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The story of the origin of Vatican Radio provides a unique look at the history of World War II
The book offers the first wide-ranging study on the history of Vatican Radio from its origins (1931) to the end of Pius XII’s pontificate (1958) based on unpublished sources. The opening of the Secret Vatican Archives on the records regarding Pius XII will shed light on the most controversial pontificate of the 20th century. Moreover, the recent rearrangement of the Vatican media provided the creation of a multimedia archive that is still in Fieri.
This research is an original point of view on the most relevant questions concerning these decades: the relation of the Catholic Church with the Fascist regimes and Western democracies; the attitude toward anti-Semitism and the Shoah in Europe, and in general toward the total war; the relationship of the Holy See with the new media in the mass society; the questions arisen in the after-war period such as the Christian Democratic Party in Italy; the new role of women; and anti-communism and the competition for the consensus in the social and moral order in a secularized society.
Perin’s book sheds important new light on how the controversial Pope Pius XII and the Vatican dealt with the challenges posed by the Second World War and the Holocaust. Vatican radio was a potentially precious source of news in Axis-occupied Europe, and a potent public platform for the Pope, yet he worried about broadcasts that might antagonize the Nazis and Fascists. The Popes on Air, for the first time, shows exactly how the Vatican made its way amidst these challenges.---David Kertzer, Pulitzer-prize-winning author of The Pope and Mussolini
A concise and provocative study. . . Those who follow the arguments over Pius, World War II, and the Holocaust will find Perin’s book indispensable.
With the publication of The Popes on Air historians now have a rich picture of the complex and variegated role played by Vatican Radio during the Second World War.
The Popes on Air is a methodologically impressive and clearly written work which shines light on a largely unknown aspect of Vatican communications and media during the Second World War.
This book is compelling in content and copiously, even lovingly, annotated, and Perin shows much skill in weaving together source material from an array of official statements, notes, letters, scripts, and broadcasts. . . The Popes on Air is an important guide to understanding the complex history of the Catholic Church’s relationship to mass communication in a period of global chaos and warfare.
. . . Perin’s work masterfully balances rigorous argumentation with engaging clarity, making the book enthralling. The result is an outstanding contribution to the field, evident to all who approach it.
List of Abbreviations | ix
Introduction | 1
1 The Popes and the Media: The Origins of Vatican Radio (1931-1939) | 9
2 Vatican Radio and the Outbreak of the War (1939-1940) | 33
3 Vatican Radio, National Socialism, and Communism | 68
4 Vatican Radio, Racism, Antisemitism, and the Shoah | 110
5 Toward the Axis Defeat: Vatican Radio, the Occupation of Rome, and the End of the War | 142
Epilogue: The 1950s | 177
Acknowledgments | 183
Notes | 185
Index | 253