Washington D.C., Jan 17, 2005 / 22:00 pm
A key U.S. diplomat, who served during Pope Pius XII’s pontificate, states in his revealing memoirs that he expects the pontiff to be eventually made a saint. The book offers a first-hand account and convincing evidence that the accusations railed against Pope Pius XII as a “pro-Nazi Pope” are unfounded.
“Inside the Vatican of Pius XII: The Memoir of an American Diplomat During World War II” is the memoir of Harold Tittmann, Jr., who was chief assistant to Myron Taylor, Franklin Roosevelt’s personal representative to the Vatican, between 1940 and 1946.
Tittmann, now deceased, has often been quoted in the case against Pius XII, but his memoir depicts a totally different picture of the wartime Pope, say literary analysts William Doino, Jr. and Joseph Bottum in a book review. Their full book review was published in First Things.
Doino and Bottum state: “These memoirs may be the most important document to be published on Pius XII in over 20 years. And they prove to be, far from an indictment, an overwhelming defense of the Pope and the Catholic Church.”