Pope Pius XII Church policies after World War II
Encyclopedia
The Church policies after World War II of Pope Pius XII
focused on material aid to war-torn Europe, the internationalization of the Roman Catholic Church
, its persecution
in Eastern Europe
, China
and Vietnam
, and relations with the United States
and the emerging European Union
.
After 1946, Church policies, with wars ongoing in Korea
, the Mandate of Palestine and other places, continued to propagate peace and aid the afflicted, especially in war-torn Europe. Pius XII began a process of worldwide reconstruction of war-damaged Catholic institutions. He promoted the internationalization of the Church with reforms of the Church, internationalizing the College of Cardinals
in two consistories. For working women he repeatedly demanded equal pay for equal work
.
, some 60,000,000 Catholics were under the influence of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Relations with the United States were cordial. Faced with a war in the Middle East
, Pius called for mutual respect for and between the three major religions, Christianity, Judaism
and Islam
. He insisted on their free access to Holy Sites, especially in Jerusalem. In his war-time message, Pius had called for an international order and the establishment of international organizations. He therefore welcomed the creation of such organizations after the war, and appointed Papal representatives or observers to them. Pacelli supported a unification of Europe. In 1957, following the signing of the Treaty of Rome
, he received the heads of government and State of the newly founded European Union
, to express his gratification and give his blessings.
issued an urgent call for charity. The Pope described the misery of millions of people in war-torn areas, and insisted that all persons must help. He was especially concerned with the millions of small children without families, food or shelter. As in the war years, the Holy Father offered material help. During the war, some 200,000 messages were sent via Vatican identifying displaced persons and prisoners to their respective families. Pius became an outspoken advocate of clemency for those accused of war crimes, including Ernst von Weizsäcker
, who was ambassador to the Vatican in the last two years of the war. The U.S. nuncio appealed to commute the sentences of several Germans convicted by the occupation authorities. The Vatican, opposed to the death penalty, asked for a blanket pardon for all those who had received death sentences after the ban on execution of war criminals was lifted in 1948. After the war, the Vatican continued its information services. Vatican Radio began a daily hour for prisoners and interned to South Africa
, Belgian Congo
, Kenya
, North Africa
, Australia
, India
, England
and North America
. The DPs created often special problems, because many thousands of them did not have any identification. Preliminary identity papers and food were distributed to long lines of persons, waiting for hours. Identity papers were issued throughout Italy
by Vatican charity officials and Red Cross representatives. Forty years later, controversy arose as to whether some Nazi
officials benefited from these Red Cross or Vatican papers, issued in the grand chaos of 1945-1947. Most certainly, neither the Red Cross nor the Vatican had the time or resources to check individual identity claims at the time. This situation was possibly exploited by the controversial Alois Hudal
, who was later dismissed from his posts, the rat line
, but by also many persons of other persuasions, who wanted to start a new life under a new name away from friends and family.
s without any home or place to go, wandered all over the Europe, Pius XII insisted that immigration
is a natural
right
and duty. In 1946, he declared, that all people have a right to immigration, because the Creator
himself demands access to material goods. In addition, compassion
supports immigration rights. Conversely, no state which can support additional people, has a right to close its immigration
doors without reason.
, Carlo Egger and Otto Faller
started on behalf of the pope the official Pontificia Commissione di Assistenza
. Madre Pascalina Lehnert was asked by the Pope to direct his personal charity efforts, officially under Monsignore Montini, later Pope Paul VI
. To assist the pope in the many calls for his help and charity, Pascalina organized and led the Magazino, a private papal charity office, which began with 40 helpers and continued until 1959. “It started from modest beginnings and became a gigantic charity”. Lehnert organized truck caravans filled with medicine, clothing, shoes and food to prison camps and hospitals, provided first aid, food and shelter for bomb victims, fed the hungry population of Rome, answered emergency calls for aid to the Pope, sent care packages to France
, Poland
, Czechoslovakia
, Germany
, Austria
and other countries. After the war, the calls for papal help continued in war-torn Europe: Madre Pascalina organized emergency aid to displaced persons, prisoners of war, victims of floods, and many victims of the war. Pascalina distributed also hundreds of religious items to needy priests. In later years, priests with very large parishes received small cars or motor bikes.” The Pope was personally involved, constantly asking bishops from the United States
, Argentina
, Brazil
, Switzerland
, Canada
, Mexico
and other countries for help.” Cardinals
and bishop
s freely visited Madre Pascalina, who by now was nicknamed "Virgo Potens" (:Powerful Virgin").
