The Papacy: Pius XII (1939-58)


Figure 1.-- Pope Pius XII greets a Swiss Boy Scout. The AP wireservice caption read, "... Pius Greets Swiss Scout -- Scout Ernest Tuscher of Switzerland, one of a group of Catholic Boy Scouts received by Pope Pius XII Sept. 10 at his summer residence, Castel Gandolofo, Italy, kneels as he talks to the Pontiff." Source: AP Wirephoto

The College of Cardinals in early 1939 fully recognized that war was coming. They chose a diplomat as the man most suited to oversee the Church. There was great concern for Pope Pius XII during World War II, escpecially after Germany occupied Rome (1943). Pope Pious was generately considered to be a compassionate man of peace during the War who did what he could to protect Jews and others. There were tributes to him after the War. This view continued for many years after the War. This began to change with various authors began to Pious' record, especially is failure to speak out more forcefully against the Holocaust. There is some validity for this charge. Some might argue, however, that this may have done little good and brought attacks on both the Church and Catholics. The Church charges a campaign of vilification. The role of Pope Pious XII during World War II has been intensly debated by historians. Some charge that he was a weak, church bureaucrat, more concerned with protecting the treasures of the Vatican than the opressed people of Europe. The issue is very complicated There are reports of Pope Pius intreauging with the British and German Generals (1940). The Pope did hide 5,000 people when the NAZIs began to round up Roman Jews (October 1943). The controversy about Pious continues today. At best his resonse was timid at worst some writers view him as virtually complicit. [Corwell] Those who criticise today certainly do so from the safty of a more secure world. Another historian refutes many of the charges against the Pope, pointing out his many statements criticizing the NAZIs even before he became pope. Therewere also many instances of Pope Pius XII protecting Jews. [Dalin]

Parents

Eugenio's parents were intense Catholic with a long history of ties to the papacy--the so called Black Nobility which devoted theur lives to the service of the papacy. His father was Filippo Pacelli (1837–1916). His mother was Virginia (née Graziosi) Pacelli (1844–1920). His grandfather was Marcantonio Pacelli who had been Under-Secretary in the Papal Ministry of Finances and then Secretary of the Interior under Pope Pius IX (1851–70). He helped found the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano (1861.). A cousin, Ernesto Pacelli, was an important financial advisor to Pope Leo XIII. His father, Filippo Pacelli, was a Franciscan tertiary and dean of the Sacra Rota Romana. His brother, Francesco Pacelli, became a lay canon lawyer and the legal advisor to Pius XI. In that position he negotiated the Lateran Treaty with the Italian Fascist state (1929). This pact with Benito Mussolini brought an end to the Roman isolationn of the Vatican.

Childhood

Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli was born in Rome (1876). We have very limited information on his childhood. He grew up with three siblings, his brother Francesco and his two sisters, Giuseppina and Elisabetta. They were a well-to-do family as result of ties to the Vatican and the high offices awarded the family. As young children, they lived in the Parione district located in the center of Rome. The family then had moved to Via Vetrina (1880). The family worshipped devoutly at the Chiesa Nuova Church. Eugenio and the other children made their first communion at this church. Eugenio began serving there as an altar boy (1886). Girls at the time could not serve. They had a very comfirtable childhood. We do notv have a lot of infirmation on how the children were dressed. We nore Eugenio wearsing a kilt suit at age 6 years (1882). Presumably this was just before he began school.

Education

Eugenio began school at the convent of the French Sisters of Divine Providence in the Piazza Fiammetta. He then went to the private school of Professor Giuseppe Marchi (1886). Thiis was located close to the Piazza Venezia. Then his father chose the Liceo Ennio Quirino Visconti Institute (1891). This was a state school located in what had been the Collegio Romano, the premier Jesuit university in Rome. He began theology studies (1894). This was Rome's oldest seminary, Tridentine Collegio Capranica Seminary. He registered to take a philosophy course at the Jesuit Gregoriana University and theology at the Ataneo Pontificio di Sant'Apollinaire. He nrolled at the State University, La Sapienza where he studied modern languages and history. At the end of the first academic year, he dropped out of both the Capranica and the Gregorian University (summer 1895). It was not an academic problem. His sister Elisabetta, blamed this on the food at the Capranica. Apparently he was used to the good food served in his prosperous family. He managed to obtain a special dispensation andc then continued his studies from home. He thus unlike the other students did not board. He finished his education in "Sacred Theology" with a doctoral degree awarded on the basis of a short dissertation and an oral examination in Latin (1899).

Clerical Career

Pacelli was ordained (1899). He served as secretary of the Vatican Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. He was the , papal nuncio to Germany (1917–1929) and Cardinal Secretary of State. He helped negotiate treaties with European and Latin American nations. The most critical was the Reichskonkordat with Nazi Germany (1933). The Vatican wanted to protect the Church and Catholics in Germany. Hitler was intentvon ending 'political Catholicism'. Hitler at the time wanted to portray a moderate foreign policy. He was willing go make promises he knew he could easily break when his regime was well established.

