Cold Type

The "Black Legend" is alive and well.

How hardy is the myth of "Hitler's Pope"? In response to the Vatican's recent opening of its pre-WWII archives, Atlantic Monthly reprinted Catholic-baiter John Carroll's fawning review of Hitler's Pope. But John Cornwell's book is notoriously inaccurate and discredited. Ron Rychlak, the author of Righteous Gentiles, has the facts that set the record straight on Pius XII, the Catholic Church, and the Holocaust.

Catholic Church strikes again!

Who does Abdul Rahman, the Christian convert who faced certain death in Afghanistan, credit for his safe passage to and asylum in Italy? Catholic World News reports

The Afghan exile-- who now asks to be identified as Joel, the name with which he was baptized-- thanked Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) and the people of Italy for their efforts to secure his released. Rahman said that he will look for work in Italy, and hopes never to visit Afghanistan again.

The Catholic Church has a long history of protecting innocents from tyranny. And it has a long history of not receiving credit. Ronald Rychlak, an accomplished law professor, takes on one of the many examples and uncovers the truth in his new book, Righteous Gentiles: How Pius XII and the Catholic Church Saved Half a Million Jews from the Nazis.

"No Small Feat"

Historian Michael Burleigh has high praise for Ronald Rychlak's Righteous Gentiles in Literary Review. 

Setting the Record Straight

Ronald Rychlak lays to rest the "black legend" of the Church during World War II, today at 11 a.m. EST on "Moments of Truth Live." Listen live here.

In Enviable Command

Ronald J. Rychlak's Righteous Gentiles is reviewed in the February issue of the Literary Review (UK):

Rychlak is in enviable command of both old and more recently released sources. . . . Rychlak patiently goes through every shifting charge and smear against Pius, highlighting his consistency in condemning Nazism as a form of neo-pagan state worship, and the terrible dilemmas he faced during the war.

Read more.

Groundbreaking

A review of Righteous Gentiles in the Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion-Ledger.

Absolute Decimation

Ronald J. Rychlak's Righteous Gentiles: How Pius XII and the Catholic Church Saved Half a Million Jews from the Nazis is reviewed, with two other books on the same subject, on Catholic Online:

These three books, taken together, absolutely decimate the attacks on the reputation of Pope Pius XII made in the spate of books. They meticulously re-examine the charges against Pope Pius, charges which sadly have become deeply embedded in the very grain of our culture.

Rychlak's book, Righteous Gentiles: How Pius XII and the Catholic Church Saved Half a Million Jews from the Nazis, in a sense comes closest to that goal, narrating Pope Pius' life within the context of his times. (The Rychlak estimate of 500,000 Jews saved by the church—in its convents and monasteries, through papers given to Jews by its diplomats enabling them to escape Europe, and the like—is a moderate one. Others range up to 800,000.)

Read more.

Righteous Gentiles

Ronald J. Rychlak is interviewed today by ZENIT on his new book, Righteous Gentiles: How Pius XII and the Catholic Church Saved Half a Million Jews from the Nazis:

Q: How is this book different from those that have previously defended Pope Pius XII? What new information does it reveal?

Rychlak: In Righteous Gentiles I directly respond to arguments made by the critics of Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church during the Nazi era. I generally tried to avoid doing that in my last book—Hitler, the War, and the Pope—because I wanted to lay out the facts chronologically and just as they happened.

Philosopher Michael Novak, author of the foreword to Righteous Gentiles, pointed out that over the past five years there have been so many books and articles that set forth arguments against the Church that a book responding to them had become necessary.

That's what I have tried to do with this book: address each and every argument that has been lodged against Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church during the Holocaust.

As for new information, the first chapter of Righteous Gentiles sets forth 18 new pieces of evidence that have come to light in recent years. Each one casts a positive light on Pius XII and the Catholic Church.

The book also discusses Pope Pius XII, the Germany clergy and other rescuers from nations throughout Europe. Those topics have not, for the most part, been discussed in other recent pro-Pius XII books.

Read more (second item, "Pius XII as a 'Righteous Gentile'").