He was nominated for the PEN/Ackerley Prize for best UK memoir 2007 (Seminary Boy) and shortlisted Specialist Journalist of the Year (science, medicine in Sunday Times Magazine), British Press Awards 2006.
Cornwell studied English Language and Literature at St Benet's Hall, Oxford and was tutored by Jonathan Wordsworth at Exeter College.
Though Cornwell sharply criticised Vatican prelates, he concluded that the Pope was not murdered but died of a pulmonary embolism, possibly brought on by overwork and neglect.
[3] In 2004, Cornwell stated that Pius XII "had so little scope of action that it is impossible to judge the motives for his silence during the war, while Rome was under the heel of Mussolini and later occupied by Germany ...
[4][5][6] He similarly stated in 2008 that Pius XII's "scope for action was severely limited", but that "[n]evertheless, due to his ineffectual and diplomatic language in respect of the Nazis and the Jews, I still believe that it was incumbent on him to explain his failure to speak out after the war.
In a variety of broadcasts and subsequent print commentary Cornwell has continued to insist that Pacelli's principal failure (as Cardinal Secretary of State), through the Reichskonkordat (1933), was to act as a fellow traveller, taking benefits from Hitler on behalf of Pius XI and the Catholic Church while patently distancing himself from Nazi ideology – the effect of which was to scandalise youth, demoralise opposition, and give Hitler credit in the eyes of the world.
James Carroll in The Washington Post said the book "dissects the record of John Paul II's pontificate with an informed, dispassionate and fully convincing authority".
[9] Published in 2010 by Continuum, this biography of Cardinal John Henry Newman coincided with renewed interest in the 19th century theologian and religious leader as a result of his beatification during the Papal visit by Pope Benedict XVI to England and Scotland.
His books in the field of public understanding of science include Nature's Imagination, Consciousness and Human Identity, and Explanations, all published by Oxford University Press.
Broadcast contributions to many BBC programmes, especially on culture, science and religion, including Hard Talk, Choice, Start the Week, The Moral Maze (e.g., witness on genetic determinism debate), Today (e.g., debate with Richard Dawkins); Beyond Belief (on John Henry Newman's The Idea of a University), Thought for the Day (on Darwin's birthday), Sunday, and various programmes in the BBC's World Service.