Pope Pius XII

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Pope Pius XII bigraphy, stories - Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958

Pope Pius XII : biography

2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958

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Pope Pius XII ( ), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli ( 2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958), was the head of the Catholic Church from 2 March 1939 to his death in 1958. He is the last pope to take the name "Pius" upon his election. His pontificate coincided with the Second World War and commencement of the Cold War.

Before election to the papacy, Pacelli served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio to Germany (1917–1929), and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with European and Latin American nations, most notably the Reichskonkordat with Nazi Germany, with which the Vatican sought to protect the Church in Germany, and Hitler sought the destruction of ‘political Catholicism’. A pre-war critic of Nazism, Pius lobbied world leaders to avoid war and, as Pope at the outbreak of war, issued Summi Pontificatus, expressing dismay at the invasion of Poland, reiterating church teaching against racism and calling for love, compassion and charity to prevail over war. He maintained Vatican neutrality, used diplomacy to aid the victims of the war and lobby for peace and spoke out against race based murders and other atrocities. The concordat of 1933, and Pius’ leadership of the Catholic Church during World War II – including allegations of "silence" in public about the fate of the Jews – remain the subject of controversy.Gerard Noel, The Hound of Hitler, p.3,;; web 26 April 2013

After the war Pius XII advocated peace and reconciliation, including lenient policies towards Axis and Axis-satellite nations. The Church experienced severe persecution and mass deportations of Catholic clergy in the Eastern Bloc. In light of the Pope’s overt involvement in Italian politics—anyone who voted for a Communist candidate in the 1948 elections was threatened with automatic excommunication—Pius XII became known as a staunch opponent of the Italian Communist Party. Pius XII explicitly invoked ex cathedra papal infallibility with the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in his 1950 Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus.Encyclopedia of Catholicism by Frank K. Flinn, J. Gordon Melton; ISBN 0-8160-5455-X, p. 267 His magisterium includes almost 1,000 addresses and radio broadcasts. His forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis, the Church as the Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; and Humani generis on the Church’s positions on theology and evolution. He eliminated the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals in 1946.

In the process toward sainthood Pope Benedict XVI declared Pius XII Venerable in December 2009.

Papacy

Election and coronation

Pius XI died on 10 February 1939. Several historians have interpreted the conclave to choose his successor as facing a choice between a diplomatic or a spiritual candidate, and they view Pacelli’s diplomatic experience, especially with Germany, as one of the deciding factors in his election on 2 March 1939, his 63rd birthday, after only one day of deliberation and three ballots.Michael F. Feldkamp. Pius XII und Deutschland; ISBN 3-525-34026-5.Dalin, 2005, pp. 69–70 He was the first cardinal secretary of state to be elected Pope since Clement IX in 1667.Catholic Forum. . He was one of only two men known to have served as Camerlengo immediately prior to being elected as pope (the other being Pope Leo XIII). His coronation took place on 12 March 1939. Upon being elected pope he was also formally the Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, prefect of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Churches and prefect of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation. There was however a Cardinal-Secretary to run these bodies on a day-to-day basis.

Pacelli took the same papal name as his predecessor, a title used exclusively by Italian Popes. He was quoted as saying, "I call myself Pius; my whole life was under Popes with this name, but especially as a sign of gratitude towards Pius XI."Pius XII, quoted in Joseph Brosch, Pius XII, Lehrer der Wahrheit, Kreuzring, Trier,1968, p.45 On 15 December 1937, during his last consistory, Pius XI strongly hinted to the cardinals that he expected Pacelli to be his successor, saying "He is in your midst.""Medius vestrum stetit quem vos nescetis. Everybody knew what the pope meant". Domenico Cardinale Tardini, Pio XII, Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1960, p. 105Lehnert, Pascalina. Ich durfte Ihm Dienen, Erinnerungen an Papst Pius XII. Naumann, Würzburg, 1986, p. 57 He had previously been quoted as saying: "When today the Pope dies, you’ll get another one tomorrow, because the Church continues. It would be a much bigger tragedy, if Cardinal Pacelli dies, because there is only one. I pray every day, God may send another one into one of our seminaries, but as of today, there is only one in this world."Lehnert, Pascalina. Ich durfte Ihm Dienen, Erinnerungen an Papst Pius XII. Naumann, Würzburg, 1986, p. 49