Robert Ventresca
Robert A. Ventresca is a historian at King's University College at Western University. He specializes in 20th century Europe, especially the history of fascism, postwar Italian and Cold War politics, as well as church-state relations. In addition to his scholarly publications, Professor Ventresca comments frequently in the media on issues related to contemporary Catholicism. He is married and lives in London, Ontario where, set afloat the blue sea of Leafs Nation, he resolutely wears the vibrant colours of the Montreal Canadiens.
Bio last updated April 30th, 2018.
Articles by Robert Ventresca
Soldier of Christ: The Life of Pope Pius XII
By Robert Ventresca
August 1, 2013
An excerpt from Robert Ventresca’s new book on the historically controversial pontiff
What if Pius XII had issued a forceful, unequivocal condemnation of Nazism and especially its persecution of Jews? What if the pope had directed his representatives and all European Catholics to resist Nazi policies actively? How many more Jews, and others, might have been saved? Indeed, to the criticism that Pius XII failed to protest forcefully in public when the Nazis began the roundup of Rome's Jews, his promoters argue that by virtue of his pru-dent, pragmatic approach, he helped save the lives of the vast majority of Rome's Jewish community There are many more such wartime records that document Pius XII's knowledge of and support for various initia-tives by papal representatives and Church institu-tions to protect tens of thousands of European Jews