Pietro Tacchi Venturi (; March 18, 1861–March 19, 1956)''New York Times''. 1956, March 19. "Obituary 3--No Title". p. 31. was a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest and historian who served as the unofficial liaison between

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

, the

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

leader of Italy from 1922 to 1943, and Popes

Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City f ...

and

Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius ...

. He was also one of the architects of the 1929

Lateran Treaty The Lateran Treaty ( it, Patti Lateranensi; la, Pacta Lateranensia) was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settl ...

, which ended the " Roman Question" (a dispute over the status of the papacy since the

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

), and recognized the sovereignty of

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

, which made it an actor of

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such ...

.TIME. 1928, May 12.
ITALY: Jesuit Stabbed
. A claimed attempt to assassinate Venturi with a

paper knife The terms paper knife and letter opener are often used interchangeably to refer to a knife-like desktop tool. In truth, they are actually for different functions and were in use at different times. Paper knives are used for cutting open the pages ...

(actually the result of a homosexual lovers' quarrel), one year before the treaty's completion, made headlines around the world. Venturi had begun the process of reconciliation by convincing Mussolini to donate the valuable library of the

Palazzo Chigi The Chigi Palace ( it, Palazzo Chigi ) is a palace and former noble residence in Rome which is the seat of the Council of Ministers and the official residence of the Prime Minister of Italy. Since 22 October 2022, the tenant of the Chigi Palace h ...

to the Vatican. According to

Susan Zuccotti Susan Sessions Zuccotti (born November 14, 1940) is an American historian, specializing in studies of the Holocaust. She holds a PhD in Modern European History from Columbia University. She has won a National Jewish Book Award for Holocaust Stud ...

, Venturi "had an uncanny ability to gain access where more official papal diplomats could not" and thus was utilized for some of the most important papal priorities. Venturi had no official rank in the church to match his extraordinary influence, and was known in Vatican circles as the "man in black".

Early life (1861-1922)

Venturi was born in

San Severino Marche San Severino Marche is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona and about southwest of Macerata. History From prehistory to Roman age The oldest remains of human pre ...

.Tacchi Venturi, Pietro
Enciclopedie on line, Treccani.it. He became a member of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, a religious order within the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, in 1878. He established a reputation as a scholar of history and literature.Salvatore Cortesi. 1928, February 11. "Italy to Indemnify Church, Rome Hears". ''New York Times''. p. 4. Venturi was admitted into the

Pontifical Academy of Archaeology The Pontifical Academy of Archaeology (''Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia'') is an academic honorary society established in Rome by the Catholic Church for the advancement of Christian archaeological study. It is one of the ten such Pon ...

and other scientific bodies. Venturi was the official historian of the Italian branch of the Jesuit order and the Secretary of the Society of Jesus from 1914 to 1921. His ''

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

'' was a history of the Jesuits. Another important work by Venturi was the publication of previously unpublished writings of

Matteo Ricci Matteo Ricci, SJ (; la, Mattheus Riccius; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610), was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He created the , a 1602 map of the world written in Chinese characters. ...

, one of the founders of the

Jesuit China missions The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a si ...

. The ''Opere storiche del P. Matteo Ricci, S.J'' (Historical Works of Father Matteo Ricci, S.J.) appeared in two volumes in 1911 and 1913, and included Ricci's letters as well as his ''Commentarj della Cina'' (Commentary on China), the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

manuscript that had been previously published only in the expanded and edited Latin version of

Nicolas Trigault Nicolas Trigault (1577–1628) was a Jesuit, and a missionary in China. He was also known by his latinised name Nicolaus Trigautius or Trigaultius, and his Chinese name Jin Nige (). Life and work Born in Douai (then part of the County of Flanders ...

(as ''

De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas ''De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu ... '' (Latin for "On the Christian Mission among the Chinese by the Society of Jesus...") is a book based on an Italian manuscript written by the most important founding figure ...

''). However, Venturi's lack of knowledge of Chinese made it necessary for Fr. Pasquale d'Elia to produce another, better annotated edition of Ricci's manuscripts (known as ''Fonti Ricciane'') some 30 years later, in the 1940s."Dicionário Português-Chinês : 葡汉辞典 (Pu-Han cidian): Portuguese-Chinese dictionary", by

Michele Ruggieri Michele or Michael Ruggieri (1543– 11 May 1607), born Pompilio Ruggieri and known in China as Luo Mingjian, was an Italian Jesuit priest and missionary. A founding father of the Jesuit China missions, co-author of the first European–Chinese di ...