The papal Commissione di Assistenza to the most needy populations of Europe delivered more than ninety thousand crates. They were shipped by rail from Vatican station to dozens of countries In 1946, the Pontiff invited 50,000 children to receive a full meal after which the Pope thanked the benefactors of the United Nations
for their generosity.
As Bishop of Rome he increased papal soup kitchen rations from three million annually to forty million by 1947. At Christmas 1944, he personally gave gift packages to three thousand Roman children and delivered another four thousand to children on the Feast of Epiphany, two weeks later. By Christmas 1945, Pope Pius had forty thousand packages. The Swedish King Gustav V awarded Pope Pius XII with the “Prince Carl Medal”, given annually to the person with the most outstanding record in charity in the world. Pope Pius responded in his Easter message to Communist leaders who attacked his policies:
In his 1944 speech to the directors of the Pontifical Missionary Society, he stated:
customs of honouring deceased family members. The Vatican regarded these as religious exercises which conflicted with Catholic dogma. As a result, the Church made little progress in China. Within months of his election, Pope Pius issued a dramatic change in policies. On December 8, 1939, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith issued at the request of Pius XII new instructions, by which Chinese customs were no longer considered superstitious but rather an honourable way of esteeming one's relatives, and therefore permitted by Catholics.
The Government of China established diplomatic relations with the Vatican within a short interval. The Papal degree changed the ecclesiastical situation in China in an almost revolutionary way. As the Church began to flourish, Pius established a local ecclesiastical hierarchy and received the Archbishop of Peking, Thomas Tien Ken-sin
, SVD, into the College of Cardinals
. The establishment of Mao Zedong
's communist regime
in 1949 put these early advances on hold and led to the persecution of thousands of clergy and faithful in China.
n and Asia
n missions, including basic health stations but also specialized hospitals and universities. WWII had been a disaster for Catholic missions, educational and health institutes in Asia and Africa. In Europe, the houses of various orders and congregations, which prepare candidates for work oversees, were emptying. Priests and lay brothers, teachers and nurses, were called home from oversees to participate in military duty. Missionaries with the “wrong” passport were interned or expelled from the countries they worked in. After Japan
declared war, much of Asia including the Philippines
and Indochina
became battlefields. Catholic churches, hospitals and schools were destroyed or closed. Under Japanese occupation, many missionaries were living in concentration camps and were mistreated. After the war, Pius helped rebuild the institutional presence and accelerated the pace of turning over control to local authorities. His encyclicals, Evangelii Praecones
and Fidei Donum, issued on June 2, 1951 and April 21, 1957, respectively, increased the local decision-making of Catholic missions and recognition of local culture, especially in Africa. Continuing the line of his predecessors, Pius supported the establishment of local administration and a reduction of colonial influence in Church affairs: In 1950, the hierarchy of Western Africa became independent, 1951 Southern Africa
and 1953 in British Eastern Africa. Finland
, Burma and French Africa became independent dioceses in 1955. They remained financially dependent, however, from Western resources.
had been helpful, with large shipments of food items and clothing for Vatican charity services such as the Commissione Di Assistenza. Pius XII negotiated with Brazil a visa program for "non-Aryan" Catholics
, a program subject to stringent conditions until its premature termination. After the war, Pius devoted special attention to the subcontinent, addressing in each country virtually every major Church meeting over Vatican Radio
in the years 1946-1958. Concerned about the continuing lack of clergy in Latin America, he formed in 1958 the foundation of the permanent Papal Commission for Latin America. Several orders, Dominicans, Jesuits and even the Trappist
s, made foundations there at the request of the Pope.
s or crimes against humanity. He supported the Nuremberg trials
with documentation, and was repeatedly quoted in the proceedings against Nazi war criminals. One year after the German capitulation, in June 1946 he challenged the Allies to finally close the Nazi concentration camps
, which they had kept running to accommodate POWs and DPs. Pius did not protest the expulsion of millions of Germans from their homes by Poland, Hungary
, Romania
, Czechoslovakia
and the Soviet Union
due to the diplomatic deadlock with those (then) Soviet-bloc nations. His material assistance from the Commissione Di Assistenza reached many.
He did not support changes of borders. Throughout his pontificate, he refused to engage in border issues, such as the Polish-German border disputes.
informed its readers:
During the War, the Roman-born Pontiff was very concerned with the question, how to save the eternal city from the fate of destruction. He decided to stay day and night in Rome as not to give an excuse for bombings in his absence. He also communicated with FDR and Churchill regarding a sparing for his city. As German troops withdrew from the South of Italy, he helped to negotiate an open city agreement, by which German military circumvented Rome and thus did not offer military targets there. After the Germans left, the Roman population flocked to St. Pter’s square to thank the “Savior of Rome” One of them was Pietro Nenni, the socialist leader who first refused to kneel down, until his wife forced him to. Later, Pope Pius was named saviour of he city and of civilisation.
