Pius XII

Pius XII (1876-1958), pope from 1939 to 1958, guided the Roman Catholic Church through the difficult years of World War II and the postwar period, when much of the eastern Catholic Church was heavily persecuted by Soviet communism.

Pius XII was born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Pacelli in Rome on March 2, 1876. Because of poor health he was allowed to study for the priesthood at his home. Ordained a priest in 1899, he took up work in the Vatican Secretariat of State in 1901, working there until 1917. In that year he became archbishop of Sardis and was sent to Munich as apostolic nuncio to Bavaria. In 1918 he became nuncio in Berlin to the new Weimar Republic. During his German years Pacelli acquired a love of the German people and a knowledge of German affairs. He was a close observer and on a few occasions an eyewitness of Bolshevik riots in Germany, which developed a strong fear in him that Soviet Marxism was the prime enemy of Christendom. This fear, together with his love of Germany, influenced his judgments during World War II. Pius XI recalled Pacelli to Rome in 1929 and named him a cardinal. In 1930 he became secretary of state, remaining at this post until his election as pope on March 2, 1939.

Pius XII's main determination, upon the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, was to preserve cordial relations with all belligerents. He had concluded from his years in Germany that the Vatican should engage in the role of international peacemaker. He therefore refused, in spite of Anglo-American pressures, clearly to declare against the Axis Powers or publicly to describe the German invasion of Soviet Russia as a crusade against communism, as the Axis Powers wished him to do. His attempted neutrality in word and action led Pius XII into an extreme form of abstention from all effective moral protest in the war. He consequently did not intervene to denounce or to halt the Nazi campaign against the Jews or the genocidal acts of the Hitler regime.

This lack of action brought much public criticism of Pius after the war. The Pope, it was argued, had a moral obligation to speak out specifically against all and every kind of injustice. In his defense, it has been alleged—accurately—that any such denunciation might have brought the full wrath of Hitler upon the Church in all the occupied countries as well as in Germany. Privately, Pius organized shelters and other places of refuge for Jews. He also organized the highly effective Work of St. Raphael, which aided in locating and resettling war refugees. The Vatican itself and many Vatican buildings were used, with Pius's tacit approval, for sheltering war refugees, downed pilots, and Allied military personnel.

Toward the end of the war, when Communist partisans appeared in northern Italy, Pius XII communicated his fears to President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States, and in postwar Italy Pius organized Catholic Action groups, which played a great part in bringing the Christian Democrats to power in 1948, thus keeping Italy within the western orbit. Pius continued to battle against Italian communism to the end of his life, issuing a formal excommunication decree against all Catholics who joined the Communist party. At the end of Pius XII's reign, the status of the Church was high on the international scene; his popularity had waned among the intellectuals of the Church; and Pius had placed the Vatican in intransigent positions regarding both non-Catholics and non-Christians.

Role in the Church

Within the Roman Church, Pius XII exercised an authoritarian influence on all developments. In spite of his dogmatic intransigence regarding the ecumenical movement and his refusal to meet with leaders of Eastern Orthodox churches, many of Pius's provisions and reforms laid the ground for the more radical reforms achieved by the Second Vatican Council (called by his successor, John XXIII) and for the participation of Roman Catholics in the ecumenical movement. Pius introduced evening Mass, relaxed the laws on fasting, encouraged the indigenous hierarchies of Africa and Asia, permitted the use of the vernacular in certain Church ceremonies, and reformed the ancient liturgy of the Easter celebration. In doctrine and in theology, Pius was extremely conservative and fomented in the Roman government of the Church a repressive and reactionary spirit. The various offices and ministries of the Vatican, under his rule, exercised great control over the teachings and writings of Roman Catholic scholars and thinkers. This state of affairs provoked the counterreactions characteristic of John XXIII's reign and facilitated the work of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.

