Venerable Pius XII, born Eugenio Pacelli (Rome, March 2, 1876 — Castel Gandolfo, October 9, 1958), was the 260th pope of the Catholic Church, from his election on March 2, 1939 — six months before the invasion of Poland — until his death in 1958. A career diplomat who became Supreme Pontiff, he governed the Church for almost twenty years, through the deadliest war in history, the division of the world by the Cold War, and Catholicism's entry into the age of modern technology.
His pontificate is one of the densest of the twentieth century in doctrinal terms. He issued forty-one encyclicals, including foundational texts on the Church (Mystici Corporis, 1943), biblical studies (Divino Afflante Spiritu, 1943), the liturgy (Mediator Dei, 1947), and the relationship between faith and the sciences (Humani Generis, 1950). Above all, on November 1, 1950, he solemnly proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary — the only dogma defined ex cathedra since the definition of infallibility at Vatican I.
Pius XII remains a debated figure. His attitude during the Shoah — the “silence controversy” — has fueled an ongoing historiographical debate, treated in detail in a dedicated Ignispedia article. The present article follows the line of his government: who Pacelli was before becoming pope, how he was elected, what his major files, doctrinal decisions, reforms, death, and legacy were.
Declared Venerable by Benedict XVI on December 19, 2009, he remains Venerable; his cause for beatification continues, while the opening of his archives in 2020 has renewed historical study of his action.
Who Was Eugenio Pacelli before Becoming Pope?
A Family of the Roman “Black Nobility”
Eugenio Pacelli was born on March 2, 1876, in Rome, into a family of jurists attached to the Holy See, what was then called the black nobility — the Roman nobility that remained loyal to the pope after the capture of Rome in 1870[1]. His grandfather, Marcantonio Pacelli (1804-1902), had served in the pontifical Ministry of Finance, then as Secretary of the Interior under Pius IX (1851-1870)[2]; his brother Francesco Pacelli, jurist of the Holy See, assisted Cardinal Gasparri in negotiating the Lateran Accords of 1929 which ended the “Roman Question”[3].
Ordained a priest in 1899, Eugenio entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See very early. Methodical, multilingual, and tireless, he rose through the ranks of the Secretariat of State under Leo XIII, Pius X, and Benedict XV.
The Diplomat of Germany (1917-1929)
In 1917, in the midst of the First World War, Benedict XV sent him as apostolic nuncio to Bavaria, and then nuncio to Germany. Pacelli spent twelve decisive years there: he learned the language, negotiated concordats with the German Länder, and formed a lasting attachment to the country[4]. It was also in Munich, in 1920, that he took into his service the Bavarian religious sister Pasqualina Lehnert, who would run his household until his death in 1958[5].
Cardinal Secretary of State (1930-1939)
Created cardinal in 1929, Pacelli became Secretary of State to Pius XI in February 1930 — the pope's closest collaborator, equivalent to a prime minister. For nine years he was the true architect of Vatican diplomacy in the face of rising totalitarianism[6].
Two files marked these years. On July 20, 1933, he signed with Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen the Reichskonkordat[7], the concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich, intended to guarantee the Church's freedom in Germany, now under Nazi rule; he would later send the Berlin government numerous protests against violations of that agreement[8]. In March 1937, he helped draft the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (“With burning concern”), the Church's first official and public condemnation of Nazism, written in German and read from the pulpits of Germany on Palm Sunday[9]. Elected pope two years later, Pius XII would thus be the first pope since Clement IX (1667) to have been Secretary of State before ascending the throne of Peter[10].
The 1939 Election: A Lightning Conclave
The Shortest Conclave of the Century
Pius XI died on February 10, 1939. The conclave opened on March 1 and ended as early as the next day, March 2, 1939: after only three ballots in one day, Cardinal Pacelli was elected — on his 63rd birthday[11]. It was one of the shortest conclaves of modern history.
