Professor to Deliver Presentation on the Catholic Church and Nazi Prosecution

WORCESTER, Mass. – Frank Coppa, professor of history at St. John’s University and author of The Papacy, the Jews, and the Holocaust (2006), will give a presentation on the moral issues and political context of the decisions made by Pope Pius regarding the victims of Nazi persecution during World War II.  The lecture, titled “The Catholic Church, the Holocaust and the Silence of Pius XII,” will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The event is sponsored by the Kraft-Hiatt Program for Jewish-Christian Understanding and the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture. It is free and open to the public.

In addition to being a history professor, Coppa is the director of the University's doctoral program in modern world history.  He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Catholic University of America. His research and teaching interests include Italian and European history.

Coppa is the author of a series of biographies including those on Giovanni Giolitti, Camillo di Cavour, Pope Pius IX and Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli. Recently, he published the fifth and final volume in the Longman History of the Papacy--The Modern Papacy (1998) and in 1999 served as the editor-in-chief and contributor to Encyclopedia of the Vatican and Papacy and Controversial Concordats: The Vatican's Relations with Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler. He has reviewed all the popes for the Encyclopedia Brittanica's on-line references to the papacy and all the popes from the Renaissance through Gregory XVI for the new edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia. He is currently editing a volume titled “Notable Popes” and writing a volume on “The Papacy Confronts the Modern World.”

About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture: Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.