Pius ruled autocratically, imposed his views, and expected exact obedience from all. But not all of his directives concerning the teaching of the Church on dogmatic matters were repressive in their final effect. His Divino afflante Spiritu (1943) gave fresh life to Roman Catholic biblical studies by admitting that the Bible as a book had been influenced in its literary forms by the cultures in which its various parts had been composed. His Humani generis (1950), although repressive in many ways, did not completely block all scientific inquiry into the natural truths underlying the facts of religion and religious territory.

Pius XII was the first pope to make use of the radio on an extensive scale. Indeed, he took every suitable occasion to address both Catholics and non-Catholics on a variety of subjects. During his pontificate the prestige of the Church rose enormously, and his presence in Rome attracted more pilgrims and visitors from varying faiths and countries than ever before in the history of the Vatican. Pius XII died at Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the popes, on Oct. 9, 1958.

Further Reading

For Pius XII's own writings see Sister M. Claudia Carlen, Guide to the Documents of Pius XII, 1939-49 (1951). A biography of him is Oscar Halecki, Eugenio Pacelli, Pope of Peace (1951; rev. ed. 1954). Pius is discussed in John P. McKnight, The Papacy: A New Appraisal (1953). The controversial question of Pius XII's role immediately preceding and during World War II is the subject of Carlo Falconi, The Silence of Pius XII, translated by Bernard Wall (1970). Pius is also examined in Falconi's earlier and somewhat controversial work, The Popes in the Twentieth Century (1967; trans. 1968). □

Pius XII (1876–1958).Born in Rome, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected Pope in March 1939, having previously served as papal nuncio in Germany from 1917 to 1930, and as Vatican secretary of state from 1930. His wartime stance remains a matter of controversy, considerably reinforced by Rolf Hochhuth's slanderous but influential play Der Stellvertreter (The Representative, 1963) in which Pius is accused of having refused to do anything to save the Jews (see Final Solution). In more muted criticism, the UK's wartime minister to the Vatican wrote that the Pope's neutrality had been ‘meticulous and seemingly pusillanimous’ but that he and his advisers ‘reckon in centuries and plan for eternity and this inevitably renders their policy inscrutable, confusing, and on occasion reprehensible to practical and time-conditioned minds’ ( O. Chadwick, Britain and the Vatican during the Second World War, Cambridge, 1986, pp. 315–16).

Three elements are discernible in the wartime pontificate: the traditional Catholic ideological objection to all forms of totalitarian secular power, especially atheistic communism with which no accommodation was seen as possible; the prime endeavour to stop the war and its attendant horrors by persuading the belligerents to seek a negotiated peace; and, in the face of atrocities, balancing the good that might come from condemnation of evil against the danger of thereby provoking further horrors—as in fact occurred in May 1943 when the Dutch Catholic bishops, in issuing a pastoral letter condemning the deportation of Jews, provoked the immediate arrest and deportation of Dutch Jews who had been baptized as Catholics, while Protestant Jews were spared.

Pacelli was an experienced diplomat who, as secretary of state, had felt forced to accede to the 1933 concordat offered by the Nazi government. His motive was to secure a legal basis for opposing the subsequent anti-Church measures which he foresaw as clearly as he anticipated Hitler's repeated violations of its terms. He had played a major role in drafting the three encyclicals of his predecessor against fascism, Nazism, and communism. His efforts to arrange a peace conference before the outbreak of war failed; and repeated calls for peace subsequently were ignored by both sides. Not surprisingly, he later deplored the Allied policy of unconditional surrender which, no less than Axis ambitions, made a negotiated settlement an unrealistic aim. His very first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus (October. 1939), though couched in the traditionally generalized language of the Roman Curia, condemned the political and religious policies of the German and Soviet governments in Poland and the Baltic States.

