Comments of the week

The papal defenders of the Jewish people

SIR – Joseph Bottum, who co-edited The Pius War (2004), an exhaustive study of a mass of publications, wrote: “The defenders of Pius XII won every major battle. Along the way, they also lost the war.” It is quite astonishing how, in spite of the evidence amassed, critics persist in repeating the libels of the past.

So often, as now with Anthony Holland (Letter, March 24), critics have depended on a narrow selection of writing that feeds their prejudices: in this case, the questionably researched work of David Kertzer.