; edited by John W. Witek. Published 2001, Biblioteca Nacional.
Partial preview
available on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

. P. 179.

Pius XI's liaison to Mussolini (1922-1939)

Chigi library donation (1922)

"liked and trusted" Venturi, whom he had known since 1922, during the Fascist struggle for power.Chadwick, 1988, p. 62. The friendship between the two predated Mussolini's rise to power. He thus became the "normal instrument for messages between the pope and Mussolini". Venturi's relationship with Mussolini became professional when

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City f ...

chose him to negotiate the purchase of the ancient library of the

(the residence of the prominent

Chigi family The House of Chigi () is an Italian princely family of Sienese origin descended from the counts of Ardenghesca, which possessed castles in the Maremma, southern Tuscany. Later, the family settled in Rome. The earliest authentic mention of them ...

) from the newly created Fascist regime (the Italian government was on the verge of buying the collection). Venturi persuaded Mussolini to donate an ancient state collection of religious books to the Vatican free of charge. Vatican attempts to buy the texts date back to

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his deat ...

, who lacked the requisite funds to complete the transaction. Mussolini's donation became the start of the process of reconciliation between the Italian government and the papacy, which had been at odds since the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

were seized during the

. Along with Count

Galeazzo Ciano Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 1 ...

, Mussolini's son-in-law, Venturi served as the unofficial, yet authoritative "intermediary between

Palazzo Venezia The Palazzo Venezia or Palazzo Barbo (), formerly Palace of St. Mark, is a palazzo (palace) in central Rome, Italy, just north of the Capitoline Hill. The original structure of this great architectural complex consisted of a modest medieval h ...

and the Vatican". Venturi was also the personal

Confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Webster, 1960, p. 122. His political views could generally be classified as a strain of Clerico-Fascism. Venturi was an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist who believed the Catholic Church was threatened by a "worldwide Jewish-Masonic plutocracy" and advocated putting all Italian Jewish bankers under police surveillance. In September 1926, Venturi gave Mussolini a pamphlet entitled ''Zionism and Catholicism'' accusing the Jews of wanting "to destroy current society and dominate the world themselves, as their Talmud proscribes".

Lateran Treaties (1927-1929)

Venturi was a negotiator of the

(1929), which ended the " Roman Question" (a dispute over the status of the papacy since the

) and officially recognized the sovereignty of

, which led the Church State to become an actor in

(apart from the Holy See itself, as it had previously been) according to

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

. In May 1928, already internationally known for his role as a negotiator, Venturi survived an attempted assassination by "Signor De Angelis" with a

, receiving only a neck laceration when he ducked out the way.''New York Times''. 1928, February 29. "Stabs Jesuit Agent in Vatican Issue". p. 5. Two years later, another priest similar to Venturi in appearance was killed.TIME. 1931, September 7.
ITALY-PAPAL STATE: Man In Black
. Venturi claimed to have been the victim of an international conspiracy organized by an anti-Fascist group based in Paris led by Gaetano Salvemini, but the police were highly doubtful of his story. It was established during the police investigation that Venturi was a homosexual who had "illicit relations" with young men he picked up on the streets of Rome and took back to his apartment for sex, and the murder attempt was just a lovers' quarrel. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described Venturi as the "chief negotiator, who remains in the dark and is almost unknown". Noting Pius XI and Mussolini's penchant for privacy regarding the negotiations, the ''Times'' continued to describe Venturi as "a quiet man who could tell much" yet refused to acknowledge that he was any more than "Mussolini's personal messenger to the Vatican". Nominally, Francesco Pacelli (the brother of Eugenio Pacelli, future Pope Pius XII) became the chief negotiator and Venturi his intermediary with Mussolini during the final stages of the negotiation (after the death of State Councilor Domenico Barone). The other negotiators were

Francesco Borgongini Duca Francesco Borgongini Duca (26 February 1884 – 4 October 1954) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Apostolic Nuncio to Italy from 1929 to 1953 and was made a cardinal in 1953 by Pope Pius XII. ...

, the Vatican's Secretary of Extraordinary Affairs, and Professor Gianinni Barone, the brother of Domenico; however, Venturi himself was the originator of the negotiations. Venturi received the

Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus ( it, Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro) (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the ...

from the Italian monarchy in 1932 for his role in negotiating the treaty.

, the nuncio to Italy from 1929 to 1953, supplemented Venturi as the official liaison between Pius XII and Mussolini, but Venturi retained his influence.