But due to the international climate, and the communist persecution of the Church in the East, relations between the Vatican and Communism soured. The 1948 were seen as a watershed for the future of Italy and Europe and became a fight between the Catholic Church and the Communist Party of Italy. In his Easter homily of 1948, Pius appealed to the Roman people:
With 49% of the vote, the elections of April 18, 1948 went in favor of the anti-Communist Christian Democrats. On July 15, 1948, L'Osservatore Romano
published a degree which excommunicated those who propagate “the materialistic and anti-Christian teachings of communism”, which was widely interpreted as an excommunication of the Communist Party of Italy, which however, was not mentioned in the decree. The excommunication extended to any Italian Catholic who was a Communist candidate in the parliamentary elections. It specifically did not include persons, who distributed Communist books, papers or leaflets, although those actions were condemned as well. Azione Cattolica very actively supported the Christian Democratic Party. In 1949, the Holy Office issued the Decree against Communism
, which excommunicated any Catholic who joined or collaborated with the Communist Party.
for a “Congress of Europe” in 1948, and sent a Papal delegate to the Hague meeting. The European Economic Community
was founded in Rome in 1957, the last year of Pius XII's papacy. As Europe recovered, Pius had encouraged European unification attempts and the foundation of the EU. He addressed the heads of State and governments from Italy
, France
, Germany
, and the Benelux
countries at this historic occasion. On June 13, 1957 he demanded a united Europe, aware of its foundations, with common institutions, a common foreign policy, and a strong European parliament to control the institutions and the council of ministers.
. Vatican relations with America were cordial and largely free of conflict. Joseph P. Kennedy, father of John F. Kennedy
, attended the Papal coronation as representative of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
. William Henry O'Connell
of Boston
was the first Cardinal invited by the new Pope after his election. Cardinal George Mundelein of Chicago
was his second guest. In 1936, then Cardinal Pacelli was the first Pope to ever visit the United States. He toured the nation with Bishop Francis Spellman, visiting twelve of sixteen ecclesiastical provinces and meeting with seventy-nine bishops. He gave a policy address at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
. He had meetings with President Roosevelt which ... led to a resumption of de facto diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the USA, which had been in limbo since 1868.
Pius had left the initiative to the American President, realizing the complicated situation he faced in the American Congress
, which had refused to approve a Papal minister in 1868, thus de facto closing the doors for an American presence at the Vatican. He privately protested repeated American bombings of Rome. After the war, Pius supported the Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower
administrations to rebuild war-torn Europe and to defend freedom.
In a well-publicized appeal, he wrote to President Eisenhower to spare the lives of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
, sentenced to death because of alleged espionage for the Soviet Union.
Pius invited Americans, Europeans, Africans and Asians in the Italian-dominated Vatican Curia. He encouraged young Americans to enter Vatican service. To provide better training and international exposure of American theology students, he welcomed the establishment of a large seminary
exclusively for Americans in Rome. It was opened and blessed by him in the presence of virtual all American bishops. He was close to Francis Spellman, a friend of Domenico Tardini. Spellman was the first American ever to work in the Secretariat. In 1931, Pacelli consecrated him to be the first American bishop in Saint Peter's Basilica. Spellman was elevated to the seat of New York immediately after the election of Pope Pius XII. Spellman, who accompanied a groups of American pilgrims to Rome in October 1958, was also the last American and one of the last foreign dignitaries to see Pope Pius before his death on October 9, 1958.
, fascism
, communism
, and left-wing and right-wing regime
s as well as some democratic governments. To fulfill its mission under changing circumstances, the Vatican insisted on freedom of religion. Already under Pope Benedict XV
, but especially under Pope Pius XI
, a record number of new concordats were concluded. To Pius XII, Church freedom was the ultimate priority:
Pius concluded some thirty concordats and State treaties during his pontificate. Treaties were concluded with Brazil (1950), Canada (1951), France (1952), Great Britain (1953), The Netherlands (1957), United States of America 1957). New Apostolic delegations were established in Indonesia (1947), Palestine and Jordan (1948), Dakar (1948), Pakistan (1950) and Thailand (1957). New nunciatures were established in Uruguay (1939), Lebanon (1947), The Philippines (1951) China (1946), Indonesia (1950), Egypt (1947), India (1948), Liberia (1951), Pakistan (1951), Japan (1952), Syria (1953), Iran (1953), Ethiopia (1957). A personal representative of the President of the United States of America was accredited at the Vatican since December 1939. Representatives of the Vatican were sent to several United Nations Organizations, such as UNESCO and ILO.
