Category: Pope Pius XII

Pius XII’s anniversary of election

Pius xiiToday is the anniversary of election of the Cardinal Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli to the service as sovereign pontiff. He took the name of PIUS XII. He served as Pope of the Holy Roman Church for 19.5 years. Today, is also the Pontiff’s birthday. He died on 9 October 1958.

Born in Rome, priest of the Diocese of Rome, and Bishop of Rome. Venerable Servant of God.

Let us pray.

God, Who, in Thine ineffable providence, didst will that Thy servant Pius XII should be numbered among the high priests, grant, we beseech Thee, that he, who on earth held the place of Thine only-begotten Son, may be joined forevermore to the fellowship of Thy holy pontiffs. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Pius XII defended by Pope Francis

Pope Francis is comfortable speaking to the press as we know. Today, the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia published their interview with Pope Francis, who spoke about the legacy of Pope Pius XII and murder of the Jews, among other things. The Holy See has been increasingly working to restore the good name of Pius who has been maligned for his seeming lack of concern for the Jews during WWII. Historical evidence, however, shows that in fact, Pius did do much to assist the welfare of the Jews fighting for their freedom and dignity. Here is a translation of the interview. Notice how direct, some say strong, Pope Francis is…

[La Vanguardia:] One of your projects is to open up the Vatican archives on the Holocaust.

[Pope:] They will bring out much light.

[La Vanguardia:] Are you concerned with what may be found?

[Pope:] In this theme, what concerns me is the figure of Pius XII, the pope who led the Church during the Second World War. Everything has been thrown upon poor Pius XII! But it has to be recalled that, before, he was seen as the great defender of the Jews. He hid many in the convents of Rome and of other Italian cities, and also in the summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. There, in the Pope’s room, on his very bed, 42 babies were born, Jewish children and of other persecuted people who were sheltered there. I do not mean to say that Pius XII did not make mistakes – I myself make many – but his role must be viewed according to the context of the time. Was it better, for example, that he did not speak so that more Jews would not be killed, or that he did? I also want to say that at times I feel a kind of existential rash [urticaria existencial] when I see that all gather together against the Church and Pius XII, and they forget the great powers [United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom]. Did you know that they knew perfectly well the rail network used by the Nazis to take the Jews to the concentration camps? They had the photographs. But they did not bomb these rail lines. Why? It would be good if we spoke a little bit about everything.

Pius XII’s previously unpublished letter to FDR

The Zenit.org news agency gave its readers a previously
unpublished letter sent by Pope Pius XII to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
on Aug. 30, 1943, after the Allied Forces bombed Rome. The letter surfaced from the archives of the Knights of Columbus given that it has worked in Rome since 1920. The KofC has recently opened a retrospective exhibit of its work for the Church and humanity in Rome. An unexpected gifts. Why? Because the letter to Roosevelt shows that Pope Pius did advocate for the needs of the defenseless in a dark period of history and that neither Italy nor the Church were free to freely act. Also, the exhibit shows the kind solicitude the KofC has had and continues to have for the work of Christ and the Church.

Your Excellency,

Recent
events have naturally focused the world’s attention for the moment on Italy, and
much has been said and written on what policy she would or should now follow
for her own best interests. Too many, we fear, take for granted that she is
entirely free to follow the policy of her choice; and we have wished to express
to Your Excellency our conviction that this is far from true. Of her desire for
peace and to be done with the war, there can be no doubt; but in the presence
of formidable forces opposing the actuation or even the official declaration of
that desire she finds herself shackled and quite without the necessary means of
defending herself.

If under such circumstances Italy is to be forced still to
bear devastating blows against which she is practically defenseless, we hope
and pray that the military leader will find it possible to spare innocent civil
populations and in particular churches and religious institutions the ravages
of war. Already, we must recount with deep sorrow and regret, these figure very
prominently among the ruins of Italy’s most populous and important cities.

But
the message of assurance addressed to us by Your Excellency sustains our hope,
even in the face of bitter experience, that God’s temples and the homes erected
by Christian charity for the poor and sick and abandoned members of Christ’s
flock may survive the terrible onslaught. May God in His merciful pity and love
hearken to the universal cry of his children and let them hear once more the
voice of Christ say: Peace!

We are happy of this occasion to renew the
expression of our sincere good wishes to Your Excellency.

From the Vatican,
August 30, 1943

Pius PP XII

Under the Roman Sky, Benedict says, shows Pius XII living Charity

Last week at the pope’s retreat house at Castelgandolfo,
The Holy Father attended a screening “Under the Roman Sky,” a film on Pius XII.
Yes the pope watches movies! 


Following the film Benedict expressed his gratitude for being among the first to watch a screening of a film “which shows the fundamental role played by Venerable Pius XII in saving Rome and many persecuted people between 1943 and 1944. The primacy of charity, of love, which is the commandment of the Lord Jesus, is the principle and the key to understanding all the work of the Church, and in the first place that of her universal Pastor. Charity is the reason for all actions, for all interventions. It is the basic motive that moves thoughts and concrete actions, and I am happy that this unifying principle also emerges in this film. This is the interpretation I would suggest, in the light of the authentic witness shown by that great master of faith, hope and charity who was Pope Pius XII.”

