Pius XII
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1939.03.02 to 1958.10.09
Pope #260
Pius XI (1922-1939)
Blessed John XXIII (1958-1963)
Eugenio Pacelli
1876.03.02 in Rome
1958.10.09 in Castel Gandolfo, Italy
Pope Pius XII
Biography:
Born in Rome into a devout Catholic family which had produced several Vatican lawyers, most who strongly supported Papal authority over land as well as spiritual. Prior to Eugenio Pacelli's birth, the Vatican had just lost all of it's Papal States within Italy, and not by choice. Young Pacelli chose a career in cannon law with ambitions of rebuilding Papal authority and temporal control for the Vatican.
German church-state
In April 1917, at the age of 41, Archbishop Pacelli was sent to Munich, Germany, as the Nuncio to Bavaria, where he remained until 1929. During his 13 years in Germany, he met with many officials and became very familiar with the Nazi Party and what they stood for. He was very charitable with the people, Catholic or not, and was successful in negotiating several concordats with various nations and regions for Rome. In June 1920, he was promoted by Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922) to Nuncio for all of Germany. His main concordat between Germany and the Vatican would prove to be less successful, as it was repeatedly rejected for being too Papal authoritarian. Pacelli's concordat would essentially have made Germany a church-state with the Papacy.La Popessa
Bigotry
Many publications have reported that Pius XII was very supportive, even fond of the Jewish community, usually citing remarks made in the later days of the war. However, his earlier letters do not indicate this. On Sept 4, 1917, the chief Rabbi for Munich, Dr. Werner, asked Pius XII if he would help the Jews with a favour. The Italian government had blocked several cases of palm fronds for their upcoming festival from being exported. Dr. Werner pleaded with Pius XII to ask the Pope if he would try to persuade the Italian government to release them. Pius XII wrote to the Vatican concerning the request, but in the letter he added his recommendation not help them "in the exercise of their Jewish cult."In another letter he referred to Jews and even Russians with a strong negative stereotype. Pius XII was very disliking of the Eastern Orthodox church and the dominance it had through Russia.
In another letter, Pius XII requested that black allied troops be removed from Germany, due to allegations they were raping women. However, the allegations were all proven to be racially motivated, and proven false by a US sponsored inquiry of which Pius XII was aware. Even at the end of the war Pius XII asked the British Foreign Office that no Allied coloured troops would be stationed in Rome after it's liberation. His request was denied.
Anti-semitism
After the Nazi invasion of France, the Vichy Marshal, Henri Petain asked Pius XII if he would object to anti-Jewish laws. Pius XII responded that the church condemned racism, but not every rule against the Jews. In response to the Vichy's new "Jewish statutes" law, the Vatican responded that it did not consider the statutes in conflict with Catholic teaching, as long as they weren't carried out with "charity" and "justice".Cardinal in the Vatican
On Dec 16, 1929, Pacelli was made cardinal by Pope Pius XI (1922-1939), and left Germany to work in the Vatican. Three years later on Jan 30, 1933, Hitler took power in Germany.Enabling Act approved
Nazis receive Pius' approval
Critics strongly point out that without Pius' persuasion to deal with the Nazis, Hitler's rise to power would not have happened or at least delayed. Pius XII was not ignorant to Nazi ideology and knew very well what was happening in Germany regarding Jewish hatred and racial purism. The Nazis agreed to his church-state concordat, and received the blessing of Rome and the German Catholic support. On Mar 23, 1933, the Zentrum voted in favour of the Act, and Hitler was granted dictatorial control of Germany.In 2005, Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) used the Enabling Act in his book Memory and Identity, as an example of the dangers present even in democracy. Critics have cited the Act as an example of the dangers of the destruction of a democracy by the Vatican.
Vatican concordat with the Nazis
On July 20, 1933, Pacelli negotiated a concordat between Nazi Germany and the Vatican. In the signed document, the cardinal agreed not to allow any clergy to engage in any political activity whatsoever. Franz von Papen, one of the Nazi negotiators remaked how pleased he was that Cardinal Pacelli was so anti-communist, in common with the new Nazi government.Anti-Nazi circulation shelved
In June, 1938 Father John LaFarge, an American priest, was assigned by the former Pope Pius XI (1922-1939) to compose "The Unity of Humankind". In the 100-page document, LaFarge condemned racism and all the persecution of Jews by Nazi purists. However, Pius XI died just before the publication was to be signed. When Pacelli became pope, the lengthy document was shelved, and never published.Responding to Final Solution
In Oct 1941, in a response to the US Assistant Chief, Harold Tittmann's request for the Pontif to speak out against the attrocities, the response came back that the Vatican wanted to remain "neutral". On June 16, 1942, Tittmann reported that Pope Pius XII is adopting "an ostrich-like policy towards atrocities that were obvious to everyone."