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
focused on material aid to war-torn Europe, the internationalization of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, its persecution
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, and relations with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the emerging European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
After 1946, Church policies, with wars ongoing in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, the Mandate of Palestine and other places, continued to propagate peace and aid the afflicted, especially in war-torn Europe. Pius XII began a process of worldwide reconstruction of war-damaged Catholic institutions. He promoted the internationalization of the Church with reforms of the Church, internationalizing the College of Cardinals
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church.A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory. It also convenes on the death or abdication of a pope as a papal conclave to elect a successor...
in two consistories. For working women he repeatedly demanded equal pay for equal work
Equal pay for equal work
Equal pay for equal work is the concept that individuals doing the same work should receive the same remuneration. In America, for example, the law states that "employers may not pay unequal wages to men and women who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility,...
.
Church policies
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, some 60,000,000 Catholics were under the influence of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Relations with the United States were cordial. Faced with a war in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Pius called for mutual respect for and between the three major religions, Christianity, Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. He insisted on their free access to Holy Sites, especially in Jerusalem. In his war-time message, Pius had called for an international order and the establishment of international organizations. He therefore welcomed the creation of such organizations after the war, and appointed Papal representatives or observers to them. Pacelli supported a unification of Europe. In 1957, following the signing of the Treaty of Rome
Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, was an international agreement that led to the founding of the European Economic Community on 1 January 1958. It was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany...
, he received the heads of government and State of the newly founded European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, to express his gratification and give his blessings.
Displaced persons and prisoners of war
On January 6, 1946, the encyclical QuemadmodumQuemadmodum
Quemadmodum is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII pleading for the care of the world's destitute children after World War II, given at St. Peter's, Rome, on 6 January, Feast of the Epiphany, in 1946, the seventh of his Pontificate....
issued an urgent call for charity. The Pope described the misery of millions of people in war-torn areas, and insisted that all persons must help. He was especially concerned with the millions of small children without families, food or shelter. As in the war years, the Holy Father offered material help. During the war, some 200,000 messages were sent via Vatican identifying displaced persons and prisoners to their respective families. Pius became an outspoken advocate of clemency for those accused of war crimes, including Ernst von Weizsäcker
Ernst von Weizsäcker
Ernst Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German diplomat and politician. He served as State Secretary at the Foreign Office from 1938 to 1943, and as German Ambassador to the Holy See from 1943 to 1945...
, who was ambassador to the Vatican in the last two years of the war. The U.S. nuncio appealed to commute the sentences of several Germans convicted by the occupation authorities. The Vatican, opposed to the death penalty, asked for a blanket pardon for all those who had received death sentences after the ban on execution of war criminals was lifted in 1948. After the war, the Vatican continued its information services. Vatican Radio began a daily hour for prisoners and interned to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The DPs created often special problems, because many thousands of them did not have any identification. Preliminary identity papers and food were distributed to long lines of persons, waiting for hours. Identity papers were issued throughout Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
by Vatican charity officials and Red Cross representatives. Forty years later, controversy arose as to whether some Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
officials benefited from these Red Cross or Vatican papers, issued in the grand chaos of 1945-1947. Most certainly, neither the Red Cross nor the Vatican had the time or resources to check individual identity claims at the time. This situation was possibly exploited by the controversial Alois Hudal
Alois Hudal
Alois Hudal was a Rome-based bishop of Austrian descent. He was for thirty years head of the small Austrian-German congregation of Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome and until 1937, an influential representative of the Austrian Church...
, who was later dismissed from his posts, the rat line
Ratlines (history)
Ratlines were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe at the end of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile. Other destinations included the United States and perhaps...
, but by also many persons of other persuasions, who wanted to start a new life under a new name away from friends and family.
Immigration rights
As millions of refugeeRefugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s without any home or place to go, wandered all over the Europe, Pius XII insisted that immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
is a natural
Natural
Natural is an adjective that refers to Nature.Natural may refer too:In science and mathematics:* Natural transformation, category theory in mathematics* Natural foods...
right
Right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
and duty. In 1946, he declared, that all people have a right to immigration, because the Creator
Creator deity
A creator deity is a deity responsible for the creation of the world . In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities...
himself demands access to material goods. In addition, compassion
Compassion
Compassion is a virtue — one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood.There is an aspect of...
supports immigration rights. Conversely, no state which can support additional people, has a right to close its immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
doors without reason.
