Quotes from David I. Kertzer

the Church acts immediately.

The story of the earlier decades remains unknown and largely unexamined.

continuing the new pope's policy of remaining silent about the issue.

how much he admired the pope's ability to craft his speeches in a way that ensured they would offend no one.

state secret matter.

pope would have Poland in his prayers.

the pope had blessed Poland. Although Cardinal Maglione and Monsignor Tardini found this unobjectionable, Pius XII demurred

Ritual may be vital to reaction, but it is also the life blood of revolution.

It took a lot of nerve, De Vecchi added—broaching a taboo topic—for the archbishop to accuse the Fascists of being savages when at the same time the Vatican expected the government to keep silent about widespread cases of priestly immorality. One of these days, the ambassador warned, the pope would go too far. He would not

Because the humiliations and the punishments inflicted on the Germans this time will be even worse than those that followed Versailles;