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S i d e b a r
You Be the Judge
By Ronald Rychlak
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This Rock
Volume 12, Number 1
 January 2001 
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The first cause for suspicion is the cover of Cornwell’s book. The dust jacket of the British edition shows Nuncio Pacelli leaving a reception given for German president Hindenburg in 1927. The photograph, a favorite of those who seek to portray Pius XII in an unfavorable light, shows the nuncio dressed in formal diplomatic regalia (which could be easily confused with papal garments) exiting a building. On each side of him stand soldiers of the Weimar republic. In front of him a chauffeur salutes and holds open the square-looking door typical of automobiles from the 1920s. Those who are not familiar with the differences in uniform details could easily confuse the Weimar soldiers with Nazi soldiers because of the similarity and distinctiveness of their helmets.
Use of this photograph, especially when coupled with a provocative title such as Hitler’s Pope, gives the impression that Pope Pius XII is seen leaving a meeting with Hitler. To make matters worse, a dust-jacket caption on early British editions of the book notes that the photograph is from March 1939, the month Pacelli was made pope. Since by this time Hitler was Chancellor of Germany, a fair-minded person reading the caption could conclude that Cardinal Pacelli paid a visit to Hitler immediately prior to or just after being elected pope.
Though it never contained the wrong date like its British counterpart, the United States edition of Hitler’s Pope is far more revealing about the intentional misinformation that went into the marketing of the book. It uses the same photograph but it is cropped to eliminate two crucial points of reference: The soldier nearest the camera and the square door of the automobile. Both elements provide strong indications as to the true date of this photo.
Even more telling is the intentional blurring of the background. On the U.S. cover, Nuncio Pacelli is in focus but the soldier to his left and the chauffeur are so blurred it is impossible for even a well-trained observer to recognize that the soldier wears a Weimar uniform rather than a Nazi uniform. The blurred chauffeur, now that the 1920s-era car door is cropped out of the photo, takes on the appearance of a saluting SS officer. Even a civilian in the background could be a military (Nazi) official.
In our exchange in Brill’s Content magazine, responding to my criticism of the photo chosen for the book jacket, Cornwell said, "Not everybody is so ignorant of history to believe that the German helmet is a Nazi emblem. And only the worst sort of apologist would begin to censor photographic material for fear of causing a scandal."
Assuming that he is correct in his first statement (which he is not), what would one say about a journalist who would allow photographic material to be altered in order to cause scandal? Since the entire photo is in focus on the British edition, and since on the U.S. cover everything but Nuncio Pacelli is blurred and darkened, and key elements are cropped out, the only logical conclusion is that Viking Press intentionally altered the photograph to support the author’s thesis. Unfortunately, this is not the only dishonest.aspect of the book.
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