In early 1940 the Pope allowed Vatican officials, including his own personal private secretary, a German Jesuit, to act as intermediaries between anti-Nazi conspirators and the Allies (see X-report), but to no avail. In 1941 he refused to declare the German invasion of the USSR a crusade (seeBARBAROSSA), a stance which did not surprise Hitler but enraged Mussolini. In praising the courageous and influential sermons against the Nazi euthanasia programme delivered in 1941 by Clemens August von Galen, the bishop of Münster, he maintained that national episcopates and the local clergy were best placed to judge when speaking out would be the effective course. Though strongly urged to do so by the Italians, he refused to condemn the Allied area bombing which caused such high civilian casualties. The Allies for their part pressed hard for a public condemnation of the Final Solution and in his 1942 Christmas radio message, and again in June 1943, the Pope deplored it in generalized but unmistakable terms that infuriated the Germans but failed to satisfy the Allies.

In areas where he felt he could achieve something, the Pope was active diplomatically on behalf of refugees and Jews, in particular using what influence he had with Italy to help Jews in Italian-occupied parts of Yugoslavia, and in July 1944 petitioning Admiral Horthy to prevent further deportations of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. He supervised a programme for the relief of war victims through the Pontifical Aid Commission and, when Hitler occupied Rome after Italy's surrender in September 1943, the Vatican City became effectively an asylum for refugees. Nevertheless, in October 1943 he was unable to prevent the deportation of Jews from Rome, though the majority were saved, many being given hiding in Church property and in the Vatican itself. In 1944 as the Allies advanced on Rome during the Italian campaign, the Pope made impassioned pleas for the city with its priceless heritage to be spared Allied bombing, and when Rome was liberated in June 1944 he was hailed by the people as ‘defender of the city’—though in fact the Allies had refused to give any undertakings. Towards the end of the war, Pius denounced the concept of national collective guilt, whilst emphasizing the need for a proper legal basis for the punishment of individuals. He warned against imposing on Germany a permanent state of subjection without hope of a new future. In June 1945 he uttered an apologia for his policy towards Nazism, claiming that his radio messages had in fact been the only effective way both to uphold moral principles before world opinion and to maintain among German Catholics the ideals of truth and justice in a situation of overwhelming evil and violence (Acta Apolostolicae Sedis XXXVII, 159–68). See also religion and diplomacy.

Nicholas Coote

Bibliography

Cornwell, J. , Hitler's Pope: the Secret History of Pius XII (London, 1999) (controversial).
Holmes, J. D. , The Papacy in the Modern World 1914–1978 (Tunbridge Wells, 1981).

Pius XII 1876–1958, pope (1939–58), an Italian named Eugenio Pacelli, b. Rome; successor of Pius XI. Ordained a priest in 1899, he entered the Vatican's secretariat of state. He became (1912) undersecretary of state and, after becoming a bishop, was appointed (1917) nuncio to Bavaria. He stayed in Germany until 1929 and concluded concordats with Bavaria and Prussia. He was made cardinal in 1929 and papal secretary of state in 1930, succeeding his teacher, Cardinal Gasparri. He negotiated the concordat with Nazi Germany in 1933. Elevated to the papacy in 1939, Pius was the first papal secretary to be elected in centuries and the first Roman pope since 1730. In his first encyclical ( Summi pontificatus, 1939) Pius made a general attack on totalitarianism. During World War II, however, he believed that the Vatican could best work to achieve peace by maintaining formal relations with all the belligerents. He was later much criticized for not speaking out against the Nazi persecution of the Jews and accused of not doing enough to protect them within Italy. After the war Pius was alarmed by the resurgence of Communism in Italy and fostered the growth of Catholic Action groups to strengthen the Christian Democratic party. In 1949 he excommunicated Italian Catholics who joined the Communist party. In retaliation for the political persecution of the church in Communist Eastern Europe, Pius excommunicated the political leaders of Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Poland. Pius issued his main directives in encyclical form; their subjects included the doctrine of the mystical body of Christ, i.e., the church ( Mystici Corporis Christi, 1943); biblical studies ( Divino afflante spiritu, 1943); the 14th centenary of St. Benedict (1947) and the liturgy and practices surrounding it ( Mediator Dei, 1947); and the future of Africa ( Fidei donum, 1957). He continued Pius XI's educational pontifical universities in South America (at Lima, Medellín, Rio de Janeiro, and Santiago de Chile), and he favored the appointment of native hierarchies in overseas dioceses. In 1950, in the papal bull Munificentissimus Deus, the pope defined the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. He reformed (1956) the Holy Week liturgy, relaxed the rules for fasting, and increased the hours during which Mass may be said. Pius had only one secretary of state, Cardinal Luigi Maglione; after his death (1944) the pope acted as his own secretary of state. He was succeeded by John XXIII. Pope Pius was widely venerated during his lifetime, and proceedings for his beatification were begun in 1965.

