PART IX THE PONTIFICATE OF POPE PIUS XII ( ) THE POPE AND THE WORLD CRISIS EUGENIO PACELLI, A LAWYER’S SON, WAS BORN IN ROME ON MARCH 2, IN APRIL 1917, POPE BENEDICT XV NAMED PACELLI AN ARCHBISHOP AND APPOINTED HIM NUNCIO TO BAVARIA.

THE POPE AND THE WORLD CRISIS (CONT’D) WHEN PIUS XII WAS ELECTED POPE IN THE YEAR 1939, ALL-OUT WAR IN EUROPE WAS ALREADY THOUGHT INEVITABLE. NONETHELESS, POPE PIUS XII WORKED STRENUOUSLY TO PROMOTE PEACE AND TRY TO PREVENT WORLD WAR II. ONCE WAR BROKE OUT, HE CONTINUED TO APPEAL FOR PEACE. UNLIKE BENEDICT XV’S UNTIRING EFFORTS TO PROMOTE PEACE DURING WORLD WAR I, PIUS XII KNEW THAT WORLD WAR II WAS A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR AND THAT THE VATICAN COULD NOT BE SATISFIED WITH SIMPLY ACTING AS A VOICE OF PEACE.

THE HOLY SEE REMAINED OFFICIALLY NEUTRAL, BUT THE POPE PRIVATELY OFFERED TO SERVE AS A CHANNEL FOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ANTI-HITLER ELEMENTS IN GERMANY AND THE ALLIES. THROUGH HIS DIPLOMACY, HE WON FOR THE CITY OF ROME STATUS AS AN “OPEN CITY,” EXEMPT FROM MILITARY ATTACKS. REPEATEDLY HE APPEALED FOR PEACE, ESPECIALLY IN A SERIES OF CHRISTMAS RADIO ADDRESSES FROM 1939 TO 1942.

THE POPE AND THE WORLD CRISIS (CONT’D) PIUS XII LAID OUT A FIVE-POINT PEACE PLAN OF HIS OWN, AND THROUGH THE PONTIFICAL AID COMMISSION, HE DIRECTED A LARGE-SCALE PROGRAM OF ASSISTANCE TO WAR VICTIMS AND PRISONERS-OF-WAR. IN 1943, AFTER THE FALL OF MUSSOLINI’S GOVERNMENT AND THE OCCUPATION OF ROME BY GERMAN TROOPS, CHURCH INSTITUTIONS THROUGHOUT THE CITY, ACTING AT THE POPE’S DIRECTION, SHELTERED THOUSANDS OF JEWISH AND NON-JEWISH REFUGEES. MANY ALSO TOOK REFUGE AT THE PAPAL SUMMER RESIDENCE AT CASTEL GANDOLFO, AND OTHERS WERE SHELTERED IN VATICAN “SAFE HOUSES” THROUGHOUT THE CITY OF ROME.

THE POPE AND THE WORLD CRISIS (CONT’D) HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF JEWS’ LIVES WERE SAVED THROUGH THE EFFORTS OF POPE PIUS AND OTHER VATICAN OFFICIALS WORKING UNDER THE SHELTER OF NEUTRALITY. AFTER THE WAR, POPE PIUS XII WON THE PRAISE OF MANY PROMINENT JEWS AND JEWISH GROUPS FOR HIS ASSISTANCE DURING NAZI OCCUPATION. REMARKABLY, THE CHIEF RABBI OF ROME, ISRAEL ZOLLI, LARGELY THROUGH THE EXAMPLE OF SELFLESS RISK AND EXTRAORDINARY CHARITY EXHIBITED BY VATICAN AGENTS DURING THE WAR, BECAME A CATHOLIC, TAKING AS HIS BAPTISMAL NAME EUGENE OUT OF GRATITUDE TO PIUS XII (EUGENIO PACELLI).

TWO SAINTS OF THE NAZI PERSECUTION ALTHOUGH THE POLICY OF JEWISH GENOCIDE BY NAZIS WAS DEVASTATING, JEWS WERE NOT THE ONLY ONES WHO SUFFERED UNDER NAZI POLICIES. GYPSIES ALSO WERE TARGETS OF GENOCIDE. THREE MILLION POLISH CATHOLICS DIED AT THE AUSCHWITZ PRISON CAMP, INCLUDING TWENTY PERCENT OF POLAND’S PRIESTS.

