Church of Spies

Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler by Mark Riebling, 250 pages

Church of Spies is a history of the clandestine contacts between German anti-Nazi circles and the Vatican of Pope Pius XII, centering on the combative Munich lawyer Josef Mueller, nicknamed "Joey Ox", who worked as a go-between for Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of German Military Intelligence, and Church leaders in Germany and Rome.  Between Mueller's connection to Canaris and a circle of Jesuits working with General Ludwig Beck, the pope and his agents - dubbed the "Black Chapel" by the SS - were tied directly or indirectly to virtually every German resistance group, including Claus van Stauffenburg's conspiracy, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the White Rose.

There are some surprises in Riebling's book, especially how early the alliance between the Pope and the anti-Hitler plotters was forged - already during the Phoney War of 1939 contacts were established with the British government for a Vatican-brokered peace agreement in the event of Hitler's overthrow.  Unfortunately, the book is marred somewhat by Riebling's sensationalistic tendencies (Catholic Action is described as "a practice" used "to cultivate influence agents" and form "'front' groups"), a fault which is exacerbated by his sloppiness (he tells the story of the Scholls without even mentioning their comrade Christoph Probst, who was arrested and executed with them).  These flaws do not stop the book from being consistently interesting and intensely dramatic, but the book would have been superior if it had dealt less with the remarkable personal story of Mueller and more with the discussions within the resistance concerning the aftermath of a successful coup which, Riebling hints, laid the groundwork for post-war Germany and Europe.