Michael Knowles Corrects False History Surrounding The Vatican And The Nazis

Faced with a choice between hating Pius XII for supposedly supporting Hitler and excusing Pius XII for supposedly supporting Hitler, there is a third option: the truth.

The truth, says Daily Wire host Michael Knowles, is that Pope Pius XII didn’t support Hitler at all.

In his new show “The Pope and the Führer: The Secret Vatican Files of World War II,” Knowles explores the real legacy of “the Silent Pope” and his response to the Third Reich.

“A journey into the secret Vatican archive, holding millions of documents related to Pope Pius’s pontificate, has revealed never-before-seen, primary accounts that upend the narrative we’ve been fed all these years,” Knowles says.

Some criticize Pope Pius XII for being “Hitler’s Pope.” Others praise him for it. The truth is none of the above.@michaeljknowles joins @JesseKellyDC to talk Nazis, the Church, and the new DailyWire+ series, “The Pope and the Führer: The Secret Vatican Files of World War II.” pic.twitter.com/nifY5l4EVM

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 14, 2025

The first episode, “The Secret Archive,” explores Hitler’s ascent and the response from the Vatican and the future pope, then Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, from his post in Berlin.

“What we discovered is that history is not always as it may have seemed,” Knowles says. “And that in this world, and beyond, there are some weapons more powerful than tanks, guns, and screaming speeches. Weapons, in fact, that live in silence.”

Using once-secret files, made public in 2020 by Pope Francis, Knowles takes viewers through private correspondence and long-buried testimony that reshapes the legacy of a pope long accused of silence during Hitler’s reign. Knowles — a devout Catholic — is joined by a range of leading historians and Vatican scholars, offering new insight into the man who led the Catholic Church through one of history’s darkest chapters.

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“This is not just a story about Hitler and the Holocaust,” Knowles says. “One of the worst lies ever told about the Catholic Church is what she did or didn’t do in one of modernity’s darkest hours. Now, for the first time, the Vatican Secret Archive is open, and the truth is far more shocking than the fiction.”

In the four-part series, Knowles traces Pius’ rise to the papacy, Rome’s fight against Hitler, and the Church’s response to the rising Soviet Union.

Knowles is the host of “The Michael Knowles Show,” “Michael &,” and “Yes or No” on The Daily Wire, as well as “The Book Club” on PragerU. In addition to his digital content, Knowles is the author of “Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds” and “Reasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide.”

The first episode of “The Pope and the Führer: The Secret Vatican Files of World War II” is now streaming exclusively on DailyWire+. New episodes drop Wednesday.