From hatred to defense of Pope Pius XII, Gary Krupp tells his story

Gary Krupp.jpgIn some places you will get shouted down for supporting Pope Pius XII and his cause for sainthood. For some, Pius is a lightening rod and no amount of reasonable-ness will quiet their anxiety. I find this is especially true for the New York area. Undaunted by the challenge of the truth, Gary Krupp, founder of the Pave the Way Foundation, is working to get the truth of what Pope Pius XII did and didn’t do into the public forum. He’s trying to clear the air. For many the conversation is hard and painful but truth needs to be told and told with clarity, charity and firmness. 

Read the article on Gary Krupp and his work.

Documents between 1939-45 on Pius XII papacy

The Vatican Publishing House is making available, free of charge on the internet, more than 8,000 pages of the Actes et Documents du Sainte-Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale (1965-1981) edited by Jesuit Fathers Pierre Blet, Angelo Martini, Robert A. Graham and Burkhart Schneider.

 

vatican secret archive.jpgThe release of these documents are the result of a request of the Pave the Way  Foundation (PTWF) made to the Holy See to digitalize and publish 5,125 documents of the Vatican Secret Archives dated from March 1939 to May 1945. PTWF president Gary Krupp said his Foundation aims to remove the barriers between Catholic and Judaism. He told Jesús Colina of Zenit, “In the futherance of our mission we have recognized the papacy of the war time Pope Pius XII as a source of friction impacting over one billion people.”

 

More information on the Vatican Secret Archives may be found here.

Pius and Jewish opinion

Members of The World Jewish Congress, among others, have made their opinions about Pope Benedict’s acknowledgement of his predecessor’s heroic virtues, step two of four with the goal of being recognized a saint. Pope Pius XII was head of the Catholic Church (1939-58) during the Second World War and falling asleep in the Lord in 1958. The WJC thinks Benedict was wrong in moving Pius closer to sainthood. BTW, a pope does not have the power to make saints because he doesn’t have absolute power; that would make him more powerful than God. For the record, God makes saints, the church’s process recognizes what God has done.

This step of saying Pius XII (and others) lived a life of heroic virtue allows for a scientific and theological investigation into the miracles purported to have been wrought through their intercession. A misconception is that a saint causes miracles to happen. Only God has the power to do miraculous things. Catholics believe that miracles are done only by God’s power. The purpose of Jesus’ miracles was “to bear witness to the fact that the Kingdom is present in him, the Messiah. (Compendium of CCC, 108). Hence the saint, while not God, does intercede on behalf of humanity before the Throne of Grace to do something for humanity to build faith and to advance the kingdom of God. Miracles are not magic.

The WJC and other interested parties want access to the Vatican archives of the Pius pontificate and then they want consensus as to what is there. Their request is fair request because the historical record ought to be known. But with 16 million documents from the Pius pontificate it takes lots of time and money to catalog such an archive. Would Jewish groups consider contributing to the archival work with manpower and money? Nevertheless, it is not for Jews or anyone else to determine matters of faith, as WJC pointed out but other Jewish groups don’t think the same, like the Chief Rabbi of France who continues to put forward the thesis that Pius was too silent in the face of evil and should not be considered as a possible saint. And Shira Schoenberg uses materials written by those who oppose the sainthood process of Pius (not surprising) and neglects evidence that contradicts her thesis. Her conclusions to me are mainly due to flawed scholarship and cliche.

I am curious as why the secular Jews follow so closely matters of Catholic faith. They’ve virtually abandoned their own and they want Catholics to listen to their opinions as to what should and should not happen viz. Catholicism. It is one thing to speak about historical matters but it is another to address matters of faith. I don’t know many reasonable-minded Christians telling Jews what to believe and how to live their faith. Perhaps more work needs to be done on the liturgical texts of the birkat haminim, the daily prayers of the synagogue. The birkat haminim is the 12th benediction of 18 which calls for the downfall of various groups of people who harm or detract (apostates) from the Jewish communion. Historically this malediction is oriented toward Christians, according to Jewish liturgical scholars. Perhaps Catholics should have an open protest of these prayers?
Calvin Freiburger’s post on his blog is fair-minded but I think he could be brave enough to openly call a spade a spade: I think Mr. James Carroll is a disingenuous and his work is purely revisionist with the sole purpose to discredit the Catholic Church. Carroll’s own credibility is lacking when it comes to analyzing known evidence on what Pius did and didn’t do. In my opinion Carroll is doing nothing less than to stir up controversy where there is none and to scandalize people where there is no scandal.
One final thought here: no doubt that lives lost during WWII is reprehensible. The Jewish and Christian holocaust of WWII was a failure for humanity. Christians and non-Christians across the world didn’t do all they could to save lives threatened and exterminated; allied governments didn’t do enough to pressure the Nazi regime to change their behavior. Even that some Christians exhibited anti-semitic sentiments is discouraging. Pope Pius XII has not gotten a fair historical review of his work as Supreme Pontiff viz. WWII. A failure to put aside the smear campaign of the Communists is regrettable for the scholars because it is dishonest.