Selection

The College of Cardinals in early 1939 fully recognized that war was coming. They chose a diplomat as the man most suited to oversee the Church.

World War II (1939-45)

There was great concern for Pope Pius XII during World War II, escpecially after Germany occupied Rome (1943). Pope Pious was generately considered to be a compassionate man of peace during the War who did what he could to protect Jews and others. There were tributes to him after the War. This view continued for many years after the War. This began to change with various authors began to Pius' record, especially is failure to speak out more forcefully against the Holocaust. There is some validity for this charge. Some might argue, however, that this may have done little good and brought attacks on both the Church and Catholics. The Church charges a campaign of vilification. The role of Pope Pious XII during World War II has been intensly debated by historians. It is of course easy to level charges. People in occupied countries were in impossible positions. One has to wonder how Pius' critics would jave perormed in similar circunstances. Some charge that he was a weak, church bureaucrat, more concerned with protecting the treasures of the Vatican than the opressed people of Europe. This may be a factor, but he also believed that speaking out more forcefully would have brought terrible reprisals on the Church and Catholics. Hitler had been conducting an assault on the Church from an early pouint, only constrained by the need not to disrupt German society while he prepared for and waged war. Once Mussolinin brought Italy into the War, Pope Pius became concerned that he would be arrested and turned over to the Germans. He thus drafted secret instructions that if he was arrested and conducted beyond the walls of the Vatican that he would be immediately considered to have given up the throne of Peter. [Thavis] Thus Hitler would be denied contro of the pope, only Pietro Palazzini. The issue of Pope Pius' war time role is very complicated. There are reports of Pope Pius intreaging with the British and German Generals (1940). The Pope did hide 5,000 people when the NAZIs began to round up Roman Jews (October 1943). The controversy about Pious continues today. At best his resonse was timid at worst some writers view him as virtually complicit. [Corwell] Those who criticise today certainly do so from the safty of a more secure world. Another historian refutes many of the charges against the Pope, pointing out his many statements criticizing the NAZIs even before he became pope. There were also many instances of Pope Pius XII protecting Jews. [Dalin]

Post War Era (1945-58)

Pope Pius XX is nost associated with the Church during World War II. The Pope, however, was a long serving pope and reigned more than a decade aftr the War. He was involved in matters concerning the aftermath of the war as well as the ensuong Cold War. This involved both church goverance as well as humanitarian matters. The most pressing issue after the War was the needs of people in war torn Europe, both the displaced and people in need still in their damaged communities. Pius also moved to rcognize nd elevate clerics who resisted NAZI totalitarianism. Several new cardinals were elevated to the College of Cardinals (1946). They included German Bishops Joseph Frings of Cologne, August von Galen of Münster, and Konrad von Preysing of Berlin. And in occupied countroes they inclided: Dutch Archbishop Johannes de Jong, Hungarian Bishop József Mindszenty, Polish Archbishop Adam Stefan Sapieha, and French Archbishop Jules-Géraud Saliège. Other important appointmnts were Italian Papal diplomat Angelo Roncalli (later Pope John XXIII) and Polish Archbishop Stefan Wyszyński (1953). Wyszyński was resisting totalitarrian Communism. After Europe began to recover one of his major efforts were steps to internationlize the Church. Before World War II, The Church while having spread around the world (especilly Africa, Latin Aameriva, and the United States, was still run by European prelates. Pius ordered the recognition of local cultures as on a par with European culture.[Evangelii praecones, p. 56.] His language while still reflected older values and concepts, wording like 'to forward her work among the heathen multitudes'. He expressed support for the decolonization process (1956). [Ventresca, p.282-83] He continued the process begun earlier of supporting increased local administration in Church affairs. Throughout the 1950s the hierarchies inAfrica and other regions were granted independence. As part of that process he named as cardinals Thomas Tien of China (1946) and Valerian Gracias of India (1953). They were the first locally born Catholics from their countries to sit in the College of Cardinals. [Ventresca, p. 284.] Pius was esoecially concern with German affairs, presumably in reognition of the terrible acys committed by the Germans. He wanted to make post-War Germany a priority. He wanted to involve the Church with the refugee crisis, poverty, hunger and disease, the fate of POWs, accused war criminals, and the political futuure. He also addressed the communal life of German Catholicism. [Ventresca, p.240.] Another concer was the Cold war and the spread ofatheist, totalitarian Communism in Western Europe and the Americas. This was onreason he was interested in post-War recovery. He believing with some accuracy that deprivation fuelled political radicalism. Here he became involved with Italian politics. Both Italy abd France had large Communist parties and there was a danger that Communist parties there might win election. He used Catholic Action, an organization of Catholic laity, to mobilise the Catholic vote against the Communists and other leftist parties.

Source

Cornwell, John. Hitler's Pope.

Dalin, David. The Myth of Hitler's Pope.

Encylicals: Evangelii praecones, p. 56

Thavis, John. National Catholic News Service (now the Catholic News Service), January 28, 1988.

Ventresca, Robert. Soldier of Christ.






CIH






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Created: 8:35 PM 10/1/2007
Last updated: 5:06 AM 8/15/2017