The Pope’s Cabinet

For the first time since WWII, the newly opened archives of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State reveal the role of Pius XII and the Holy See during the war: the secret correspondence with President Roosevelt to stop the escalation of events; the Pope’s support of the Roman Escape Line to help the most persecuted; the diplomatic attempts to curb the 3rd Reich policies, the rejection of Marshall Petain’s racial laws; the organization of emergency baptisms to save thousands of Jews from deportation and the denunciation of high clergy in power in Slovakia’s Nazi government. These unique documents bring to light the hidden influence of the Vatican and the key role played by the Pope in Nazi-occupied Europe: a shining example of soft diplomacy in the darkest times.