Could the Vatican, under Pius XII, have done more to condemn and prevent Nazi atrocities, especially the Holocaust? That question has been the subject of heated argument in academic and journalistic circles for many years now. My first introduction to the subject was the controversial 1999 book Hitler’s Pope, by Cambridge academic John Cornwell, which took Pius to task for his alleged indulgence of the Nazis, an indulgence that was – by Cornwell’s account – rooted in anti-Jewish prejudice. That work, which seemed persuasive to me 20 years ago as a non-Catholic undergraduate unfamiliar with the wider debate, has since been subjected to strong criticism by other scholars, including a rabbi, David Dalin. His book The Myth of Hitler’s Pope (2005) strongly defended Pius against the serious charges levelled by Cornwell and others. It was favourably reviewed by the prominent Jewish Holocaust scholar Sir Martin Gilbert. In other words, this is not simply a matter of Catholics closing ranks to shut down criticism of the papacy. Distinguished writers from outside the Church, with no pro-Christian or pro-papacy axe to grind, have looked carefully at the facts and determined that many of the accusations levelled at Pius simply do not stand up.