The choice is explained by the context. Europe was sliding toward war, and the cardinals wanted at the head of the Church a man seasoned in diplomacy, one who knew Hitler's Germany from within. Pacelli's experience as Secretary of State and nuncio was decisive[12]. He took the name Pius XII, in homage to his predecessor Pius XI, and was crowned on March 12, 1939.
A Motto for a Time of War
Pius XII chose as his motto Opus Iustitiae Pax — “Peace is the work of justice,” taken from the prophet Isaiah (Is 32:17)[13]. The program fits into three words: to a world collapsing into violence, the new pope opposed the idea that there can be no lasting peace without justice. A few months later, the invasion of Poland triggered the Second World War.
A Pontificate in the Turmoil of War
Summi Pontificatus: The First Encyclical (1939)
On October 20, 1939, seven weeks after German troops entered Poland, Pius XII published his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus (“On the unity of human society”). In it he denounced the ideologies that had led to war — racism, the cult of the State, forgetfulness of the moral law — and mourned invaded Catholic Poland[14].
“The present hour [...] is, in truth, an hour of darkness [...]. The blood of countless human beings, even non-combatants, raises a heartrending lament.” — Pius XII, encyclical Summi Pontificatus, October 20, 1939[15]
The tone was set: Pius XII condemned evil in terms of universal principles, without naming the responsible regimes — a diplomatic prudence that would become the mark, and the reproach, of his entire wartime pontificate.
Neutrality and the “Policy of Silence”
Throughout the conflict, the Holy See maintained strict diplomatic neutrality, intended to preserve its capacity for mediation and to protect Catholics on both sides. Pius XII multiplied discreet initiatives: warnings to neutral countries, aid to prisoners, relief networks. On May 4, 1940, he had the Netherlands warned of the imminent German invasion[16].
But this public restraint came at a cost. His conviction was that a named denunciation would worsen reprisals against victims and Catholics, without preventing anything.
The Christmas Radio Message of 1942
It was in his Christmas radio message, on December 24, 1942, that Pius XII came closest to an explicit denunciation of the massacres underway, evoking the fate of populations exterminated “solely because of their nationality or race”:
“Humanity owes that vow to those hundreds of thousands of persons who, through no fault of their own, sometimes only because of their nationality or race, have been doomed to death or to progressive extermination.” — Pius XII, Christmas radio message, December 24, 1942[17]
For his defenders, this was a clear condemnation of the Shoah, understood as such in Berlin. For his critics, the passage remained too allusive: neither the perpetrators nor the victims were named.
The Rescue of the Jews of Rome
During the German occupation of Rome and the roundup of the ghetto in October 1943, thousands of Jews found refuge in convents, monasteries, religious institutions, and even the Vatican precincts, with at least the pope's tacit agreement[18]. The exact scale of this action and Pius XII's personal responsibility remain debated among historians.
This whole dossier — the scope of the silence, rescue actions, and the historiographical trial opened by the play The Deputy (1963) — is treated in a detailed and nuanced way in the dedicated Ignispedia article.
📖 See the detailed article: Christian anti-Judaism and the silence of Pius XII (1939-1958)
The Great Doctrinal Work: The Major Encyclicals
With forty-one encyclicals and almost a thousand speeches, Pius XII left one of the most abundant magisterial corpora of the contemporary era[19]. Four texts dominate and deeply prepare the future Second Vatican Council.
Mystici Corporis Christi (1943): The Church, Body of Christ
On June 29, 1943, Mystici Corporis Christi offered Pius XII's great synthesis on the nature of the Church, understood as the Mystical Body of Christ: a reality both visible (institution, hierarchy, sacraments) and invisible (life of grace, action of the Holy Spirit)[20]. The encyclical responded both to a naturalism that reduces the Church to a human organization and to a mysticism that dissolves her visible structure. It would directly nourish Vatican II's constitution Lumen Gentium.
Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943): The Charter of Catholic Exegesis
Three months later, on September 30, 1943, Divino Afflante Spiritu (“Under the inspiration of the Divine Spirit”) renewed Catholic study of the Bible. Pius XII encouraged exegetes to use the original languages, Hebrew and Greek, and to draw on archaeology, history, and textual criticism in order better to understand the intention of the sacred authors[21].
“Let the interpreter, then, with all care and without neglecting any light derived from recent research, endeavor to determine the peculiar character and circumstances of the sacred writer [...]. Let him strive, by knowledge of ancient history [...], to discern what literary forms the writers of that remote age intended to use.” — Pius XII, encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, September 30, 1943[22]
This text remained the great charter of modern Catholic exegesis. It must be read in continuity — not rupture — with the constant affirmation of the inerrancy of Scripture: Pius XII liberated methods; he did not abandon the truth of the Word of God. On the whole question, see the article The Bible.
Mediator Dei (1947): The First Major Encyclical on the Liturgy
On November 20, 1947, Mediator Dei was the first encyclical entirely devoted to the liturgy[23]. Pius XII consecrated the intuitions of the liturgical movement while framing them: the liturgy is the public exercise of Christ's priesthood, the worship offered by the whole Mystical Body; the active participation of the faithful must therefore be fostered, without falling into an archaeologism that would reject every later development of tradition. It is the doctrinal foundation of the liturgical reforms at the end of his pontificate.
Humani Generis (1950): Faith before the Sciences
On August 12, 1950, Humani Generis warned against certain “new opinions” threatening the foundations of Catholic doctrine: relativism, philosophical evolutionism, and the dissolution of dogma[24]. On the question of evolution, Pius XII adopted a position of great precision: he authorized scientific research into the origin of the human body from pre-existing living matter, but firmly maintained that the spiritual soul is immediately created by God, and that polygenism — the idea that humanity would not descend from a single couple — is not reconcilable with the dogma of original sin.
“The Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that [...] research and discussions [...] take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution [...] insofar as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter — for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.” — Pius XII, encyclical Humani Generis, August 12, 1950[25]
This text remains the most precise magisterial reference on the relationship between faith and the origin of man. For its detailed application, see Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?.
The Marian Pope: The Definition of the Assumption (1950)
Pius XII was, even more than his predecessors, a Marian pope. His devotion to the Virgin structured his pontificate from beginning to end.
The Consecration to the Immaculate Heart (1942)
On October 31, 1942, in a radio message addressed to pilgrims gathered at Fatima for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the apparitions, Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, thus responding to a request at the heart of the message of Our Lady of Fatima[26]. This consecration would be renewed and completed by his successors.
The Proclamation of the Dogma of the Assumption (November 1, 1950)
The summit of the pontificate was the definition of the dogma of the Assumption. Following Pius IX's method for the Immaculate Conception, Pius XII first consulted the world's episcopate through the letter Deiparae Virginis Mariae of May 1, 1946: 1,181 bishops responded, with an almost unanimous favorable judgment[27]. Then, on November 1, 1950, through the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus, he solemnly proclaimed:
“By the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by Our own authority, 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 earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” — Pius XII, apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus, November 1, 1950[28]
It is the only dogma defined ex cathedra since Vatican I defined papal infallibility in 1870. The content of the dogma and its scriptural and patristic foundations are developed in the dedicated article.
📖 See the detailed article: The Assumption of the Virgin Mary
The Holy Year 1950 and the Marian Year 1954
This definition crowned the Holy Year 1950, a jubilee that drew millions of pilgrims to Rome after the war. Four years later, Pius XII proclaimed the first Marian Year in history (1954), for the centenary of the Immaculate Conception, and published on October 11, 1954 the encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, instituting the feast of the Queenship of Mary[29].