TWO SAINTS OF THE NAZI PERSECUTION THROUGHOUT THESE PERSECUTIONS, MANY CATHOLICS SACRIFICED THEMSELVES FOR THEIR FAITH AND FELLOW MAN, AND MANY WERE MARTYRED BY THE NAZIS. AMONG THESE, TWO FIGURES TYPIFY THE CARNAGE AND THE HEROISM OF THIS ERA: ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE ST. TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS, WHOSE NAME BY BIRTH WAS EDITH STEIN.

TWO SAINTS OF THE NAZI PERSECUTION (CONT’D) MAXIMILIAN KOLBE ( ), PRIEST AND MARTYR, WAS A POLISH CONVENTUAL FRANCISCAN. DEVOTED TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN, HE FOUNDED A GROUP CALLED THE MILITIA OF MARY IMMACULATE, EDITED ITS MAGAZINE, AND ESTABLISHED AN INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF MARIAN DEVOTION. AFTER THE FALL OF POLAND, HE WAS ARRESTED BY THE NAZIS, RELEASED, AND THEN RE-ARRESTED IN 1941 FOR ASSISTING JEWS AND MEMBERS OF THE POLISH UNDERGROUND.

TWO SAINTS OF THE NAZI PERSECUTION SENT TO AUSCHWITZ, HE WAS TREATED BRUTALLY BECAUSE HE WAS A PRIEST. WHEN TEN OF HIS FELLOW PRISONERS WERE MARKED OUT FOR EXECUTION IN REPRISAL FOR A PRISON ESCAPE, FATHER KOLBE VOLUNTARILY TOOK THE PLACE OF ONE OF THEM, WHO WAS A MARRIED MAN. HE DIED ON AUGUST 14, 1941, AND POPE JOHN PAUL II CANONIZED HIM IN HIS FEAST DAY IS CELEBRATED ON AUGUST 14.

TWO SAINTS OF THE NAZI PERSECUTION (CONT’D)  EDITH STEIN ( ) WAS BORN INTO A JEWISH FAMILY AND AT AN EARLY AGE DECLARED HERSELF AN ATHEIST.  A BRILLIANT STUDENT, SHE STUDIED PHILOSOPHY UNDER THE RENOWNED PHILOSOPHER EDMUND HUSSERL AND BECAME IDENTIFIED WITH THE PHILOSOPHICAL SCHOOL CALLED PHENOMENOLOGY.  DURING HER STUDIES, AND AFTER BEGINNING HER CAREER AS A TEACHER AND WRITER, SHE WAS LED TOWARDS THE CATHOLIC FAITH.  AFTER READING THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA, SHE WAS MOVED TO CONVERT, AND WAS BAPTIZED ON JANUARY 1,  IN 1934 SHE JOINED THE CARMELITES IN COLOGNE, TAKING THE RELIGIOUS NAME TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS.

TWO SAINTS OF THE NAZI PERSECUTION (CONT’D) AS THE NAZI CAMPAIGN AGAINST JEWS INTENSIFIED, SHE WAS SMUGGLED TO THE NETHERLANDS IN IN 1942 SHE WAS ARRESTED AS PART OF THE NAZI REACTION TO THE DUTCH BISHOPS’ CONDEMNATION OF NAZISM AND SENT TO AUSCHWITZ. SHE WAS KILLED IN THE GAS CHAMBER ON AUGUST 9,1942. POPE JOHN PAUL CANONIZED HER IN HER FEAST DAY IS CELEBRATED ON AUGUST 9.

THE TEACHING OF PIUS XII  ALONG WITH BEING ACTIVE IN WORLD AFFAIRS, POPE PIUS XII PRODUCED A SIGNIFICANT BODY OF TEACHING, MUCH OF IT IS CONTAINED IN A SERIES OF IMPORTANT ENCYCLICALS THAT HELPED SET THE STAGE FOR THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL.  WHY WOULD IT BE NECESSARY FOR THE VATICAN COUNCIL TO DEAL WITH THE SAME ISSUES THAT PIUS XII DEALT WITH IN HIS ENCYCLICALS?

THE TEACHING OF PIUS XII  MYSTICI CORPORIS CHRISTI (THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST) IN 1943 DRAWS ON THE TEACHING OF ST. PAUL TO PRESENT THE CHURCH AS A COMMUNION WHOSE MEMBERS PLAY COMPLEMENTARY ROLES IN CONTINUING THE MISSION OF CHRIST.  THIS ENCYCLICAL MAKES CLEAR BOTH THE CHURCH’S HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE, INVOLVING SPECIFIC OFFICES AND AUTHORITY, AND HER “CHARISMATIC” DIMENSION WHEREBY GOD GIVES INDIVIDUALS GIFTS TO BE USED IN THE SERVICE OF ALL.

