The Pope and Mussolini

The 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Biography

• The compelling story of the Papacy's secret relations with Benito Mussolini - now told in full for the first time
• A ground-breaking work that will forever change our understanding of the Vatican's role in the rise of Fascism in Europe
• Reveals the Papacy's secret agreement to support Mussolini's anti-semitic 'racial laws'
• Sheds dramatic new light on the activities of the future Pope Pius XII as a go-between in the Papacy's dealings with Mussolini
• Destroys the widely accepted myth of a heroic Church doing battle with the Fascist regime

This is the compelling story of Pope Pius XI's secret relations with Benito Mussolini. A ground-breaking work, based on seven years of research in the Vatican and Fascist archives by US National Book Award-finalist David Kertzer, it will forever change our understanding of the Vatican's role in the rise of Fascism in Europe.

Both Pope Pius XI and Mussolini came to power in Rome in 1922. One was scholarly and devout, the other a violent bully. Yet they also had traits in common. Both had explosive tempers. Both bristled at the charge of being the patsy of the other. Both demanded unquestioned obedience from their subordinates, whose knees literally quaked in fear of provoking their wrath. Both came to be disillusioned by the other, yet dreaded what would happen if their alliance were to end.