On the 75th Anniversary of the Vatican Radio, Pope Benedict XVI toured the Vatican Radio Station, greeted the Radio listeners as he visited a studio that was transmitting live, and met with the staff in the Marconi Room. In this Conference Room at Palazzo Pio there is a painting by Irio Fantini showing the Popes who have spoken from Vatican Radio's microphones together with Guglielmo Marconi, who built the first Radio Station in Vatican City in 1931.

I was moved to read about the Pope's visit as I recalled when I made a formal presentation of my first book on Pope Pius XII in the Marconi Conference Room in 1997. Present were Vatican dignitaries, guests, reporters and an audience that overflowed into the adjacent rooms. Why did this recent papal visit impress me? Because I realized that it was Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli who implemented the project to initiate the work of the Vatican Radio.

Vatican Radio has enjoyed a long history of world recognition and credibility, supporting both the sacred and secular objectives of seven popes throughout seventy-five years of religious and political turmoil. It has been the daily "voice" of the Pontiffs-a bridge uniting the Shepherd with his flock. It not only broadcasts the teachings of the Roman Pontiff, but it also gives information on the activities of the Holy See, reports on Catholic life throughout the world, and indicates the Church's point of view on current issues and her readiness to respond to the signs of the times. Vatican Radio announces the Christian message freely and efficiently and links the center of Catholicism with the different countries of the world.

When the Papal States were invaded by the new Italian army in 1870, Pope Pius IX, the Bishop of Rome, was deprived of all temporal power and became a prisoner in the Vatican. The succeeding Popes also remained in the Vatican. In 1929, during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI, the signing of the Lateran Treaty with the Italian Government was accomplished. Vatican City became an independent, sovereign state within Italy, with separate laws, currency, and postage stamps.

Among members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy was Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, then Vatican secretary of state, who sought ways to strengthen the Vatican's power against the growing pressures applied by the secular state. Pacelli suggested that the Holy See investigate the possibilities of incorporating a new medium, "radio," into church evangelization. With "airwaves" of broadcast technology, no pope could ever be driven into isolation again; geographic and political borders had become virtually meaningless. Pius XI listened intently to Pacelli's arguments and later supported his proposal to build a transnational system for the Church. Pacelli began negotiations with inventor Guglielmo Marconi to create a powerful shortwave radio system for Vatican use.

In fact, as early as 1925, the future first director, Jesuit physicist Giuseppe Gianfranceschi, wrote a letter recommending the creation of a Vatican broadcasting center. By June 1929, only four days after the Lateran Concordat entered into force, Pius XI entrusted the setting up of Vatican Radio to Marconi. On November 8, 1929, a Vatican-Italy accord stipulated the regulations for Holy See communications. Its inauguration took place in the Vatican gardens, February 12, 1931.

Pius XI's dream of transnational broadcasting was realized mainly because of the strong friendship between Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli and Guglielmo Marconi. In 1930 Pacelli approached Marconi to help him modernize the Vatican secretariat by introducing an efficient telephone system as well as a powerful shortwave radio station. Marconi readily agreed. Construction of the Vatican radio facility went quickly and smoothly. Within months of Marconi's original discussions with Cardinal Pacelli, Pope Pius XI blessed the world's first transnational radio system. For the first time the Roman Pontiff's live voice was heard simultaneously across the planet.

Marconi introduced the Pope at the inaugural ceremonies: "It is my very great honor and privilege to announce to you that within a few moments the Supreme Pontiff, His Holiness Pius XI, will inaugurate the radio station of the State of Vatican City. The electric waves will carry his august words of peace and benediction throughout the world. "For nearly twenty centuries the Roman Pontiffs have given their inspired messages to all people, but this is the first time in history that the living voice of the Pope will have been heard simultaneously in all parts of the globe. With the help of Almighty God, who places such mysterious forces of nature at mankind's disposal, I have been able to prepare this instrument that will give to the faithful throughout the world the consolation of hearing the voice of the Holy Father.

"Holy Father, I have today the happiness of consigning to Your Holiness the work entrusted to me. Its completion is now consecrated by your august presence. Be pleased, Holy Father, I pray you, to let your voice be heard all over the world."

During almost two decades of his pontificate, Pius XII used the Vatican Radio to promote peace and understanding among nations. In a special way during World War II, he used it through the Vatican Information Office to locate missing prisoners of war. This is the story told in my most recent book: Crusade of Charity: Pius XII and POWs.

Few speaking or writing about Pope Pius XII today do so from a de-tached perspective. I am no exception. I am convinced that Pius XII was a wise and saintly man. I hope that readers will look with an open mind at the evidence I bring to bear concerning his work on behalf of victims of war - especially Jewish victims, the particular objects of Nazi hatred. I have not deluded myself into thinking that I have made the complete or final case for this dedicated servant of God. I do hope, however, that this book, whatever its strengths or weaknesses, will encourage others to do justice to this mistakenly criticized man. I truly believe that those who charge Pius XII with not doing everything he should have done to foster peace and help all victims of war and oppression should examine my story carefully.

Honest students of history must look skeptically at those accounts of Pope Pius XII's life which ignore relevant facts, present nuggets of infor-mation outside of any meaningful context, or rely on dubious or tainted sources (such as Soviet and Nazi propaganda) to make their case. In this book as in my other books, the reader will find persuasive evidence - in the form of news reports, testimony at the Nuremberg trials, documents in foreign archives, and research of reputable Jewish, Catholic, and other historians - that the Catholic Church consistently assisted Jewish victims of Nazi anti-Semitism as well as hundreds of thousands of other innocents. This fact is attested perhaps most strongly by the countless Jewish religious leaders, scholars, statesmen, journalists, and other dignitaries - quoted here verbatim - who have praised Pope Pius XII for his courage, compassion, and leadership.

Dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI, the main focus of this book is the little-known work of the Vatican Information Office, helping prisoners and their families during World War II. You will find here just a tiny sampling of the thousands of documents contained in wartime archives, attesting to the enormous work conducted by Church officials, at Pope Pius XII's behest, to as-suage some part of the suffering brought on by history's bloodiest war. The historical record which notes the evil that was perpetrated should also remember the greatness of the human spirit in surviving and overcoming that evil. It is my hope that this contribution to that record will encourage a greater mutual understanding between Christians and Jews, a renewed appreciation for the evils brought on by war, and a greater devotion to the sanctity of individual human lives - lives such as those of these helpless war prisoners, whom Church officials labored diligently to save.