“From this union [...] with the King of ages there flows to Mary a radiant dignity, surpassing the excellence of all created things [...]. The Blessed Virgin Mary should be called Queen.” — Pius XII, encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, October 11, 1954[30]
That same year, he canonized his distant predecessor Pius X (May 29, 1954), after having enrolled the young martyr Maria Goretti in the catalogue of saints (June 24, 1950) — two highly popular gestures.
Facing Communism and the Modern World
The Decree against Communism (1949)
After the war, the main challenge became atheistic communism, which imposed itself throughout Eastern Europe and persecuted the Church. On July 1, 1949, the Holy Office published, with Pius XII's approval, a decree imposing excommunication on Catholics who freely and knowingly joined the Communist Party or propagated its materialist doctrine[31]. The sanction placed communists outside ecclesial communion, depriving them of the sacraments.
This decree was the harshest expression of Pius XII's anticommunism; he saw in Marxism a radical denial of God and of the dignity of the person. The drama of the Church behind the Iron Curtain is the constant background to these years — see The Underground Church under Communism.
Dialogue with the Sciences
Far from any obscurantism, Pius XII multiplied addresses to scientists. On November 22, 1951, before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, he saw in recent cosmological theories — what would be called the Big Bang — a possible echo of the “Fiat lux” of creation, while warning that a scientific hypothesis must not be confused with a demonstration of God's existence[32]. He also gave numerous pioneering addresses on bioethics and medicine (anesthesia, resuscitation, the status of the dying), making him one of the founders of Catholic moral reflection on modern medicine.
The Pope of Radio and Television
Pius XII was also the first truly media pope. His voice, broadcast by Vatican Radio, became familiar throughout the world; he gave blessings live, addressed crowds, and used cinema and the emerging medium of television. His ascetic image as the “angelic pope” (Pastor Angelicus) left a lasting mark on mid-century Catholic imagination.
Government Reforms and Liturgical Reforms
The Internationalization of the Sacred College
Pius XII gave the Church a more universal face. At the consistory of February 18, 1946, he created thirty-two cardinals, almost half the Sacred College, coming from China, India, the Near East, Africa, and the Americas[33]. Italians — in the majority for centuries — ceased to be so in the college that elects the pope. The consistory of January 12, 1953 continued this movement; Pius XII offered the red hat to Domenico Tardini and Giovanni Battista Montini — the future Paul VI — both of whom declined it[34].
Liturgical Reforms
In the line of Mediator Dei, Pius XII initiated the first major liturgical reform of the twentieth century, directly preparing that of Vatican II:
- February 9, 1951Restoration of the Easter Vigil
Pius XII restored, first on an experimental basis, the nocturnal celebration of the Easter Vigil, which for centuries had been moved to the morning of Holy Saturday.
- November 16, 1955Reform of Holy Week
The decree Maxima Redemptionis nostrae mysteria reformed all the ceremonies of the Paschal Triduum, restoring their authentic hours.
- 1953 then 1957Evening Mass and Eucharistic Fast
The constitutions Christus Dominus (1953) and then Sacram Communionem (1957) authorized evening Mass and greatly lightened the Eucharistic fast, making it easier for the faithful to receive Communion.
These reforms, cautious but real, make Pius XII the true initiator of the conciliar liturgical renewal.
New Forms of Consecrated Life
Concerned with apostolate in a secularized world, Pius XII created through the constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia (February 2, 1947) the juridical figure of secular institutes — forms of consecrated life lived in the heart of the world, without habit or classical community life[35]. He likewise strongly encouraged lay apostolate and Catholic Action.
The Last Years and Death (1958)
In the final years, Pius XII's health declined. Increasingly solitary — he governed without a titular Secretary of State after 1944 and relied on a small circle including the faithful Sister Pasqualina Lehnert — he suffered from serious gastric problems worsened by hazardous treatments from his personal physician, the ophthalmologist Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi[36].
