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The Pope and Mussolini
- The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
Pulitzer Prize Winner
Named One of the Best Books of the Year by San Francisco Chronicle
From National Book Award finalist David I. Kertzer comes the gripping story of Pope Pius XI’s secret relations with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. This groundbreaking work, based on seven years of research in the Vatican and Fascist archives, including reports from Mussolini’s spies inside the highest levels of the Church, will forever change our understanding of the Vatican’s role in the rise of Fascism in Europe.
The Pope and Mussolini tells the story of two men who came to power in 1922, and together changed the course of 20th-century history. In most respects, they could not have been more different. One was scholarly and devout, the other thuggish and profane. Yet Pius XI and "Il Duce" had many things in common. They shared a distrust of democracy and a visceral hatred of Communism. Both were prone to sudden fits of temper and were fiercely protective of the prerogatives of their office. ("We have many interests to protect," the Pope declared, soon after Mussolini seized control of the government in 1922.) Each relied on the other to consolidate his power and achieve his political goals.
In a challenge to the conventional history of this period, in which a heroic Church does battle with the Fascist regime, Kertzer shows how Pius XI played a crucial role in making Mussolini’s dictatorship possible and keeping him in power. In exchange for Vatican support, Mussolini restored many of the privileges the Church had lost and gave in to the pope’s demands that the police enforce Catholic morality. Yet in the last years of his life - as the Italian dictator grew ever closer to Hitler - the pontiff’s faith in this treacherous bargain started to waver. With his health failing, he began to lash out at the Duce and threatened to denounce Mussolini’s anti-Semitic racial laws before it was too late. Horrified by the threat to the Church-Fascist alliance, the Vatican’s inner circle, including the future Pope Pius XII, struggled to restrain the headstrong pope from destroying a partnership that had served both the Church and the dictator for many years.
The Pope and Mussolini brims with memorable portraits of the men who helped enable the reign of Fascism in Italy: Father Pietro Tacchi Venturi, Pius’ personal emissary to the dictator, a wily anti-Semite known as Mussolini’s Rasputin; Victor Emmanuel III, the king of Italy, an object of widespread derision who lacked the stature - literally and figuratively - to stand up to the domineering Duce; and Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, whose political skills and ambition made him Mussolini’s most powerful ally inside the Vatican, and positioned him to succeed the pontiff as the controversial Pius XII, whose actions during World War II would be subject for debate for decades to come.
With the recent opening of the Vatican archives covering Pius XI’s papacy, the full story of the Pope’s complex relationship with his Fascist partner can finally be told. Vivid, dramatic, with surprises at every turn, The Pope and Mussolini is history writ large and with the lightning hand of truth.
Critic reviews
“Revelatory...[a] detailed portrait of the inner workings of the Vatican in this period... The general outlines of this story have always been matters of public record, but Kertzer’s book deepens and alters our understanding considerably. The portrait that emerges from it suggests a much more organic and symbiotic relationship between the Church and fascism. Rather than seeing the Church as having passively accepted fascism as a fait accompli, Kertzer sees it as having provided fundamental support to Mussolini in his consolidation of power and the establishment of dictatorship in Italy.” (The New York Review of Books)
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Based on a wealth of documents long buried in the Vatican archives, Prisoner of the Vatican tells the story of the Church's secret attempt to block the unification of Italy and seize control, not in ancient times, but in the late 19th century. For more than 50 years, the pope was a self-imposed prisoner within the Vatican walls, planning to flee Italy, to return only as the restored ruler of Rome and the Papal States.
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History at its Worst
- By JerryT on 06-04-05
By: David I. Kertzer
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Mussolini
- By: Jasper Ridley
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A complex and contradictory figure, Mussolini won the fascination of many statesmen and writers, and their wives. From his early years raised in the traditions of revolutionary Italian Socialism, to his violent execution by Communist partisans at the end of World War II, we watch Mussolini's power ambitions erode his political ideals, as he evolves from brilliant orator and journalist to empire-building dictator enforcing his authority by death squads.
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THE AUTHOR TOPPLED OVER
- By Randall on 02-02-19
By: Jasper Ridley
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The Black Count
- Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
- By: Tom Reiss
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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General Alex Dumas is a man almost unknown today, yet his story is strikingly familiar—because his son, the novelist Alexandre Dumas, used his larger-than-life feats as inspiration for such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.
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The story behind the greatest novelist of all time
- By Melinda on 01-13-13
By: Tom Reiss
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Hitler's Pope
- The Secret History of Pius XII
- By: John Cornwell
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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When Hitler's Pope, the shocking story of Pope Pius XII that "redefined the history of the twentieth century" (The Washington Post) was originally published, it sparked a firestorm of controversy both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Now, award-winning journalist John Cornwell has revisited this seminal work of history with a new introduction that both answers his critics and reaffirms his overall thesis that Pius XII, now scheduled to be canonized by the Vatican, weakened the Catholic Church with his endorsement of Hitler—and sealed the fate of the Jews in Europe.
