ns, however, are in the errata of historical facts—beginning right on page one, where Pollard states that the Second Vatican Council was called in 1961 (it was 1959, in a communication of Pope John XXIII to the cardinals assembled at St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls in Rome).
Two further examples might also give American readers pause. In his assertion that the Vatican had no representation at the Evian Conference of July 6-15, 1938 (not July 6-12, as Pollard has it), at which some 32 nations came together to discuss the growing humanitarian plight of Germany’s Jews, it is not that the Vatican deliberately absented itself or that it ignored the proceedings. In point of fact, the American Catholic James G. McDonald, the adjutant for Myron Taylor at Evian, worked in concert with Count Enrico Galeazzi, and through him, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the Secretary of State, to keep the Secretariat abreast of the situation. McDonald met personally with Pacelli shortly after the conference concluded and the American briefed him on the Nazis’ “racial primitivism” that posed a threat not only to Europe’s Jews, but to the Church as well. While no one can consult every source, there are two absent from Pollard’s bibliography that might have helped him to reach a more nuanced analysis of the situation: Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald, 1935-1945 edited by Richard Breitman, Barbara McDonald Stewart, and Severin Hochberg (Indiana University Press, 2009) and John F. Morley’s Vatican Diplomacy and the Jews During the Holocaust, 1939-1943 (KTAV, 1980). Although the Evian meeting came to naught, many other avenues were opened by way of the European nunciatures and apostolic delegations around the world—particularly the United States.
Second, Pollard’s suggestion that Clare Booth Luce was viewed with apprehension at the Vatican does not match up with the evidence. Luce was instrumental in arranging for a U.S. tour in 1947 of Alcide de Gaspari, the Italian leader of the Popolari and a political juggernaut among Christian Democrats. The cooperative spirit between the future American Ambassador to Italy (Luce was in that post from 1953-1961) and de Gaspari could not have pleased the Vatican Secretariat of State more, insofar as their mission was all the same: defeat communists. In league with Luce and a fervent supporter of American interests at the Vatican was Bishop Martin O’Connor, rector of the Pontifical North American College. Pollard makes no mention of this whatsoever (Luce’s papers, which are completely by-passed, are readily available at the Library of Congress; O’Connor’s are at the Catholic University of America). Professor Pollard’s work has some blind spots, not least of which is the fact that Luce is one of only a few women mentioned in the entire book—the others being the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mother Pascalina Lehnhart, Eugenio Pacelli’s housekeeper during his time as nuncio to Germany, Secretary of State, and as Pope Pius XII.
Despite its unevenness, this thick tome—with its ample bibliography—should spark more particular research into papal diplomacy.
This review was originally published in the Fall 2015 issue of the American Catholic Studies Newsletter.