"The best defense of the popes is the divulgement of their being."* -G.H. Pertz
The exposure of the historical fact of the Papacy and of each individual Vicar of Christ in every age, with his historical actions and significance, is the best defense of the popes.
Thus Ludwig Pastor, on the reverse of the title page of his monumental work Geschichte der Päpste, vol. 1, Freiburg im Breisgau, Herder, 1901, iv. Pastor quotes the Protestant Pertz and definitively proves the point with his multi-volume masterpiece covering the papacy from the end of the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century.
Doctor Pastor himself was converted by his research of the Papacy and the Vatican Archives.
*"Die beste Verteidigung der Päpste ist die Enthüllung ihres Seins." Pertz im Jahre 1823