Lonely Cold War of Pope Pius XII

Download or read book Lonely Cold War of Pope Pius XII written by Peter C. Kent and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2002-05-21 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Lonely Cold War of Pope Pius XII Peter Kent shows how the Catholic Church was able to continue to exist on both sides of the Iron Curtain in spite of the division of Europe after the Second World War. Although Christian democracy became increasingly influential in western Europe, the struggle to preserve the position and rights of the Church in the east was much more difficult. When east European governments, under Moscow's direction, began their offensive against the independence of the Church in 1948, the papacy found that it stood alone, with little assistance from the U.S. Kent offers a new assessment of Pius XII, extending the study of his career and papacy beyond the Second World War. He also examines the origins of the Cold War, the European perspective on American and Soviet policies, and the diplomatic role and influence of the Roman Catholic Church.