Pius XII

Pius XII ( Eugenio Pacelli) (b. 2 Mar. 1876, d. 9 Oct. 1958). Pope 1939–58 Educated at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was ordained priest in 1899 and entered the papal diplomatic corps at the Secretariat of State in 1901. The Pope's representative (nuncio) in Munich in 1917, he became the papal nuncio to Germany 1920–30. During this time, he concluded an agreement between the Roman Catholic Church and the state of Bavaria in 1924, and with Prussia in 1929. In 1930, he was appointed papal Secretary of State and created cardinal. He was responsible for a concordat between the Catholic Church and Nazi Germany in 1933, though subsequently he was reluctant to protest openly against Nazi violations of the agreement. During World War II, he remained strictly neutral, though he was particularly concerned to relieve distress, especially among prisoners. None the less, he became heavily criticized for his refusal to defend the Jews against persecution, and his willingness to come to an agreement with Hitler while refusing any compromise with the Communist governments of postwar Europe, mainly caused by his tacit preference for Fascism over Communism. He is also remembered for establishing the Assumption of the Virgin Mary as an infallible doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church (Munificentissimus Deus, 1 November 1950), on the basis of Church tradition rather than scriptural evidence.