Pius XI

Pius XI (born May 31, 1857, Desio, Lombardy, Austrian Empire [now in Italy]—died February 10, 1939, Rome, Italy) was an Italian pope from 1922 to 1939, one of the most important modern pontiffs. His papal motto, “Pax Christi in regno Christi” (“The peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ”), illustrated his work to construct a new Christendom based on world peace.

Ordained in 1879, he became a scholar, a paleographer, and a prefect of the Vatican library. Nuncio to Poland in 1919, he was made cardinal and archbishop of Milan in 1921 by Pope Benedict XV, whom he was elected to succeed on February 6, 1922.

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Pius’s pontificate soon witnessed the rise to power of Benito Mussolini, who signed (February 11, 1929) with him the Lateran Treaty that allowed the existence of the independent Vatican City state, over which the pope ruled. The papacy, in turn, recognized the establishment of the kingdom of Italy and announced permanent neutrality in military and diplomatic conflicts of the world. Pius further agreed that a pope would intervene in foreign affairs not as head of a sovereign state but as head of the church. Concurrently, a concordat established the validity of church marriage in Italy, provided compulsory religious instruction for Catholic schoolchildren, and declared Roman Catholicism to be Italy’s only religion of state.

Pius’s role in these negotiations was considerable, their success owing much to his appreciation of the interests of the church and of contemporary political realities. With the aid of his secretaries of state, the cardinals Gasparri (1922–30) and Pacelli (1930–39), he concluded concordats that strengthened and united Catholicism in countries suffering the aftereffects of World War I, including Latvia (1922), Poland (1925), Romania and Lithuania (1927), Prussia (1929), and Austria and Germany (1933). Unfortunately, World War II ruined several of these treaties. He reached an agreement allowing the church to resume religious services in Mexico, where severe persecutions prompted the encyclical of 1926 (Iniquis afflictisque), and he made another agreement (1933), though short-lived, with Adolf Hitler’s newly formed Nazi government in Germany, hoping to alleviate the difficulties confronting German Catholics. From 1933 to 1936 he wrote several protests against the Third Reich, and his attitude toward fascist Italy changed dramatically after Nazi racial policies were introduced into Italy in 1938.

Pius XI, a student of Hebrew, was responsible for the three major encyclicals against the totalitarian systems that challenged Christian principles: Non abbiamo bisogno (1931; “We Do Not Need to Acquaint You”) against the abuses of fascist Italy; Mit brennender sorge (1937; “With Deep Anxiety”) against Nazi Germany, and Divini redemptoris (1937; “Divine Redeemer”) against the ends of atheistic communism. Under his leadership the Vatican challenged the extreme nationalism of Action Français in France and the anti-Semitism of the Rev. Charles E. Coughlin in the United States. In 1938, eight months before his death and 15 months before the outbreak of World War II, Pius secretly commissioned a fourth encyclical that would have denounced racism and the persecution of the Jews and explicitly condemned anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, he died before his encyclical could be issued, and the draft was shelved by his successor, Pius XII, who decided to pursue a less confrontational course toward the fascist regimes.

A learned humanist, Pius founded research establishments and institutes of higher education, including the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology (1925) and the Pontifical Academy of Science (1936). He made great efforts to organize the laity, first in Italy and then throughout the whole church, calling for “specialized movements” and particularly encouraging Catholic Action (the “Jocists”), a Christian youth organization for the working classes. In 1922 he had defined Catholic Action as “the participation of the laity in the apostolate of the Church’s hierarchy.”

Surpassing his predecessors in support of overseas missions, he required every religious order to engage actively in this work, with the result that missionaries doubled their number during his pontificate. Most significant was his consecration of the first Chinese bishops, in 1926. He equally encouraged historians and liturgiologists to study Eastern Christianity, inaugurating the work of codifying Eastern canon law. In 1930 he witnessed the reunion of the Syro-Melankarese Christians (of southern India) with Rome.