Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII (born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, Italian pronunciation: [euˈdʒɛːnjo maˈriːa dʒuˈzɛppe dʒoˈvanni paˈtʃɛlli]; 2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his election to the papacy, he served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio to Germany, and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with various European and Latin American nations, including the Reichskonkordat treaty with the German Reich.[1]
Pius XII
2 March 1939
9 October 1958
2 April 1899
by Francesco di Paola Cassetta
13 May 1917
by Pope Benedict XV
16 December 1929
by Pope Pius XI
9 October 1958 (aged 82)
Castel Gandolfo, Lazio, Italy
- Pro-Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1912–1914)
- Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1914–1917)
- Apostolic Nuncio to Bavaria (1917–1925)
- Titular Archbishop of Sardes (1917–1929)
- Apostolic Nuncio to Germany (1920–1930)
- Apostolic Nuncio to Prussia (1926–1929)
- Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo al Celio (1929–1939)
- Cardinal Secretary of State (1930–1939)
- Prefect of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1930–1939)
- Archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica (1930–1939)
- Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber (1935–1939)
Opus Justitiae Pax ("The work of justice [shall be] peace" [Is. 32: 17])
Francesco di Paola Cassetta
Francesco di Paola Cassetta
2 April 1899
Agostino Zampini
Giovanni Battista Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano
13 May 1917
16 December 1929
29 March 1926
29 March 1926
27 April 1930
14 February 1932
8 September 1932
4 February 1934
11 August 1935
13 September 1936
25 July 1937
29 October 1939
4 May 1941
While the Vatican was officially neutral during World War II, the Reichskonkordat and his leadership of the Catholic Church during the war remain the subject of controversy—including allegations of public silence and inaction about the fate of the Jews.[2] Pius employed diplomacy to aid the victims of the Nazis during the war and, through directing the church to provide discreet aid to Jews and others, saved hundreds of thousands of lives.[3][4] Pius maintained links to the German resistance, and shared intelligence with the Allies. His strongest public condemnation of genocide was considered inadequate by the Allied Powers, while the Nazis viewed him as an Allied sympathizer who had dishonoured his policy of Vatican neutrality.[5]
During his papacy, the Catholic Church issued the Decree against Communism, declaring that Catholics who profess communist doctrine are to be excommunicated as apostates from the Christian faith. The church experienced severe persecution and mass deportations of Catholic clergy in the Eastern Bloc. He explicitly invoked ex cathedra papal infallibility with the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in his Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus.[6] His forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis Christi, on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; and Humani generis, in which he instructed theologians to adhere to episcopal teaching and allowed that the human body might have evolved from earlier forms. He eliminated the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals in 1946.
After he died in 1958, Pope Pius XII was succeeded by John XXIII. In the process toward sainthood, his cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by Paul VI during the final session of the Second Vatican Council. He was made a Servant of God by John Paul II in 1990 and Benedict XVI declared Pius XII Venerable on 19 December 2009.[7]
Papal styles of
Pope Pius XII
Your Holiness
Holy Father
2 March 1876
Rome, Kingdom of Italy
9 October 1958 (aged 82)
Castel Gandolfo, Rome, Italy