On October 9, 1958, Pius XII died at Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the popes, at the age of 82, following heart failure. His death was followed by a painful episode that became famous: the embalming scandal. Galeazzi-Lisi, who had sold photographs of the dying pope to the press, applied to the body an experimental procedure that caused rapid and undignified decomposition, to the point that the corpse had to be watched during the public viewing[37]. The doctor was forced to resign by the cardinals assembled on October 20, 1958, before the conclave.
The conclave that followed elected, on October 28, 1958, the Patriarch of Venice Angelo Roncalli, who took the name John XXIII and would soon convoke the Second Vatican Council.
Legacy: between Veneration and Historical Debate
The Trial of the “Silence”
Barely five years after his death, Rolf Hochhuth's play The Deputy (1963) launched the accusation that would long haunt his memory: Pius XII, it claimed, had culpably kept silent in the face of the extermination of the Jews. The debate, nourished by serious historical arguments on both sides, is not closed. His defenders recall rescue actions and the context; his critics regret the absence of an explicit and named condemnation.
📖 See the detailed article: Christian anti-Judaism and the silence of Pius XII (1939-1958)
The Cause of Beatification
Paul VI announced on November 18, 1965, during the final session of Vatican II, the introduction of the cause of beatification of Pius XII, at the same time as that of John XXIII[38]. The process advanced slowly, hindered by the controversy. On December 19, 2009, Benedict XVI signed the decree recognizing the heroicity of Pius XII's virtues, making him Venerable[39]. Beatification remains suspended pending the recognition of a miracle.
The Opening of the Archives (2020)
To allow history to judge from the documents, Pope Francis had the entire Vatican archives of Pius XII's pontificate opened to researchers on March 2, 2020[40]. The first studies arising from this collection confirm the existence of aid networks for the persecuted, while also showing the complexity of the decisions made at the top of the Church during the war. Historical work continues.
A Magisterium That Prepared a Council
Beyond the controversy, Pius XII's properly ecclesial legacy is immense: his thought on the Church as Mystical Body, on the liturgy, on Scripture, and on the place of the laity directly irrigated the texts of Vatican II. Conversely, some circles attached to the older liturgy, such as the Society of Saint Pius X, claim his pontificate as a final age of order before postconciliar upheavals. A figure of transition as much as continuity, Venerable Pius XII remains one of the most decisive — and most debated — popes of the twentieth century.
For Further Reading
- Christian anti-Judaism and the silence of Pius XII (1939-1958) — the complete dossier on the war and the Shoah.
- The Assumption of the Virgin Mary — the dogma proclaimed on November 1, 1950.
- Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? — the application of Humani Generis.
- The Liturgical Movement — the context of Mediator Dei and the Holy Week reforms.
- The Bible — Catholic exegesis after Divino Afflante Spiritu.
- The Underground Church under Communism — the background of the 1949 decree.
- Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) — the council his magisterium prepared.
Notes and References
“Pie XII”, biographical entry, French Wikipedia (consulted June 2026) — synthesis of sources on diplomatic career, motto, entourage (Sister Pasqualina Lehnert), and circumstances of death.
1 5 13 36On Marcantonio Pacelli (1804-1902): under-secretary in the pontifical Ministry of Finance, then Secretary of the Interior under Pius IX (1851-1870), see the entry “Pope Pius XII”, Wikipedia (English). The claim of “founder of L'Osservatore Romano”, repeated by the French entry, is not confirmed: the newspaper was founded on July 1, 1861 by N. Zanchini and G. Bastia, while Marcantonio Pacelli, then at the Ministry of the Interior, was planning in 1860 another newspaper, L'Amico della Verità, which never appeared (see the historical study “L'Osservatore Romano”). Mention withdrawn pending a primary source (Annuario Pontificio).
2F. Pacelli, Diario della Conciliazione, Vatican City, 1959 — journal of the Holy See's negotiator; on his role as assistant to Cardinal Gasparri in negotiating the Lateran Pacts (1929), see also the study “Les Pactes du Latran et la fin de la question romaine” and the critical Pacelli edition (pacelli-edition.de, keyword Lateranverträge).
