Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli was born in 1876, in Rome, Italy. Several members of his family were involved in the Catholic religious hierarchy. In 1894, he went to study theology at the Almo Collegio Capranica. He was ordained a priest in 1899. He was elected Pope in 1939, changing his name to Pope Pius XII. At the beginning of World War II, he tried to dissuade governments for entering into war. He followed a strict policy of neutrality, preferring to state a message of peace instead of taking a stand against nonsense and genocide. He did secretly offer assistance to Jewish people, which has been remembered favorably through the years. In the post-war era, he focused on material aid and the promotion of anti-Nazis to positions of power.

This book, and several others, have suggested that there was a plot schemed up by Hitler and his cronies to kidnap and possibly kill Pope Pius XII for his lack of support to the Nazi regime, his aid to targeted groups, in retaliation for Mussolini's fate, and simply because he hated Catholics. It has been said that these were simply propaganda rumors put out, but this seems like something Hitler and his minions would have done. I learned a bit about Pope Pius XII from this book, but I learned a good deal about SS General Karl Wolff, whom I had scarcely read about before now. I thought the book was interesting enough, though it did contain a lot of information and facts that I had previously encountered.