-
- Natural lawNatural lawNatural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...
even more than mere compassion compels StatesSovereign stateA sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
to secure people a chance of immigration, because the Creator demands that the goods of this world should be at the service of all mankind. Therefore no state whose territory is in a condition to feed more people, has the right to refuse admission to foreignerAlien (law)In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...
s without good and acceptable reasons.<ref>Acta Apostolica Sedis, XLI, 1949, pp. 69–71
- Natural law
Madre Pascalina
Pius dealt with the human tragedies by organizing a two-tier papal charity. Monsignore Ferdinando BaldelliFerdinando Baldelli
Ferdinando Baldelli was an Italian Catholic Bishop. He was President of the Pontificia Commissione di Assistenza and President of Caritas Internationalis ....
, Carlo Egger and Otto Faller
Otto Faller
Rev.Otto Faller SJ was Provincial Superior of the Jesuit order in Germany, educator, teacher and Dean at Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria and Kolleg St. Blasien in Germany, professor of patristic studies at the Gregorian University. He was life-long editor of the works of St. Ambrose...
started on behalf of the pope the official Pontificia Commissione di Assistenza
Pontificia Commissione di Assistenza
Ponteficia Commissione di Assistenza , also known as “Ponteficia Commissione di Assistenza ai Profughi”, “Vatican mission” and “Vatican Relief”, was a papal ad-hoc commission, created by Pope Pius XII on April 18, 1944, to provide quick, non-bureaucratic and direct aid to needy populations,...
. Madre Pascalina Lehnert was asked by the Pope to direct his personal charity efforts, officially under Monsignore Montini, later Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
. To assist the pope in the many calls for his help and charity, Pascalina organized and led the Magazino, a private papal charity office, which began with 40 helpers and continued until 1959. “It started from modest beginnings and became a gigantic charity”. Lehnert organized truck caravans filled with medicine, clothing, shoes and food to prison camps and hospitals, provided first aid, food and shelter for bomb victims, fed the hungry population of Rome, answered emergency calls for aid to the Pope, sent care packages to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and other countries. After the war, the calls for papal help continued in war-torn Europe: Madre Pascalina organized emergency aid to displaced persons, prisoners of war, victims of floods, and many victims of the war. Pascalina distributed also hundreds of religious items to needy priests. In later years, priests with very large parishes received small cars or motor bikes.” The Pope was personally involved, constantly asking bishops from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and other countries for help.” Cardinals
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
and bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s freely visited Madre Pascalina, who by now was nicknamed "Virgo Potens" (:Powerful Virgin").
The papal Commissione di Assistenza to the most needy populations of Europe delivered more than ninety thousand crates. They were shipped by rail from Vatican station to dozens of countries In 1946, the Pontiff invited 50,000 children to receive a full meal after which the Pope thanked the benefactors of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
for their generosity.
As Bishop of Rome he increased papal soup kitchen rations from three million annually to forty million by 1947. At Christmas 1944, he personally gave gift packages to three thousand Roman children and delivered another four thousand to children on the Feast of Epiphany, two weeks later. By Christmas 1945, Pope Pius had forty thousand packages. The Swedish King Gustav V awarded Pope Pius XII with the “Prince Carl Medal”, given annually to the person with the most outstanding record in charity in the world. Pope Pius responded in his Easter message to Communist leaders who attacked his policies:
- The Church of Rome is subjected these days to public denunciations and the most unjust attacks. In vain, the Church multiplied its charities to this city, the centre of Christianity. In vain, the Church accepted, protected, and saved persons of all kinds, including its most ardent opponents. In vain she was upholding in times of tyrannic repression the rights and dignity of every person. In vain, she fed the population of Eternal Rome in times of need and massive hunger. The Church which helped, is now allegedly responsible for the impoverisation and proletarisation of the masses, which in times of need she assisted and continues to assist."
In his 1944 speech to the directors of the Pontifical Missionary Society, he stated:
- The herald of the Gospel and messenger of Christ is an apostle. His office does not demand that he transplant European civilization and culture, and no other, to foreign soil, there to take root and propagate itself. His task in dealing with these peoples, who sometimes boast of a very old and highly developed culture of their own, is to teach and form them so that they are ready to accept willingly and in a practical manner the principles of Christian life and morality; principles, I might add, that fit into any culture, provided it be good and sound, and which give that culture greater force in safeguarding human dignity and in gaining human happiness.
