A dying note smuggled from Auschwitz, an aging Jewish scholar in hiding, and a Pope determined to change history…

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli—later known as Pope John XXIII—was more than a pontiff; he was a bridge-builder in a fractured world.

During World War II, he quietly helped Jews escape Nazi persecution, supported Jewish immigration to Palestine, and later championed the establishment of the State of Israel.

His papacy would ignite a revolution within the Catholic Church, culminating in the Second Vatican Council and its landmark declaration Nostra Aetate, which repudiated centuries of anti-Jewish prejudice and opened the door to Christian-Jewish dialogue.

Pope John XXIII died exactly 63 years ago-on June 3, 1963, but his legacy endures. And behind that legacy stands another remarkable figure: Jules Isaac.

I recently came across a copy of The Teaching of Contempt by French-Jewish historian Jules Isaac—a slim, 154-page volume distilled from his monumental work........

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