“Kornberg, professor emeritus of history at the University of Toronto, has given us an original and balanced analysis of Pius XII’s moral leadership that is as compelling as a novel. It will inspire much thought about dilemmas of church-state conflicts that we face in our increasingly war-struck world.”
Nancy L. Roberts, Catholic News Service, October 12, 2015
‘This is a well-researched, meticulously argued scholarly treatment of Pius XII’s wartime legacy.’
J.P. Blosser, Choice Magazine vol 53:03:2015
‘Kornberg’s work represents a monumental compilation of materials, both primary and secondary sources, reflecting a lifetime of study on the role that organized religion plays in our world.’
Beth A. Griech-Polelle, Contemporary Church History Quarterly vol 21:04:2015
‘Upon reading Kornberg’s record of Pius XII’s response to German genocidal acts, one understands Francis’s logic in terms clear and astonishing.’
Norman Ravvin, The Canadian Jewish News, January 4, 2016
‘In this study, Kornberg offers a refreshingly different perspective on the motivation of Pius XII, which has not been explained satisfactorily by other historians.’
Peter C. Kent, The Catholic Historical Review vol 102:04:2016
‘The volume reflects the author’s singular mastery of five decades of literature, exploiting the published documentary collections as well as recent scholarship that presents archival material available only for the last fifteen years.’
Mark Edward Ruff, Holocaust and Genocide Studies vol 30:03:2016
‘Jacques Kornberg has crafted a masterfully researched, carefully argued, highly readable scholarly monograph that adds greatly to the historical literature concerning Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust.’
Richard Gribble, Canadian Journal of History vol 52:01:2017
‘A meticulous and careful study of the career of the twentieth century’s most controversial pope and a significant contribution to the debate over the Catholic Church’s wartime attitude and legacy.’
Andrea Di Stefano, Journal of Church and State vol 59:02:2017
"Pope Pius XII occupies the center of one of the great historical (and historiographical) controversies of our time. His relationship to the fascist regimes and his conduct during the holocaust remain the subjects of ongoing, well-reasoned, and often painful arguments. In The Pope’s Dilemma: PiusXII Faces Atrocities and Genocide in the Second World War, Jacques Kornberg carefully and with an admirably even hand traces many of the polemics surrounding the pontiff. "
Roy Domenico, The American Historical Review, Volume 123, Issue 1, 1 February 2018
“The Pope’s Dilemma is a serious accomplishment by a historian who has spent years studying Pius XII in great depth. Jacques Kornberg has a fine grasp of the theology of the period and has truly incorporated it into his attempt to understand the choices Pius XII made during the Holocaust.”
Kevin P. Spicer, C.S.C, James J. Kenneally Distinguished Professor of History, Stonehill College, and author of 'Hitler's Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism'
“In a book that reads like an exciting detective thriller, Jacques Kornberg examines Pope Pius XII and the Nazi regime of terror in Europe. Did the Pope resist the Nazis or acquiesce by failing to protest loudly and clearly? Could he have done more to rescue the Jews of Europe who begged him for his assistance? Why has world opinion shifted from praising Pius in the post–Second World War years to excoriating him, starting in the 1960s? Kornberg’s book leads us through the maze of evidence with remarkable clarity and intellectual suspense.”
Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College, and author of 'The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany'
“For many years, historians have awaited the opening of the Vatican’s archives for the reign of Pope Pius XII, unsure how the documentation therein will challenge our interpretations of the wartime church. Until that day arrives, Jacques Kornberg’s magisterial survey, written in distinguished and elegant language, provides a valuable analysis of the numerous conflicting theories about Pius XII and his policies that have appeared over the course of the past fifty years.”
John S. Conway, Professor Emeritus of History, University of British Columbia, and author of 'The Nazi Persecution of the Churches, 1933-1945'