China
For centuries, access to the people of China was difficult for the Catholic Church, because it did not recognize the ancient local ConfucianConfucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
customs of honouring deceased family members. The Vatican regarded these as religious exercises which conflicted with Catholic dogma. As a result, the Church made little progress in China. Within months of his election, Pope Pius issued a dramatic change in policies. On December 8, 1939, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith issued at the request of Pius XII new instructions, by which Chinese customs were no longer considered superstitious but rather an honourable way of esteeming one's relatives, and therefore permitted by Catholics.
The Government of China established diplomatic relations with the Vatican within a short interval. The Papal degree changed the ecclesiastical situation in China in an almost revolutionary way. As the Church began to flourish, Pius established a local ecclesiastical hierarchy and received the Archbishop of Peking, Thomas Tien Ken-sin
Thomas Tien Ken-sin
Thomas Tien Ken-sin, SVD was a Chinese Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and chair of Fu Jen Catholic University...
, SVD, into the College of Cardinals
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church.A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory. It also convenes on the death or abdication of a pope as a papal conclave to elect a successor...
. The establishment of Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
's communist regime
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1949 put these early advances on hold and led to the persecution of thousands of clergy and faithful in China.
Africa and Asia
For more than a hundred years, the Church has been building up infrastructures for education and health services in large parts of their AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n missions, including basic health stations but also specialized hospitals and universities. WWII had been a disaster for Catholic missions, educational and health institutes in Asia and Africa. In Europe, the houses of various orders and congregations, which prepare candidates for work oversees, were emptying. Priests and lay brothers, teachers and nurses, were called home from oversees to participate in military duty. Missionaries with the “wrong” passport were interned or expelled from the countries they worked in. After Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
declared war, much of Asia including the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
became battlefields. Catholic churches, hospitals and schools were destroyed or closed. Under Japanese occupation, many missionaries were living in concentration camps and were mistreated. After the war, Pius helped rebuild the institutional presence and accelerated the pace of turning over control to local authorities. His encyclicals, Evangelii Praecones
Evangelii Praecones
Evangelii Praecones June 2, 1951) was an encyclical letter of Pope Pius XII about Catholic missions. In it, he described necessary improvements and changes, and the persecution of the Church in some parts of he world. The encyclical was issued in commemoration of the 25th...
and Fidei Donum, issued on June 2, 1951 and April 21, 1957, respectively, increased the local decision-making of Catholic missions and recognition of local culture, especially in Africa. Continuing the line of his predecessors, Pius supported the establishment of local administration and a reduction of colonial influence in Church affairs: In 1950, the hierarchy of Western Africa became independent, 1951 Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
and 1953 in British Eastern Africa. Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Burma and French Africa became independent dioceses in 1955. They remained financially dependent, however, from Western resources.
Latin America
Latin America had independent Catholic hierarchies in 1939, when Pius XII was elected as Pope. During the war years, the governments and faithful of Latin AmericaLatin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
had been helpful, with large shipments of food items and clothing for Vatican charity services such as the Commissione Di Assistenza. Pius XII negotiated with Brazil a visa program for "non-Aryan" Catholics
Brazilian Visa Project
The Brazilian Visa Project is the name given by historians to the Catholic Church's project during World War II of allowing converted Jews to emigrate to Brazil in order to escape persecution in the European Theater of the war....
, a program subject to stringent conditions until its premature termination. After the war, Pius devoted special attention to the subcontinent, addressing in each country virtually every major Church meeting over Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio is the official broadcasting service of the Vatican.Set up in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave , medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. The Jesuit Order has been charged with the management of Vatican...
in the years 1946-1958. Concerned about the continuing lack of clergy in Latin America, he formed in 1958 the foundation of the permanent Papal Commission for Latin America. Several orders, Dominicans, Jesuits and even the Trappist
TRAPPIST
TRAPPIST is Belgian robotic telescope in Chile which came online in 2010, and is an acronym for TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope, so named in homage to Trappist beer produced in the Belgian region. Situated high in the Chilean mountains at La Silla Observatory, it is actually...
s, made foundations there at the request of the Pope.
Europe
After the war, Pius rejected the concept of “collective guilt”. Pointing to the enormous crimes committed, he demanded punishment of the guilty and stiff penalties for persons guilty of war crimeWar crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s or crimes against humanity. He supported the Nuremberg trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
with documentation, and was repeatedly quoted in the proceedings against Nazi war criminals. One year after the German capitulation, in June 1946 he challenged the Allies to finally close the Nazi concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
, which they had kept running to accommodate POWs and DPs. Pius did not protest the expulsion of millions of Germans from their homes by Poland, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
due to the diplomatic deadlock with those (then) Soviet-bloc nations. His material assistance from the Commissione Di Assistenza reached many.