Mussolini novel (1929)

At the urging of Venturi, Mussolini wrote a second book – ''Una Conversione'' – about his conversion to Catholicism, meant as a sequel to his twenty-year-old novel which was extremely critical of the church: ''Claudia Particella: l'amante del Cardinale'' (translated and published in English as ''The Cardinal's Mistress'').''New York Times''. 1929, May 26. "Mussolini Writing of his Conversion". p. E8. Venturi himself wrote the preface to ''Una Conversione''.

Catholic Action (1931)

In 1931, Venturi negotiated the end to a dispute between Pius XI and Mussolini regarding, ''

Azione Cattolica The Azione Cattolica Italiana, or Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action) for short, is a widespread Roman Catholic lay association in Italy. History In Italy in 1905, Azione Cattolica was established as a non-political lay organization under the dir ...

'', the Italian branch of

Catholic Action Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, It ...

, a

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune * Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) ...

Catholic community organization group.Arnaldo Cortesi. 1931, August 20. "Pope Consults Aide on Italian Dispute". ''New York Times''. p. 6. Venturi was granted an unheard of hour-long audience with the pontiff during his summer vacation, and then an additional meeting with Cardinal Secretary of State Pacelli. The Vatican claimed that Venturi was merely "preparing the ground for official negotiation". Don

Luigi Sturzo Luigi Sturzo (; 26 November 1871 – 8 August 1959) was an Italian Catholic priest and prominent politician. He was known in his lifetime as a "clerical socialist" and is considered one of the fathers of the Christian democratic platform. He w ...

, the founder of the Partito Popolare Italiano, a Catholic political party in Italy, credits Venturi with ending the dispute. Mussolini allowed the 15,000 youth organizations to reopen, but they were required to affiliate closely with the official Fascist youth organization,

Opera Nazionale Balilla Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) was an Italian Fascist youth organization functioning between 1926 and 1937, when it was absorbed into the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL), a youth section of the National Fascist Party. It takes its name ...

. The terms of the agreement were meant to give the Vatican a role in "Fascist Youth Education" and required that the Catholic organization be devolved to the diocesan level, with no centralized hierarchy, and that

chaplains A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intel ...

be attached to the Balilla chapters. Venturi himself sat in on the final meeting between Mussolini and the pope.

Drafting of the Anti-Jewish laws (1938)

Venturi was kept informed by Mussolini during the drafting of Italy's anti-Jewish laws (which deprived

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

of various civil, political, and economic rights), expressing concerns about the effect of the laws on Catholics, both through mixed marriages and Catholic converts from Judaism. Specifically, Venturi sought the lifting of the ban on marriages between "Aryans" and "non-Aryans".

Role under Pius XII (1939-1956)

Upon the election of Pius XII by the

papal conclave, 1939 The 1939 papal conclave was held, following the death of Pope Pius XI on 10 February 1939. All 62 cardinals of the Catholic Church met on 1 March. The next day, on the third ballot, they elected Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who was Camerlengo and ...

, it was announced that Dom Francesco Tomasetti (d. May 5, 1953), the procurator general of the

Salesian Order , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turi ...

, would replace Venturi as the unofficial messenger between the pope and Mussolini after "a struggle of another kind, less open but having many of the same elements as that over the choice of Secretary of State". Venturi remained the official representative to various Italian government agencies such as the heads of police and general board of demographics and race.Blet, 1999, p. 156. On the eve of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Cardinal

Luigi Maglione Luigi Maglione (2 March 1877 – 22 August 1944) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1935 and served as the Vatican Secretary of State under Pope Pius XII from 1939 until his death. Pius ...

, the Vatican Secretary of State, used Venturi as his emissary with Mussolini. Venturi persuaded Mussolini to give his approval to Pius XII's plan to mediate between the Five Powers (the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

of Germany and Italy and the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

of the United Kingdom, France, and Poland). Through Venturi, who continued to be "very important" to Pius XII because of his weight with Mussolini, Pius XII communicated to the Italian government his disapproval of the French and British attempts to negotiate an alliance with Soviet Russia, the so-called "peace front". The Vatican did not have diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Pius XII also sent Venturi to Brussels for mediation negotiations with regard to the Danzig crisis in the summer of 1939 in an attempt to avert World War II. Venturi was a key player in the negotiations, though they accomplished nothing. The plan that Mussolini presented to Venturi to end the Danzig crisis called for Poland to allow the Free City of Danzig to rejoin Germany in exchange for negotiations with Germany about allowing the Poles to use Danzig without customs duties. The plan also called for German-Polish negotiations on the returning the Polish Corridor to Germany and on the status of the German minority in Poland and Polish minority in Germany. Despite the opposition of Cardinal