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The title is false advertising.
- By Christopher George on 09-19-24
By: John Cornwell
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Mussolini and Hitler
- The Forging of the Fascist Alliance
- By: Christian Goeschel
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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From 1934 until 1944, Mussolini met Hitler numerous times, and the two developed a relationship that deeply affected both countries. While Germany is generally regarded as the senior power, Christian Goeschel demonstrates just how much history has underrepresented Mussolini's influence on his German ally. Goeschel, a scholar of 20th-century Germany and Italy, revisits all of Mussolini and Hitler's key meetings and asks how these meetings constructed a powerful image of a strong Fascist-Nazi relationship that still resonates with the general public.
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great research
- By Anonymous User on 08-28-24
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The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara
- By: David I. Kertzer
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Bologna, 1858: A police posse, acting on the orders of a Catholic inquisitor, invades the home of a Jewish merchant, Momolo Mortara, wrenches his crying six-year-old son from his arms, and rushes him off in a carriage bound for Rome. His mother is so distraught that she collapses and has to be taken to a neighbor's house, but her weeping can be heard across the city. With this terrifying scene - one that would haunt this family forever - David I. Kertzer begins his fascinating investigation of the dramatic kidnapping.
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Too much detail
- By L. WILLIAM on 03-03-24
By: David I. Kertzer
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The St. Gallen Mafia
- Exposing the Secret Reformist Group Within the Church
- By: Julia Meloni
- Narrated by: Kevin Gallagher
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In the mid-1990s, a clandestine group of high-ranking churchmen began gathering in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Opposed to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the circle plotted a revolution in stealth. By 2015, their secret ached to be told. Before an audience, Cardinal Godfried Danneels joked of being a part of a "mafia." But as explosive as Danneels's confession was, a thick cloud of mystery still enshrouds the St. Gallen mafia.
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Good Information but a little weak
- By Fr. Jared Brown on 03-10-22
By: Julia Meloni
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Custer's Trials
- A Life on the Frontier of a New America
- By: T.J. Stiles
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 23 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for History. In this magisterial biography, T. J. Stiles paints a portrait of Custer both deeply personal and sweeping in scope, proving how much of Custer’s legacy has been ignored. He demolishes Custer’s historical caricature, revealing a volatile, contradictory, intense person - capable yet insecure, intelligent yet bigoted, passionate yet self-destructive, a romantic individualist at odds with the institution of the military (he was court-martialed twice in six years).
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Custer and his times
- By Mike From Mesa on 11-17-15
By: T.J. Stiles
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Embers of War
- The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 32 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In this landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam, author Fredrik Logevall taps newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations and traces the path that led two Western nations to tragically lose their way in the jungles of Southeast Asia. He brings to life the bloodiest battles of France’s final years in Indochina - and describes how, from an early point, a succession of American leaders made disastrous policy choices that put America on its own collision course with history.
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Understanding Why We failed the People of Vietnam
- By VA on 03-22-21
By: Fredrik Logevall
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G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
- By: Beverly Gage
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 36 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.
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Amazing!
- By Jessica Armas on 12-06-22
By: Beverly Gage
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The Vatican Diaries
- A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church
- By: John Thavis
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than 25 years John Thavis held one of the most fascinating journalistic jobs in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. His daily exposure to the power, politics, and personalities in the seat of Roman Catholicism gave him a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective on an institution that is far less monolithic and unified than it first appears. Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place where Curia cardinals fight private wars, scandals threaten to undermine papal authority, and reverence for the past is continually upended by the practical considerations of modern life.
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A neutral look at inner workings of the Vatican
- By Linda on 02-28-13
By: John Thavis
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Lenin's Tomb
- The Last Days of the Soviet Empire
- By: David Remnick
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 29 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of John Reed's classic Ten Days That Shook the World, this best-selling account of the collapse of the Soviet Union combines the global vision of the best historical scholarship with the immediacy of eyewitness journalism.
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The moral complexity of a comic book
- By Tot on 02-22-19
By: David Remnick
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The Dead Are Arising
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- By: Les Payne, Tamara Payne
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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An epic biography of Malcolm X finally emerges, drawing on hundreds of hours of the author's interviews, rewriting much of the known narrative.
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Much more depth than the Haley book.
- By CapitalHeel on 11-03-20
By: Les Payne, and others
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The Economic Weapon
- The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War
- By: Nicholas Mulder
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Economic sanctions dominate the landscape of world politics today. First developed in the early twentieth century as a way of exploiting the flows of globalization to defend liberal internationalism, their appeal is that they function as an alternative to war. This view, however, ignores the dark paradox at their core: designed to prevent war, economic sanctions are modeled on devastating techniques of warfare.
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History of sanctions during the early 20th century
- By Mehdi Mollahasani on 03-05-22
By: Nicholas Mulder
What listeners say about The Pope and Mussolini
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Erik Kreider
- 08-24-20
Amazing account of a pivotal period
Riveting account of a pivotal period of the 20th century. Contrary to some reviews, I thought the narrator did a fabulous job of communicating the characters and personalities of various protagonists. The author did a brilliant job assembling so much information into the account with cohesive flow. It was routinely difficult to stop lstening.