Pope Pius XII, Servant of God: died 51 years ago today

Pope Pius XII2.jpg

It is custom in the Catholic Church to recall the ministry of past popes and to pray for them on the anniversary of their death. The Church sets aside special Mass prayers for the occasion. We do the same for each and every person who dies but the remembrance of a pope’s death has universal importance given his place in history and the theological implications of his ministry as the Vicar of Christ.
God our Father, you reward all who believe in you. May Your servant, Pius XII, our Pope, vicar of Peter, and shepherd of Your Church, who faithfully administered the mysteries of Your forgiveness and love on earth, rejoice with You for ever in heaven.

More on Pope Pius XII may be found here and here. Pray for his beatification.

Pius XII, Pope and Servant of God: 50th anniversary of death

Pius XII.jpgIn Your wise providence, O God, You wished Your servant Pius XII to be counted one of the Popes. Please number him also among the company of Your saintly Pontiffs, we beg You, since he ruled as Vicar on earth of Your only Son. This we ask through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Born: March 2, 1876

Ordained Bishop: May 13, 1917

Elected Pope: March 2, 1939

Dies: October 9, 1958

 

 

To note, Religious Teachers Filippini Sister Margherita Marchione recently published another
Sr Magherita Marcione.jpgbook on Pope Pius; this one is entitled, Pius XII: The Truth Will Set You Free (Paulist Press) with a prologue written by Cardinal Tarsicio Bertone, the Secretary of State to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

 

Today, Pope Benedict celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass for the repose of Pope Pius and then visited the tomb in the Vatican grotto.

 

Pope Benedict’s homily can be read here. But a few things stand out in what the Pope said:

 

The war highlighted the love he felt for his “beloved Rome”, a love demonstrated by the intense charitable work he undertook in defense of the persecuted, without any distinction of religion, ethnicity, nationality or political leanings. When, once the city was occupied, he was repeatedly advised to leave the Vatican to safeguard himself, his answer was always the same and decisive: “I will not leave Rome and my place, even at the cost of my life” (cf Summarium, p. 186). His relatives and other witnesses refer furthermore to privations regarding food, heating, clothes and comfort, to which he subjected himself voluntarily in order to share in the extremely trying conditions suffered by the people due to the bombardments and consequences of war (cf A. Tornielli, Pio XII, Un uomo sul trono di Pietro). And how can we forget his Christmas radio message of December 1942? In a voice breaking with emotion he deplored the situation of the “the hundreds of thousands of persons who, without any fault on their part, sometimes only because of their nationality or race, have been consigned to death or to a slow decline” (AAS, XXXV, 1943, p. 23), a clear reference to the deportation and extermination of the Jews. He often acted secretly and silently because, in the light of the concrete realities of that complex historical moment, he saw that this was the only way to avoid the worst and save the largest possible number of Jews. His interventions, at the end of the war and at the time of his death, received numerous and unanimous expressions of gratitude from the highest authorities of the Jewish world, such as, for example, the Israeli Foreign Minister Golda Meir, who wrote: “During the ten years of Nazi terror, when our people went through the horrors of martyrdom, the Pope raised his voice to condemn the persecutors and commiserate with their victims”, ending emotionally: “We mourn a great servant of peace.”

 


Pius 12 arms.jpgAND

 

With the Encyclical Mystici Corporis, published on 29 June 1943, while war still raged, he described the spiritual and visible relationships that unite men to the Word Incarnate, and he proposed integrating into this point of view all the principle themes of ecclesiology, offering for the first time a dogmatic and theological synthesis that would provide the basis for the Conciliar Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium.

A few months later, on 20 September 1943, with the Encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu he laid down the doctrinal norms for the study of Sacred Scripture, highlighting its importance and role in Christian life. This is a document that bears witness to a great opening to scientific research on the Biblical texts. How can we not remember this Encyclical, during the course of the work of this Synod that has as its own theme “The Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church”? It is to the prophetic intuition of Pius XII that we owe the launch of a serious study of the characteristics of ancient historiography, in order to better understand the nature of the sacred books, without weakening or negating their historical value. The deeper study of the “literary genres”, whose intention is to better understand what the sacred author meant, was viewed with a certain suspicion prior to 1943, in part thanks to the abuse that had been made of it. The Encyclical recognized that it could be applied correctly, declaring its use legitimate not only for the study of the Old Testament, but also the New.

 

AND AND

 

…Mediator Dei, dedicated to the liturgy, published 20 November 1947. With this document, the Servant of God provided an impulse to the liturgical movement, insisting that “the chief element of divine worship must be interior. For – he writes – we must always live in Christ and give ourselves to Him completely, so that in Him, with Him and through Him the heavenly Father may be duly glorified. The sacred liturgy requires, however, that both of these elements be intimately linked with each another… Otherwise religion clearly amounts to mere formalism, without meaning and without content“.

 


PXII tomb.jpgMay his memory be eternal!