Domenico Tardini Domenico Tardini (29 February 1888 – 30 July 1961) was a longtime aide to Pope Pius XII in the Secretariat of State. Pope John XXIII named him Cardinal Secretary of State and, in this position the most prominent member of the Roman Curia in ...

who complained the peace plan favored Germany at the expense of Poland, Venturi persuaded both Cardinal Maglione and Pius to accept it as the last, best chance to stop another world war. On 31 August 1939, Monsignor

Filippo Cortesi Filippo Cortesi (8 Octobter 1876 – 1 February 1947) was the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland from December 24, 1936 to February 1, 1947. Cortesi earlier served as nuncio to Paraguay in the interim. Cortesi was the only Apostolic Nuncio to Poland, nu ...

, the Papal Nuncio in Warsaw, presented Mussolini's peace plan to Jan Szembek, appealing to him as a Catholic to accept this solution to the Danzig crisis that had been endorsed by the Pope, but the Polish government rejected it under the grounds that this plan lopsidedly favored Germany.

The Ustashe regime

On a few occasions, Venturi used this influence to spare Catholic converts from Judaism from the Holocaust. The fascistic ''Ustashe'' regime that ruled Croatia between 1941 and 1945 had a policy of exterminating some of the Serb, Jewish and Romany minorities while forcing others to convert to Catholicism.

Michael Phayer Michael Phayer (born 1935) is an American historian and professor emeritus at Marquette University in Milwaukee and has written on 19th- and 20th-century European history and the Holocaust. Phayer received his PhD from the University of Munich i ...

documents one such occasion where Venturi intervened on behalf of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

n converts. Venturi is otherwise little mentioned in Phayer's book, referred to simply as a "Jesuit rescuer".

Opposition to repeal of Anti-Jewish laws (1943)

In August 1943, when Marshall

Pietro Badoglio Pietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino (, ; 28 September 1871 – 1 November 1956), was an Italian general during both World Wars and the first viceroy of Italian East Africa. With the fall of the Fascist regime ...

, Mussolini's successor, was contemplating a complete rescission of Italy's anti-Jewish laws, Venturi met with the Secretary of the Interior and requested that only the portions affecting Jewish converts to Catholicism be repealed.Goldhagen, 2002, p. 149. In doing so, Venturi was advancing the position of Pius XII, as he later reported to Cardinal Secretary of State

.Goldhagen, 2002, p. 150. Venturi assured Maglione:

I took care not to call for the total abrogation of a law which, according to the principles and traditions of the Catholic Church, certainly has some clauses that should be abolished, but which clearly contains others that have merit and should be confirmed.

The Roman ''razzia'' (1943)

After the Roman ''razzia'' (the deportation of Roman Jews to death camps as part of

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...

), Venturi recommended to the Vatican Secretariat a "symbolic and therefore sham inquiry into the fate of the Jews of Rome".Goldhagen, 2002, p. 170. He reasoned, "a step like this by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

, even if it does not obtain the desired effect, will without doubt help increase the veneration and gratitude toward the August Person of the Holy Father".

Death

Nothing else is known of the role of Venturi after the death of Mussolini on April 28, 1945, or for that matter after Mussolini's fall from power. Venturi died "virtually forgotten" on March 18, 1956, at the age of 95.

Notes

References

*Blet, Pierre, and Johnson, Lawrence J. 1999. ''Pius XII and the Second World War: According to the Archives of the Vatican''. Paulist Press. . * Chadwick, Owen. 1988. ''Britain and the Vatican During the Second World War''. Cambridge University Press. * Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. 2002. ''

A Moral Reckoning ''A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair'' is a 2003 book by the political scientist Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, previously the author of ''Hitler's Willing Executioners'' (1996). Gold ...

''. Alfred A. Knopf. * * Morley, John. 1980. ''Vatican diplomacy and the Jews during the Holocaust, 1939-1943''. New York: KTAV Pub. House. . * Phayer, Michael. 2000. ''The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930–1965''. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. . *Watt, D.C. ''How War Came: The Immediate Origins of World War II'', London: Heinemann 1989, *Webster, Richard A. 1960. ''The cross and the fasces: Christian democracy and fascism in Italy''. * Zuccotti, Susan. 2000. '' Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tacchi Venturi, Pietro 1861 births 1956 deaths Pope Pius XII and World War II Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust 19th-century Italian Jesuits 20th-century Italian historians 20th-century Italian Jesuits Italian conspiracy theorists