Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Catholic Talk Show. Today we got a special guest, Michael Knowles. We're going to be talking about Pope Pius the 12th and whether or not he was the Fuhrer's Pope.

That's right. We're going to take a look at the exciting new project Michael's put together, where he looks into the Vatican secret documents around World War II and hopefully once and for all dispels the myth of Pope Pius

the 12th being Hitler's Pope. Welcome back to the show.

Michael, really excited to hear about this topic.

It's good to see.

I think the last time we interviewed you was in Hollywood six years ago.

So like I said before, it's great to be back. I just, I think we need to

do this more frequently than twice a decade or whatever we're at now. It's good. Now, fully out of

Hollywood, left Gamora by the sea, happily ensconced here in Nashville, Tennessee. I wondered if

there would be any Catholics in Tennessee.

Turns out probably the most vibrant, not only Catholic, but specifically trad Catholic community.

I think that I've ever been around. So it's great. This matches national trends. Everyone seems to be becoming Catholic these days.

And they're a little more interested in the smells and the bells and the tradition. So I guess it's somewhat surprised me that Pius the 12th would be a flashpoint again all these years later, but maybe not. You know, everything old is new again. That's right. You know, I'm glad that we're talking about this topic today because Pius of 12th has long been one of my favorite popes.

And if you can say to Pope is a verb, I don't think there's anyone who poked better in recent memory than Pius the 12th.

He just understood the role of the pontificate, both from the geopolitical, from the faith base, from the encyclicals he put out, and just from the manner that

he carried himself in. But unfortunately, after World War II, and with a lot of propaganda and

likely KGB propaganda, he was falsely maligned as not having done enough to counter Nazi atrocities

against the Jewish and other populations. And probably because of that, his cause

or canonization has been held up. And I love that you're doing this project because Pies 12th needs

to be rehabilitated, not only in the minds of Catholics who don't have a deep enough understanding,

but of society in general to see what this line of a man actually did.

So how did this project come about, Michael?

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