Bibliography: See his Guide for Living, ed. by M. Guinlan (1960); biographies by K. K. Burton (1958), T. J. Kierman (1958), and J. H. L. Smyth (1958); C. Falconi, The Silence of Pius XII (tr. 1970); J. Cornwell, Hitler's Pope (1999).

Pius XII (1876–1958), Pope from 1939. Eugenio Pacelli entered the Papal Secretariat of State in 1901; in 1920 he became Nuncio in Berlin, and in 1930 Papal Secretary of State. He was elected Pope six months before the outbreak of the Second World War. His alleged ‘silence’ in the face of Nazi atrocities has been the subject of criticism; his experience in dealing with the German Government had probably convinced him that a public stand would provoke worse persecution. Throughout the War (1939–45) he laboured to relieve distress, especially among prisoners.

His encyclical ‘Mediator Dei’ (1947) expressed sympathy with the desire to use the vernacular in the liturgy and gave conditional support to the Liturgical Movement. In 1951 he restored the Paschal Vigil Service to the evening, and in the following years he reordered the entire Holy Week liturgy. His relaxations of the Eucharistic Fast in 1953 and 1957 made possible the widespread introduction of Evening Masses. Other events of his pontificate included the opening of the way to a more critical approach to biblical studies by RC scholars (1943), the initiation of the excavations under St Peter's, Rome, and the definition of the doctrine of the Assumption of the BVM. An instruction of the Holy Office in 1949 recognized that the desire for unity of those engaged in the Ecumenical Movement was inspired by the Holy Spirit and under strict conditions allowed RC experts to join with other Christians in discussions on faith and morals.

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.

Pius XII (1876–1958). Pope from 2 Mar. 1939. Born Eugenio Pacelli he came from a family with a long history of service to the papacy. He became secretary of state in 1930, and negotiated a number of concordats, most notably that with Hitler in 1933. He has been accused of being insufficiently active in opposition to Nazi policy towards the Jews, and this inactivity may have sprung from his search for a diplomatic settlement of the war. In the later part of his pontificate he vigorously opposed the spread of communist régimes in E. Europe. Within Roman Catholicism he did much to encourage scholarship, and instituted a number of liturgical reforms. He spoke frequently on major topics of the day, in a manner which reflected his elevated view of the papal office. In the definition of the dogma of the assumption of Mary he was the last pope (to date) explicitly to invoke papal infallibility.

Pius XII (born Eugenio Pacelli) (1876–1958) Pope (1939–58). He upheld the neutrality of the Roman Catholic Church during World War II, maintaining diplomatic relations with both Allied and Axis governments. After the war criticism of his failure to condemn Nazi atrocities and of his apparent indifference to the plight of European Jewry persuaded the Vatican to make a formal apology in 1997. Pius XII took steps to counter the rise of communism in postwar Italy, threatening to excommunicate its supporters.

Pius XII (1876–1958) Pope (1939–58), b. Eugenio Pacelli. Fearing political reprisals, he failed to denounce the Nazis and the persecution of Jews during World War II. He was more openly hostile to communism. On matters of doctrine, he maintained a conservative policy, although he appointed local bishops in non-Western countries and created a non-Italian majority among the cardinals.