A key lesson: Career politicians will universally abandon core values in exchange for political advancement. Sometimes even Popes.
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- Kindle Customer. a downs
- 06-24-15
fascinating but complicated. listening was good.
struggled to finish as became tedious. more Vatican/catholic history than war history. However the narrator did sound as if interested in the read
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- chetyarbrough.blog
- 07-27-15
ONLY HUMAN
David Kertzer reminds the world that organized religion is only human. Religions are subject to the goodness and sins of human nature. Whether one believes in a Supreme Being or not, actions of organized religion are freighted with human error. Kertzer is only one of many who have exposed the perfidy of organized religion. His target, in “The Pope and Mussolini, is the Roman Catholic Church.
Cardinal Ratti becomes Pope Pius XI during the ascension of European Fascism and Nazism in the 1920s and 30s. Ratti is characterized as a pedantic, conservative, and sometimes bellicose Christian believer in, and defender of the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Pius XI agrees to support the government of Benito Mussolini in 1929 in return for the creation of an independent Papal State in Rome. Mussolini agrees to pay the church approximately $100 million for formally confiscated church land. Pope Pius XI acquires for himself and future Popes the right of independent rule, religious interpretation, and Christian doctrinal dictatorship. In return Mussolini gains the support of the Roman Catholic Church, the dissolution of Catholic political parties, and a title as II Duce, “The Leader” of Italy. At the stroke of a pen, Mussolini becomes a hero of Italian Catholics (over 90% of the population) and the totalitarian leader of Italy.
Pius XI compromises his morals and paves the way for Pius XII, a closet Christian anti-Semite, who becomes a Hitler’ collaborator by tacitly endorsing the immoral belief of religious purity. Though not widely known at the time, Cardinal Pacelli acted as a “too clever” intermediary between the German and Italian governments to undermine the growing discontent of Pope Pius XI with Germany’s treatment of Christians and Jewish converts to Christianity. Pope Pius XI commissions a new Catholic encyclical to condemn German treatment of Catholic citizens but dies before publication. Pope Pius XII (Cardinal Pacelli) buries the last encyclical of his predecessor in the archives of the Vatican library.
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5 people found this helpful
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- David Bossman
- 09-03-18
An important critical study
This book does not seem to set out to destroy a targeted group but rather to study the politics of fascism and its engagement with Pope Pius XI and the Catholic Church in Italy. Pius XI and Mussolini were both strong personalities, who negotiated what each needed by affording reciprocal support for the other. The usual focus on Pius XII and his role during the Third Reich is best understood here against the background of what this book studies, the reign of Pius XI and the Church's complicity with Mussolini and fascism. Pius XII is a sidelight in this book but the one who ultimately chooses not to stand against Hitler and the Third Reich for the sake of preservation of the Church rather than to protect those targeted in Hitler's genocide.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-05-24
Truly prescient
As the global theatre expands, it would be wise for all of us to learn from past mistakes.
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- Alan
- 06-06-14
A good listen
Very very very good account of the relationships of Pope Pius XI and the future Pius XII with Benito Musillini and to a lesser degree, Adolph Hitler.
Pius XI originally was please to find a working partner in Il Duce as he saw the chance for the Vatican to grow in influence against Pius XI's two ideological enemies, the Protestant Movement and Communism. Additionally Pius XI did not believe in a representational type of government.
Where Pius XI began to have serious rifts with Musillini was over the newly passed anti-Semitic laws. Pius XI believed that christian compassion should extend to the Jews. Additionally, Pius XI also held different ideas when it came to baptized catholic jews.
The future Piux XII, the papal secretary of state, favored strong ties to Mussilini and by extension, Adolph Hitler. Upon XI's death, XII ordered the total ban on the yet unpublished XI's papal encyclical which was viewed as very unfavorable to Hitler and Musillini. Both XI and XII have "a lot of 'splanin to do." Pius XII always had a cloud of antisemitism hanging over his head and this book greatly adds to that belief
Buyer beware tho ..... Lots and lots of Italian names most of which are superfluous to the main story.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Karina Inigo
- 07-14-15
It is not narrated well - the delivery does not keep it as captivating as this book should be
It is an incredible story that if narrated by the right person can be very captivating.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Gary LA
- 04-29-15
Award winner
I selected this book because it won the Pulitzer Prize. It was better than I imagined. The author did a tremendous amount of research. He is excellent story teller. He discovered collaboration by some Catholic leaders that has been covered up.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Linda B
- 08-25-18
worth the time keeping the characters straight
loved the detail and perspective. after a few chapters the names were easy to remember because the writing was so specfic to each person invojved.
great reminder of the periles faced and choices made that informs the world today
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1 person found this helpful
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- Christine Trillo
- 03-11-22
Well researched and composed
This book was very well researched and composed showing the history between Pope Pius XII and Mussolini.
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