On 19 April 1940 Celso Costantini prophetically wrote in his diary that if Italy followed Hitler into war, it would be allying itself with the "Anti-Christ." Within weeks, Mussolini's fascist regime plunged Italy into the destructive maelstrom of global military conflict. The ensuing years brought world war, the fall of fascism, occupation, liberation, and the emergence of a new political order. The Secrets of a Vatican Cardinal is an extraordinary and detailed behind-the-scenes account of crucial episodes in Europe's wartime history from a unique vantage point: the Vatican and the Eternal City. Costantini, a close advisor to Pope Pius XII, possessed a perspective few of his contemporaries could match. His diaries offer new insights into the great issues of the time - the Nazi occupation, the fall of Mussolini, the tumultuous end of the Italian monarchy, the birth of republican democracy in Italy, and the emergence of a new international order - while also recounting heartbreaking stories of the suffering, perseverance, and heroism of ordinary people. Less than a century later, with the world's attention gripped by the first papal resignation in six hundred years, The Secrets of a Vatican Cardinal presents a clear-eyed, fascinating, and complex portrait of the Roman Catholic Church's recent history. A first-hand account of the Eternal City in wartime Italy from within the Vatican's inner circle. Celso Costantini (1876-1958) was ordained in 1899 and served the Vatican court as secretary of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. Bruno Fabio Pighin is professor in the Faculty of Canon Law at St Pius X in Venice, Italy. Laurence B. Mussio is a senior business historian, consultant, and strategic advisor to senior executives in finance, technology and government. He is the co-founder of the Long Run Initiative. He lives in Toronto. "The Secrets of a Vatican Cardinal opens a window on the war years of the Fascist regime, and presents insights of the growing opposition within Italian society to Mussolini's dreadful decision of joining the fray in 1940." H-Net