THE TEACHING OF PIUS XII (CONT’D) DIVINO AFFLANTE SPIRITU (INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT) IN 1943 GAVE ENCOURAGEMENT TO BIBLICAL STUDIES. SCHOLARS WERE TOLD TO RESPECT THE LITERAL SENSE OF SCRIPTURE WHILE MAKING USE OF HISTORICAL- CRITICAL METHODS IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE LITERARY FORMS USED BY THE INSPIRED HUMAN AUTHORS AND THE HISTORICAL CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THEY WROTE.

THE TEACHING OF PIUS XII (CONT’D) MEDIATOR DEI (MEDIATOR OF GOD) IN 1947 ENDORSED THE MOVEMENT FOR LITURGICAL RENEWAL. LITURGICAL CHANGES APPROVED DURING THE PONTIFICATE OF PIUS XII INCLUDED: THE REVISION OF THE HOLY WEEK RITES THE REDUCTION OF THE EUCHARISTIC FAST AND PERMISSION FOR AFTERNOON AND EVENING MASSES.

THE TEACHING OF PIUS XII (CONT’D)  HUMANI GENERIS (THE HUMAN RACE) IN 1950 WARNED AGAINST EMERGING THEOLOGICAL ERRORS OF THE DAY CONTRARY TO THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION.  IN THE VARIOUS POSITIONS CONDEMNED BY POPE PIUS XII ONE CAN SEE A RESURGENCE OF MODERNIST THINKING CONDEMNED FOUR DECADES EARLIER BY POPE ST. PIUS X.

 POPE PIUS DECLARED 1950 A HOLY YEAR AND CAPPED THE OBSERVANCE BY INFALLIBLY DECLARING THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY TO BE A DOGMA OF FAITH. THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS (THE MOST BOUNTIFUL GOD) OF POPE PIUS XII (NOVEMBER 1, 1950) DECLARED: …WE PRONOUNCE, DECLARE, AND DEFINE IT TO BE A DIVINELY REVEALED DOGMA: THAT THE IMMACULATE MOTHER OF GOD, THE EVER VIRGIN MARY, HAVING COMPLETED THE COURSE OF HER EARLY LIFE, WAS ASSUMED BODY AND SOUL INTO HEAVENLY GLORY. THE DEFINITION OF THE ASSUMPTION IS IMPORTANT NOT ONLY AS A CONTRIBUTION TO TEACHING ABOUT THE BLESSED VIRGIN BUT FOR REJECTING THE IDEA OF BODY-SOUL DUALISM.

THE CHURCH AND THE COMMUNIST EMPIRE  POPE PIUS XII WORKED TO RALLY CATHOLICS AGAINST THE THREAT OF COMMUNIST TAKEOVER IN THE WEST.  LOOKING TO CRUCIAL ELECTIONS IN ITALY, THE VATICAN’S HOLY OFFICE IN 1949 WARNED THAT CATHOLICS WHO JOINED OR SUPPORTED COMMUNIST PARTIES WOULD BE EXCOMMUNICATED.  “COMMUNISM IS MATERIALISTIC AND ANTI-CHRISTIAN,” IT SAID, AND COMMUNIST LEADERS ARE “ENEMIES OF GOD, OF THE TRUE RELIGION, AND OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.”  ALTHOUGH COMMUNISM WOULD NOT SPREAD TO ANY OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, THE IRON CURTAIN DIVIDED EUROPE FOR ANOTHER 40 YEARS.

THE CHURCH AND THE COMMUNIST EMPIRE (CONT’D)  THE COMMUNISTS IN CHINA CONCENTRATED ON SEPARATING CHINESE CATHOLICS FROM THE HOLY SEE AND CREATING A STATE-CONTROLLED NATIONAL CHURCH.  FOR THIS PURPOSE, A CHINESE CATHOLIC PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATION WAS ESTABLISHED, AND THE GOVERNMENT BEGAN CHOOSING PUPPET BISHOPS.  DESPITE THIS STATE-SPONSORED NATIONALISTIC CHURCH, LOYAL BISHOPS, PRIESTS, RELIGIOUS AND LAITY MAINTAINED AN UNDERGROUND CHURCH IN COMMUNION WITH ROME.  IN RESPONSE TO THE CHINESE PUPPET CHURCH, POPE PIUS XII UNDERLINED THE UNIVERSAL NATURE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND REJECTED THE IDEA OF NATIONAL CHURCHES IN HIS 1954 ENCYCLICAL AD SINARUM GENTEM (TO THE CHINESE PEOPLE).