He did not support changes of borders. Throughout his pontificate, he refused to engage in border issues, such as the Polish-German border disputes.
Italy
In July 1940, L'Osservatore RomanoL'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released...
informed its readers:
During the War, the Roman-born Pontiff was very concerned with the question, how to save the eternal city from the fate of destruction. He decided to stay day and night in Rome as not to give an excuse for bombings in his absence. He also communicated with FDR and Churchill regarding a sparing for his city. As German troops withdrew from the South of Italy, he helped to negotiate an open city agreement, by which German military circumvented Rome and thus did not offer military targets there. After the Germans left, the Roman population flocked to St. Pter’s square to thank the “Savior of Rome” One of them was Pietro Nenni, the socialist leader who first refused to kneel down, until his wife forced him to. Later, Pope Pius was named saviour of he city and of civilisation.
But due to the international climate, and the communist persecution of the Church in the East, relations between the Vatican and Communism soured. The 1948 were seen as a watershed for the future of Italy and Europe and became a fight between the Catholic Church and the Communist Party of Italy. In his Easter homily of 1948, Pius appealed to the Roman people:
- "There is no room in our conscience for faint-heartedness, for comfort, for the indecisiveness of many who, in this crucial hour, believe they can serve two masters."
With 49% of the vote, the elections of April 18, 1948 went in favor of the anti-Communist Christian Democrats. On July 15, 1948, L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released...
published a degree which excommunicated those who propagate “the materialistic and anti-Christian teachings of communism”, which was widely interpreted as an excommunication of the Communist Party of Italy, which however, was not mentioned in the decree. The excommunication extended to any Italian Catholic who was a Communist candidate in the parliamentary elections. It specifically did not include persons, who distributed Communist books, papers or leaflets, although those actions were condemned as well. Azione Cattolica very actively supported the Christian Democratic Party. In 1949, the Holy Office issued the Decree against Communism
Decree against Communism
The Decree against Communism is a 1949 Catholic Church document which excommunicates all Catholics collaborating in communist organizations...
, which excommunicated any Catholic who joined or collaborated with the Communist Party.
A United Europe
In 1933, Pacelli met the President of “Pan-Europe” Count Coudenhove-Kalergi, giving his support to the idea of a European federation. He embraced the initiative of Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
for a “Congress of Europe” in 1948, and sent a Papal delegate to the Hague meeting. The European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
was founded in Rome in 1957, the last year of Pius XII's papacy. As Europe recovered, Pius had encouraged European unification attempts and the foundation of the EU. He addressed the heads of State and governments from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and the Benelux
Benelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...
countries at this historic occasion. On June 13, 1957 he demanded a united Europe, aware of its foundations, with common institutions, a common foreign policy, and a strong European parliament to control the institutions and the council of ministers.
USA
President Harry Truman believed that permanent peace can only be achieved on a Christian basis, and informed the Pope, "Your Holiness, we are a Christian Nation, as the US Supreme Court decided more than half a century ago" and re-appointed Myron C. Taylor as a representative to the Holy SeeHoly See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. Vatican relations with America were cordial and largely free of conflict. Joseph P. Kennedy, father of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, attended the Papal coronation as representative of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. William Henry O'Connell
William Henry O'Connell
William Henry O'Connell was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1907 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911.-Early life:...
of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
was the first Cardinal invited by the new Pope after his election. Cardinal George Mundelein of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
was his second guest. In 1936, then Cardinal Pacelli was the first Pope to ever visit the United States. He toured the nation with Bishop Francis Spellman, visiting twelve of sixteen ecclesiastical provinces and meeting with seventy-nine bishops. He gave a policy address at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. He had meetings with President Roosevelt which ... led to a resumption of de facto diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the USA, which had been in limbo since 1868.
Pius had left the initiative to the American President, realizing the complicated situation he faced in the American Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, which had refused to approve a Papal minister in 1868, thus de facto closing the doors for an American presence at the Vatican. He privately protested repeated American bombings of Rome. After the war, Pius supported the Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
administrations to rebuild war-torn Europe and to defend freedom.
In a well-publicized appeal, he wrote to President Eisenhower to spare the lives of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg and Julius Rosenberg were American communists who were convicted and executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war. The charges related to their passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union...
, sentenced to death because of alleged espionage for the Soviet Union.
