Written by Paul I. Murphy with R. Rene Arlington

USED BOOK condition first copy very good, no dust jacket, second copy good, has water damage to lower spine ink from black cloth stains bottom of pages near spine.

Published by Warner Books 1983, hardcover, 308 pages.

Behind Pius XII, the most influential woman in Vatican history. Nothing predestined Josephine Lehnert, born at the end of the century into a Bavarian peasant family, to enter history under the nickname bestowed upon her by Cardinal Tisserant: “La Popessa” (The Popess). For forty years, she shared the intimacy of Eugenio Pacelli—who ascended to the throne of Saint Peter as Pius XII—and lived in his shadow until his death. At once mother, housekeeper, confidante, éminence grise, and inflexible guardian of the Sovereign Pontiff, she wielded a power over the direction of the Church that no woman, before or since, has ever possessed. Nor, for that matter, have many men. Through this biography of Sister Pascalina, the hidden shadows and lights of the controversial reign of Pius XII are revealed.