Eugenio Pacelli was born
in Rome on 2nd March, 1876. He attended Capranica Seminary and was
ordained in 1899. As well as carrying out parish work he took a degree
in Canon and Civil Law at the Apollinaris.
During the First
World War he was involved in organizing humanitarian relief. In
1917 Pope Benedict XV sent him to Germany
where he had a meeting with Kaiser
Wilhelm II but
the peace plan was rejected.
When the Weimar
Republic was established after the war Pope Benedict XV created
a nunciature and Pacelli was sent to Berlin. He remained in Germany
until 1929 when he was made a cardinal.
In 1929 Pope Pius
XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Benito
Mussolini
which brought into existence
the Vatican state. The following year Pacelli became Secretary of
State. This involved him in diplomatic work and included a visit to
the United States.
Pope Pius
XI condemned the Nuremberg Laws in
July, 1938, and was preparing an encyclical against anti-Semitism,
when he died on 10th February, 1939.
Pacelli now became
Pope Pius XII.
After the outbreak of the
Second World War Pius XII issued a five-point
peace programme. When this failed he organized humanitarian work for
prisoners of war and refugees. However, he did not openly speak out
against the atrocities being carried out in Nazi
Germany. Nor did he do very much to save the Jews in Rome.
Pius XII refused the request
of President Franklin
D. Roosevelt in
September 1942 to denounce the Nazi persecution of the Jews
in Europe. The nearest he came to public condemnation of the Holocaust
was in his Christmas message of 1942 when he said: "Humanity
owes this vow to those hundreds of thousands who, without any fault
of their own, sometimes only by reason of their nationality or race,
are marked down for death or gradual extinction." However, he
resisted mentioning the Jews by name.
Pius XII was also criticised
for his failure to act in Croatia during the Second
World War. Croatia, a Catholic state, was responsible for the
killing of 487,000 Orthodox Serbs, 27,000 Gypsies and around 30,000
Jews between 1941 and 1945.
After the war Pius XII
gave his support for the United Nations. He
also introduced reforms that made it easier for Catholics to attend
Mass and receive Holy Communion. Pope Pius XII died on 9th October,
1958.
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