Table of Contents

1: Introduction
2: 'Useless Slaughter', Benedict XV and the First World War
3: Benedict XV, The Post-War World and the Church
4: Pius XI, Italian Fascism and the Coniliazione
5: Pius XI, The Teacher and his Church
6: The 'Foreign Policy' of Pius XI in the 1920s
7: Pius XI and the Dictators, 1930-1939
8: Pius XII, Peace Diplomacy and War
9: Pius XII, War and Fascist Genocides
10: Pius XII, Communism and the Cold War
11: 'Angelic Pastor?' Pius XII and the World-wide Church
12: The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

John Pollard is a British historian, fellow of Trinity Hall at University of Cambridge and Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at Anglia Polytechnic University. His publications include Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy: Financing the Vatican, 1850-1950 (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and Benedict XV: The Pope of Peace (Burns and Oates Ltd., 2005).

Reviews

This book is a valuable overview of developments in the papacy in the first half of the twentieth century.
*Peter C. Kent, University of New Brunswick, Journal of Ecclesiastical History*

Pollard's book portrays the three popes as diplomats as well as pastors. The integration of these two papal roles as well as the global mileu of papal concern are commendabale features of the book.
*Hilmar M.Patel, The Tablet*

a sober, balanced, comprehensive, and scholarly study.
*Robert Nowell, Church Times*

a judicious, nuanced, and well-informed examination.
*Lauren Faulkner Rossi, Contemporary Church History Quarterly*

This is a book that will please scholars and students, most certainly, but also a much wider audience looking for a new approach to one of the most eventful periods of the twentieth century.
*Dianne Kirby, Journal of Contemporary History*