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How Vatican officials aided Nazi war criminals and undermined Allied justice after World War II
In the aftermath of World War II, the Nuremberg Trials promised a new era of international justice, holding Nazi leaders to account for their crimes. Yet beyond the courtroom, a very different struggle was unfolding—one that played out behind the walls of the Vatican.
Provocative and meticulously researched, The Pope Against Nuremberg uncovers how the Vatican shielded Nazi war criminals, undermined the principles of the Nuremberg Trials, and ran ratline networks that spirited perpetrators to safety under the cover of Christian mercy. Drawing on newly opened Vatican archives, as well as government and intelligence records from Europe and the Americas, Gerald Steinacher reveals a campaign that would benefit some of the most notorious Nazi perpetrators by helping them avoid prosecution.
Church officials petitioned Allied leaders, including the U.S. president, submitted statements for the defense, coordinated public relations campaigns, resisted extraditions, and, in some cases, sheltered wanted war criminals on Church property. Meanwhile, Pope Pius XII, long criticized for his alleged public silence during the Holocaust, urged the world to "forgive Germany." Steinacher places these actions within the turbulent politics of early Cold War Europe, when fear of communism increasingly outweighed the pursuit of accountability for mass crimes. Combining groundbreaking research and compelling storytelling, The Pope Against Nuremberg provides new answers to decades-old questions about the role and motivations of church officials in the networks that helped Nazis escape justice.
— David I. Kertzer, author of The Pope and Mussolini and The Pope at War
The archives have finally spoken. What they reveal about the Vatican’s postwar choices will unsettle believers and historians alike. A gripping, essential excavation of faith, power, and the dangerous cost of looking away.
— Kevin P. Spicer, C.S.C., author of Hitler’s Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism
Spickard achieves something rare: comprehensiveness without sacrificing readability. Integrating canonical and recent scholarship, he evaluates each major approach with critical maturity, showing where each succeeds and where it falls short. An honest, well-grounded reckoning that rewards students, scholars, and serious readers alike. Highly recommended.
— Gerardo Martí, co-author of The Church Must Grow or Perish: Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity
A masterpiece of archival scholarship, The Pope Against Nuremberg is a meticulously researched and morally thoughtful contribution to Holocaust studies. Drawing on newly opened Vatican archival sources and decades of transnational research, Steinacher illuminates one of postwar history's most significant and uncomfortable questions with rare intellectual depth, scholarly rigor—and courage. Much—too much, perhaps--has been written on Pius XII and the Holocaust, but this volume opens a fresh and fascinating chapter on his controversial pontificate.
— Kevin Madigan, author of The Popes Against the Protestants
How did the Vatican respond when the world tried to hold Hitler's regime accountable? In The Pope Against Nuremberg, historian Gerald Steinacher uncovers an uncomfortable answer, drawing on newly opened Vatican Archive documents to reveal a sustained, coordinated campaign of obstruction. A fascinating, thought-provoking book, and an essential read for those interested in the history of the Holocaust , WWII, and the Catholic Church.
— Jan Grabowski, author of Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied Poland
This is a fascinating and powerful reinterpretation, based on newly accessible sources from the Vatican archives. Gerald Steinacher dispels older narratives about the Catholic Church’s “resistance” or “ambiguity” towards National Socialism. After 1945, the Vatican deliberately and devotedly supported Nazi perpetrators and collaborators. A must-read for anyone interested in the topic.
— Andreas Wirsching, Former Director, Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History
A fascinating and complex story of (in)justice and responsibility in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Drawing on years of research in over 60 archives, Steinacher provides a nuanced account of how and why the Vatican and the Pope supported leading Nazis and perpetrators as they fled and argued against their trials.
— Andrea Löw, Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich