The Pope's Last Crusade Large Print: How an American Jesuit Helped Pope Pius XI's Campaign to Stop Hitler

(Paperback)

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A conspiracy within the Vaticanto stop an outspoken Pope

In 1938, Pope Pius XI was the world's most prominent critic of the Nazi Party. To make his voice heard, Pius called upon an American Jesuit, John LaFarge, to write a papal encyclicalthe Vatican's strongest decreepublicly condemning Hitler's murderous campaign.

But conservative members in the Vatican like Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli toiled in secret to suppress the document from appearing.Pacelli, who would become Pope Pius XII, colluded with others to keep the finished encyclical from reaching the increasingly-ill Pope.

Peter Eisner, award-winning reporter and author of the critically acclaimed The Freedom Line, reports shocking new evidence (released only recently from Vatican archives) of this deceit.

An astonishing tale of intrigue and sedition, The Pope's Last Crusade is a compelling journey into the heart of the Vatican. A truly essential work, it brings new light to one of the most critical junctures in modern history.

Reviews

"Engrossing. ... Lively." -- Library Journal

"An exciting reminder of how Vatican machinations continue to haunt history." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Gripping. ... Finally, the story of a lost opportunity that could have affected the course of history can now be told." -- Voice of Reason

Author Bio

Peter Eisner is a deputy foreign editor at the Washington Post. He served as a foreign editor at Newsday from 1985 through 1989 and as the paper''s Latin America correspondent from 1989 through 1994. He was also a reporter, editor and bureau chief with the Associated Press. Eisner won the InterAmerican Press Association Award in 1991 for his investigations of drug trafficking in the Americas. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.