Pius invited Americans, Europeans, Africans and Asians in the Italian-dominated Vatican Curia. He encouraged young Americans to enter Vatican service. To provide better training and international exposure of American theology students, he welcomed the establishment of a large seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
exclusively for Americans in Rome. It was opened and blessed by him in the presence of virtual all American bishops. He was close to Francis Spellman, a friend of Domenico Tardini. Spellman was the first American ever to work in the Secretariat. In 1931, Pacelli consecrated him to be the first American bishop in Saint Peter's Basilica. Spellman was elevated to the seat of New York immediately after the election of Pope Pius XII. Spellman, who accompanied a groups of American pilgrims to Rome in October 1958, was also the last American and one of the last foreign dignitaries to see Pope Pius before his death on October 9, 1958.
Concordats and treaties of Pope Pius XII
After WWI, the Church was confronted with a variety of short-lived government styles, monarchies, military ruleMilitary dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
, fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, and left-wing and right-wing regime
Regime
The word regime refers to a set of conditions, most often of a political nature.-Politics:...
s as well as some democratic governments. To fulfill its mission under changing circumstances, the Vatican insisted on freedom of religion. Already under Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV , born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, reigned as Pope from 3 September 1914 to 22 January 1922...
, but especially under Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
, a record number of new concordats were concluded. To Pius XII, Church freedom was the ultimate priority:
- “We turn to the leaders of people, in order for the Church to live in freedom. Concordats are legal instruments. Taking into consideration the best for the population and the State, they are intended to create the space, in which the Catholic Church and the Catholics of a given country can freely live their faith and develop it”.
Pius concluded some thirty concordats and State treaties during his pontificate. Treaties were concluded with Brazil (1950), Canada (1951), France (1952), Great Britain (1953), The Netherlands (1957), United States of America 1957). New Apostolic delegations were established in Indonesia (1947), Palestine and Jordan (1948), Dakar (1948), Pakistan (1950) and Thailand (1957). New nunciatures were established in Uruguay (1939), Lebanon (1947), The Philippines (1951) China (1946), Indonesia (1950), Egypt (1947), India (1948), Liberia (1951), Pakistan (1951), Japan (1952), Syria (1953), Iran (1953), Ethiopia (1957). A personal representative of the President of the United States of America was accredited at the Vatican since December 1939. Representatives of the Vatican were sent to several United Nations Organizations, such as UNESCO and ILO.
Quotations of Pope Pius XII
- We know full well, that the bare text of international law does not impose on the conquerors the obligation to liberate the prisoners of war, before peace is made. But the spiritual and moral needs of the prisoners themselves and of their relatives, the sacred rights of marriage and family, speak a loader and stronger voice than all judicial texts, and demand that we bring the system of war prisoners and concentration camps to an end.
- It seems desirable to us, to secure a new domicile in oversees countries for many of these people, who in the latter years were exiled from their land, or who live in over-populated countries, in which neither agriculture nor industry can give sufficient livelihood even in normal times. And we are confident, that the states which still dispose of ample possibilities of existence, will not fail to open their frontiers for immigration, because this is a sublime form of Christian charity.
- The natural law even more than mere compassion compels he states to secure people a chance of immigration, because the creator demands that the goods of this world should be at the service of all mankind. Therefore no state whose territory is in a condition to feed more people, has the right to refuse admission to foreigners without good and acceptable reasons.
- We have remarked on previous occasions, that women should receive equal pay for equal work and equal results.
- The Church is not afraid of the light of truth, not for its past, nor its present, nor for its future. The time will come, conditions and human emotions permitting, when unpublished documents about this terrible war will be made public. Then the foolishness of all accusations will become obvious in clear daylight. Their origin is not ignorance but contempt of the Church.
Sources
- Acta Apostolica Sedis, Vatican City, 1946, 1949
- Discorsi E Radiomessaggi di sua Santita Pio XII, Vatican City 1939-1959
- Oskar Halecki, Pius XII: Eugenio Pacelli: Pope of peace. Farrar, Straus and Young. 1954
- Pope Pius XII, Easter Message 1948, Herder Korrespondenz, Orbis Catholicus, FreiburgiBr. 1947-1948
- Pascalina Lehnert, Ich durfte Ihm Dienen, Naumann, Würzburg, 1986
- Robert Leiber, "Pius XII." Stimmen der ZeitStimmen der ZeitStimmen der Zeit is a monthly German magazine published since 1865 by Herder publishers. Its subtitle is Zeitschrift für christliche Kultur, and it publishes articles on Christian culture in the broad sense of the word...
, November 1958. Repr. in Pius XII. Sagt, Frankfurt 1959 - Herbert Schambeck, Pius XII, Butzon & Becker, Kevelaer, 1986
- Smit, Jan Olav, Pope Pius XII, London & Dublin, Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1950
- The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, International Socialist Review Issue 29, May–June 2003, USA Today, 6/17/2003