BROADCASTS.com

b'One of the biggest unresolved World War 2 debates is the Vatican\\u2019s complicity in the Holocaust \\u2013 did Pope Pius XII sit back and do nothing as Nazi Germany exterminate 6 million Jews? Critics accuse him of a weakness for dictatorships and a distaste for Jews, a pushover that Mussolini and Hitler could easily intimidate. Defenders say he was a virtuous man who stood up to Nazis and their Italian fascist allies despite being threatened with kidnapping and assassination. He worked tirelessly and effective to prevent more Jews from being murdered.
The question was little more than speculation for decades because the Vatican\\u2019s archives that cover World War 2 were closed. However, Pope Francis decided to open them recently, and today\\u2019s guest, David Kertzer, took immediate advantage of this opportunity. He\\u2019s the author of the new book \\u201cThe Pope at War\\u201d and he shows us what went on behind the scenes at the Vatican during World War II and the Holocaust. We discuss secret negotiations that Pius XII held with Hitler in the late 1930s, how the pope blessed Italy\\u2019s war effort until Mussolini\\u2019s fall in 1943, and how he held back aid to Jews after the Nazis\\u2019 systematic murder was revealed.'