He is among some of the most controversial of holy men, the target of a movement to canonize him and also the target of popular books blaming him for the Holocaust. In this relatively objective treatment, journalist and biographer Noel finds Pius XII instead to be a complicated man beset from the moment he assumed the papacy. Noel argues that the pope of World War II had too many pressures on all sides, personal and political as well as theological, to perform as we now would wish he had. Noel details the relationships within the pope's inner circle and their effects on papal policies; in essence, those around him caused the pope to become rigid and authoritarian. Further, Noel finds evidence that Pius XII was heavily influenced by an intense but platonic relationship with a very powerful woman and was weighed down by obligations to keep a Church surrounded by fascism alive. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)