3“Pius XII”, Encyclopædia Britannica, biographical article — on the nunciature in Germany (1917-1929) and Pacelli's diplomatic formation.
4“Pope Pius XII”, Wikipedia (English, consulted June 2026) — documented synthesis on the Reichskonkordat, consistories of 1946 and 1953, secular institutes, rescue of the Jews of Rome, cause of beatification, and opening of the archives in 2020.
6 18Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich, signed at Vatican City on July 20, 1933 by Cardinal Pacelli and Vice-Chancellor von Papen, ratified on September 10, 1933; official text published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis 25 (1933).
7The precise figure of “fifty-five notes of protest”, taken from the English-language synthesis (“Pope Pius XI and Germany”, Wikipedia), is verified by no archival source: historiographical accounts speak of dozens of démarches. Archival reference to consult: Actes et Documents du Saint-Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre mondiale (ADSS), 11 vols., Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1965-1981.
8Pius XI (with the participation of Cardinal Pacelli), encyclical Mit brennender Sorge on the situation of the Catholic Church in the German Reich, March 14, 1937, read from the pulpits of Germany on Palm Sunday (March 21, 1937). German text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/de/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_14031937_mit-brennender-sorge.html
9Giulio Rospigliosi, Secretary of State of Alexander VII (1655-1667) then cardinal, elected pope under the name of Clement IX on June 20, 1667; Eugenio Pacelli, Secretary of State of Pius XI from February 1930 to February 1939, elected on March 2, 1939: between the two, no elected pope held the Secretariat of State at the time of his election. Sources: list of Cardinal Secretaries of State (Rospigliosi, April 7, 1655 – May 22, 1667), entries “Clement IX” and “Cardinal Secretary of State”, cross-checked with the pontifical succession 1667-1939.
10“March 2nd, 1939: the Election of Pope Pius XII”, EWTN Vatican — on the lightning conclave of March 1-2, 1939, the three ballots, and the reasons for the election.
11 12Pius XII, encyclical Summi Pontificatus on the unity of human society, October 20, 1939. Full text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus.html
14 15On the warning conveyed on May 4, 1940 to the envoy of the Netherlands (invasion expected on May 10): G. Miccoli, Les dilemmes et les silences de Pie XII, Éditions Complexe, 2004, p. 38; F. Latour, “Le pape, la guerre et les juifs”, L'Histoire no. 196, February 1996, p. 21 (references relayed by the entry “Pie XII”, Wikipédia en français). Archival documents: ADSS, vol. I, Le Saint-Siège et la guerre en Europe (mars 1939 – août 1940), Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1965.
16Pius XII, Christmas radio message, December 24, 1942. Original Italian text: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 35 (1943) — “Questo voto l'umanità lo deve alle centinaia di migliaia di persone, le quali, senza veruna colpa propria, talora solo per ragione di nazionalità o di stirpe, sono destinate alla morte o ad un progressivo deperimento” (text reproduced on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/it/speeches/1942/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19421224_radiomessage-christmas.html). Quotation given in the reference French text (vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/speeches/1942/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19421224_radiomessage-christmas.html).
17Count verified at the source: the official index of Pius XII's encyclicals on vatican.va lists 41 distinct documents (https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/encyclicals.index.html). The speeches, messages and radio messages, listed year by year in the index of speeches (1939-1958) on vatican.va, run into the hundreds — the order of magnitude of a thousand is the one retained by the reference biographies.
19Pius XII, encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi on the Mystical Body of Christ, June 29, 1943. Full text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_29061943_mystici-corporis-christi.html
20Pius XII, encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu on biblical studies, September 30, 1943. Full text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu.html
21 22Pius XII, encyclical Mediator Dei on the sacred liturgy, November 20, 1947. Full text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20111947_mediator-dei.html
23Pius XII, encyclical Humani Generis on certain false opinions threatening to undermine the foundations of Catholic doctrine, August 12, 1950, especially nos. 36-37. Full text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis.html
24 25Pius XII, radio message Benedicite Deum to the pilgrims of Fatima and consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, October 31, 1942.