In the spring of 1940, Rabbi Isaac Herzog of Palestine, asked the Vatican to help intervene in the deportation of Jews from Spain to Germany. He later made a similar request for Jews in Lithuania. Pius XII did nothing however.
On Sept 18, 1942, Monsignor Montini, the future Pope Paul VI (1963-1978), wrote that "the massacres of the Jews reach frightening proportions and forms." However, when US representative Myron Taylor reported that the Jews were being sent to the east to be slaughtered, the Vatican's Secretary of State referred to the report as rumours, and that the Vatican could not act without verification. Three months later the Allies returned with the requested report titled, "German Policy of Extermination of the Jewish Race" detailing evidence of the German genocide of the Jews. The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Maglione responded that the Vatican does protest atrocities in general, however that the Pope could not publicly condemn particular atrocities.
German bishops and Nazism
Nazi praise
On Sept 8, 1943, Germany invades Italy. Shortly after, on Oct 16, German ambassador to the Vatican, Ernst von Weizsäcker met with Vatican Secretary of State Maglione to get a response to how the Vatican would react to Nazi's Jewish Policy. Maglione responded that "the Holy See would not want to be put in the position of having to utter a word of disapproval." and that the Pope is being "cautious so as not to give the German people the impression that [he] has done or has wished to do even the smallest thing against Germany during this terrible war." After, Weizsäcker praised the Pontiff for his "perfect even-handedness" in treating Germany and the Allies.Anti-Nazi
On more than one occassion it's been reported that Pius XII did instruct Catholic organisations to harbour Jews. The Vatican itself hid 477 Jews and another 4'238 Jews were protected in various monasteries and convents throughout Rome.Italy under Mussolini had refused to deport Jews even under repeated German pressure to do so, as did the Regent of Hungary, Admiral Miklós Horthy. It was only after German forces invaded Italy (Sept 8, 1943) and Hungary (Mar 19, 1944) that the deportations begain.
On May 25, 1944, Pope Pius XII did send a telegram to Admiral Horthy asking him to stop the deportation "to an unknown destination" of Hungarians because of their race. He did not use the word "Jew" in his message however. After 400'000 Hungarian Jews had already been deported to the death camp at Auschwitz, Admiral Horthy stopped them due to requests from Pope Pius XII, King Gustav of Sweden, and the Allies. It's estimated that more than 300'000 Jews were saved by this; although, many thousands were murdered by Hungarian Facist gangs such as the Arrow Cross. Many were saved by foreign diplomats in Hungary including the heroic efforts of the Swedish representative Raoul Wallenberg for saving an estimated 100'000 Jews from their genocide from July 9, 1944 to Jan 17, 1945.
Indulgences
Selling of indulgences for loved ones continued throughout the war and after. In 1950 Pius XII declared it a holy year, and many pilgrims visited Rome where indulgences were sold. The Archbishop of Winnipeg, in a letter dated Mar 1, 1944, urged mothers to guarantee the salvation of their sons by paying him $40 for prayers and masses on their behalf.Post war
In 1948 Pope Pius XII requests mercy for all Nazi war criminals condemned to death. His appeal is turned down by Deputy Military Governor General Lucius Clay.A series of war crimes law-suits have been made concerning the Vatican's role. In 2000, Bill Dorich, an American journalist of California brought a United States federal suit against the Vatican alleging collusion in war crimes by the Croatian Ustashe.
Divinity of Mary
On Nov 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary, that Mary's body did not decay after death, but was taken directly to heaven.Death
In the autumn of 1958, Pius XII was suffering from a bout of hiccups and on Oct 9, 1958, he died of a "circulatory phenomenon" at his summer palace, Castelgandolfo. His funeral was described by the Vatican newspaper as "the greatest in the long history of Rome, surpassing even that of Julius Caesar."External Links:
Rulers & Events:
1900-1946: King of Italy, Victor Emanuel III
1922-1943: Dictator of Italy, Mussolini; Facist regime
1936-1952: King of United Kingdom, George VI
1939: British White Paper overturns Balfour Declaration (1917)
1939-1945: World War II
1940-1944: Head of State (occupied France), Henri Philippe Pétain
1943-1945: Italy under Nazi German occupation
1944-1947: Provisional Government of France; Charles de Gaulle, first
1945: Adolph Hitler commits suicide 1945.04.30
1945: USA declares nuclear weapons status; first nation 1945.07.16
1946: King of Italy, Umberto II; abdicates
1946-Pres: Italy declares Republic
1947-1959: Fourth Republic of France
1948: Israel declared a state (1948.05.14)
5 Arab states invade Israel
1949: Soviet Union declares nuclear weapons status 1949.08.29
Second nuclear power state
1952-Pres: Queen of United Kingdom, Elizabeth II 1952.02.06
1952: United Kingdom declares nuclear weapons status 1952.08.01
Third nuclear power state
1957: European Economic Community (EEC) formed (1957.03.25)
Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and West Germany
1957-1975: Vietnam Civil War
