new sources, and he writes elegantly and persuasively on a fascinating subject that has remained hidden in historys shadows.”
Rabbi David Dalin, author of The Myth of Hitler's Pope
"In Church of Spies, Mark Riebling provides a groundbreaking and riveting account of Pope Pius XII's secret war against Hitler. This richly documented book makes an important contribution to contemporary scholarship about Pius XII and to our understanding of the historical legacy of his pontificate.”
Ronald J. Rychlak, author of Hitler, the War, and the Pope
Church of Spies is an incredible book. It is authentic, documented history that reads like a great action novel. Bonhoeffer, Stauffenberg, the pope, and others plotted to kill Hitler and end the war. Riebling takes us inside their meetings (sometimes held among excavations under Vatican City) and meetings of Hitler and his top advisors. The story that emerges is at times terrifying, tragic, and yet ultimately heroic. This is a book not to be missed.”
Col. Rose Mary Sheldon, Burgwyn Chair in Military History, Virginia Military Institute
Mark Riebling has set himself a high bar in turning conventional wisdom on its head. He has taken on one of the most controversial and polarizing issues in the history of World War II: the role of the wartime Vatican in fighting the Nazis. By combining new archival material with a lively and convincing narrative he has created a new account of a secret war previously overlooked. This is a highly original contribution to intelligence history.”
Vincent A. Lapomarda, author of The Jesuits and the Third Reich
Church of Spies captured my attention. It is a remarkable piece of research. It fills out much of the story that was known mainly in skeletal form. It makes the past come alive.”
Synopsis
Pope Pius XII is perhaps the most detested pope in modern history, vilified for allegedly appeasing Hitler and betraying the Jewish people by remaining silent during the Holocaust. But this is not the full story. In Church of Spies, intelligence expert Mark Riebling draws on a wealth of recently uncovered documents to argue that, far from being Hitlers lackey, Pius was an active anti-Nazi spymaster. He directed a vast network of Vatican operatives—priests and laymen alike—who partnered with the German resistance, tipped the Allies off to Hitlers invasions of France and Russia, and spearheaded three separate plots to assassinate Hitler. A fast-paced and gripping tale of secrecy and self-sacrifice, Church of Spies takes readers from hidden crypts beneath the Vatican to Nazi bunkers in Germany to chart the true legacy of Piuss secret war. Although these revelations do not excuse Piuss public silence, they provide a deeper understanding of the man reviled by so many.
Synopsis
In this stunning revision of the role of Hitlers Pope” in WWII, one of our top intelligence experts recasts Pius XIIallegedly a Nazi sympathizeras an anti-Nazi spymaster
About the Author
Mark Riebling, an expert on American intelligence, co-founded the Center for Policing Terrorism (now the National Counterterrorism Academy). He is the author of
Wedge: From Pearl Harbor to 9/11: How the Secret War between the FBI and CIA Has Endangered National Security.
Table of Contents
1. Darkness over the Earth
2. The End of Germany
3. Joey Ox
4. Extraordinary Affairs
5. The Pope Is Very Interested
6. Luck of the Devil
7. The Keller Affair
8. Absolute Secrecy
9. The X-Report
10. Warnings to the West
11. The Brown Birds
12. Forging the Iron
13. The Committee
14. Conversations in the Crypt
15. Prague Fatale
16. A Bottle of Cognac
17. The Siegfried Blueprints
18. Interrogations
19. Prisoner of the Vatican
20. D Day
21. X Day
22. The Trove
23. Hell
24. The Gallows
25. Shoot Them All!
26. We Cherish the Hope
Epilogue