26Pius XII, letter Deiparae Virginis Mariae to the bishops of the whole world, May 1, 1946 (text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_01051946_deiparae-virginis-mariae.html). The consultation and the “almost unanimous” response are taken up in Munificentissimus Deus, §§ 11-12: “gave an almost unanimous affirmative response” (English text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19501101_munificentissimus-deus.html; cf. John Paul II, general audience of July 2, 1997). Precise count (1,181 responses, six reservations on the revealed character): two concordant secondary sources, National Catholic Register, “The Assumption of Mary: 12 Things to Know and Share”, and Homiletic & Pastoral Review (August 2018).
27Pius XII, apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus defining the dogma of the Assumption, November 1, 1950, no. 44 (definition formula). Full text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19501101_munificentissimus-deus.html
28Pius XII, encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam on the Queenship of Mary, October 11, 1954, instituting the feast of the Queenship of Mary (then fixed on May 31). Full text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_11101954_ad-caeli-reginam.html
29 30Supreme Congregation of the Holy Office, decree concerning communism, July 1, 1949 (promulgated July 13, 1949), Acta Apostolicae Sedis 41 (1949), p. 334. The decree imposes excommunication on Catholics knowingly adhering to materialist communist doctrine.
31Address “Un'ora di serena” to the cardinals, the representatives of the nations and the members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, November 22, 1951: index of 1951 speeches on vatican.va (Italian text online: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/it/speeches/1951/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19511122_di-serena.html) — “la scienza odierna [...] testimone di quel primordiale "Fiat lux"”, with the express reservation that scientific facts “non sono argomento di prova assoluta”; see also the Georges Lemaître archives (UCLouvain).
32Acta Apostolicae Sedis 38 (1946), pp. 101-105 (text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-38-1946-ocr.pdf): secret consistory of Monday, February 18, 1946, creation and publication of “duos ac triginta viros” (thirty-two); the allocution justifies the enlargement by the universality of the Church (“e quinque terrarum orbis partibus”); the list counts only four Italians (Aloisi Masella, Micara, Ruffini, Bruno). The end of the Italian majority, begun here and confirmed by the consistory of 1953, is the standard conclusion of historians of the Sacred College.
33Consistorial allocution of January 12, 1953 (AAS 45, 1953): Pius XII declares there that his two closest collaborators, Msgrs. Domenico Tardini and Giovanni Battista Montini, decline promotion to the cardinalate (reported by S. Miranda, The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, notice on the consistory of December 15, 1958). Both would be created cardinals by John XXIII in 1958; Montini would become Paul VI in 1963.
34Pius XII, apostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia on secular institutes, February 2, 1947. Full text on vatican.va: https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/fr/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19470202_provida-mater-ecclesia.html
35Photographs of the dying pope sold to Paris Match and an Italian magazine, press conference on the embalming (oils, resins, plastic cover with herbs), rapid decomposition of the exposed body: October 1958 press relayed by historiographical syntheses. Resignation demanded by the cardinals assembled on October 20, 1958, sede vacante — and not by John XXIII, elected only on the 28th.
37Paul VI, announcement of November 18, 1965 (Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, vol. 3, pp. 625-626): introduction of the beatification processes of Pius XII and John XXIII; formal opening of the diocesan process in 1967.
38Benedict XVI, decree of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognizing the heroic virtues of Pius XII, December 19, 2009 (the same day as for John Paul II).
39Announcement of March 4, 2019 (Holy See Press Office, AP, CNS): Francis decides to open to researchers, as of March 2, 2020, the archives of the pontificate (March 2, 1939 – October 9, 1958); effective opening on that date.
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