BRITISH AUTHOR JOHN CORNWELL BELIEVES HE IS VICTIM OF INTRIGUE
Surprised by Criticisms of His Book Against Pius XII
ROME, OCT 19 (ZENIT).- Britain's John Cornwell, author of the controversial book "Hitler's Pope," on Pius XII, is energetically reacting to the Vatican's criticism of his book. In a fiery interview with the U.S. magazine "Jewish Week," Cornwell spoke of a plot contrived by traditionalist Catholic scholars to demonize him. In addition, he warned the Vatican about Pius XII's beatification process: "an action that would forever compromise the credibility of the process through which saints are named." The author says he is "the victim of a mud-slinging campaign orchestrated by the extreme right wing of the Catholic Church, which has tried to discredit my research tools, accusing me of weaving a conspiracy against the Papacy. They want to kill the messenger, because they don't like the message, which they have sealed as a sacrilege," Cornwell said. In spite of the fact that the Vatican recently clarified that Cornwell did not -- as he claims in his book -- find any new documentation; and that the supposedly "unpublished letter" exhibited by the British author was actually published seven years ago, and does not prove that Pacelli had any anti-Semitic feelings, The British author warns: "I am convinced that the Catholic Church will fall into a profound crisis if it is incapable of acknowledging its own errors in the 20th century." Cornwell concluded the interview warning the Vatican that "the more you demonize my message, the more aberrations like the Holocaust run the risk of recurring."
Zenit