Chapter IX - The Stewardship of Pius

Sixteen Crowded Years - The Papal Mind - An Intrepid Spirit

It is difficult to sum up all the labors and achievements of Pius XI in the sixteen crowded years of his amazing pontificate. One would have to furnish a complete study of all the activities of the Catholic Church during the years since Cardinal Ratti assumed the tiara to properly appraise the full meaning and the far-reaching influence of his exceptional regime. The encyclicals, the concordats, the missionary labors, the solution of the Roman Question, his incessant work for peace, constitute a monument to the ever-growing prestige of the Holy See which non-Catholics also are glad to acknowledge and acclaim. Providence has granted to Pius XI’s reign a lustre of genuine and authentic splendor rarely given to the reigns of the successors of Peter whose chair has been occupied by so many gifted men of astonishing accomplishments and of conspicuous ability. Already it is declared by many of his devoted sons that the twentieth century will go down in history as the century of Pius XI.

While it is impossible to do more than indicate in broad outline the scope and glory of his pontificate, his outstanding work for peace remains the colossal achievement that overshadows all his other labors. Not that he is the only Pope who has devoted the years of his pontificate to the cause of peace. Benedict XV, his immediate predecessor and the saintly Pius X who called Dr. Ratti to Rome, did the same; but Pius XI was privileged to dedicate himself as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church to the specific task of building a permanent foundation to the edifice of peace.

All his labors in the missionary field have been inspired by the realization of the necessity, not only of converting souls to the Church, but of so conducting the work of foreign missions that an enduring peaceful collaboration among the native populations will follow as the natural consequence of removing suspicion and causes of friction among the converts. For his labors for the expansion and purification of Catholic missions, Pius XI may justly be called The Missionary Pope.

At the very beginning of his pontificate Pius let it be known that he was the Representative of the Prince of Peace. He analyzed the pitiable plight of the people of the world after four years of futile warfare and another four years of a false “peace” founded on greed, bred in jealousy and fostered by fear and suspicion. Hatred and the ravages of war still raged. Yet he was not dismayed, for his faith was anchored in the promise of Christ, the Prince of Peace. Undeterred by the disheartening picture which he himself drew in his first Encyclical, ubi arcano Dei, Pius, with undaunted courage, proclaimed that he intended to pacify and reconcile. Peace was to be his chief preoccupation. Peace would inspire all his labor. Thus was he crowned in the solemn and majestic service of Christ the King. Thus do we acclaim him The Apostle of Peace.

All these holy ambitions, all his solicitudes, were directed to the fulfillment of his motto: Pax Christi in Regno Christi. Not a year has passed that he has not exhorted the nations to disarm. And he has made it clear that there must? first of all? be a disarmament of the heart and spirit. He has lucidly defined, as he did so masterfully in his discourse of Christmas, 1930, and in his Encyclical, Nova Impendit, the true conditions of Christian peace. Alas! he cries out, why do men not give ear? Why do they debase their passions? The Pontiff cries to God in accents of anguish, supplicating Him to strengthen him and support him in his work for peace. The peace of Christ cannot be realized in a civilization alien to peace. The peace of Christ can only function within the reign of Christ. For the creation and restoration of the reign of Christ he dedicates Catholic Action, and so dear to the heart of the reigning Pontiff is this organization of Catholic laymen that he declares “who touches Catholic Action touches the person of the Pope.”

The return of the teaching of the Evangel can alone restore a laicized, paganized society, materialistic and sordid as ours, to peace and prosperity. He outlines the task of Catholic Action as apostolic labor guided by prayer, by word, by an able and dedicated press, by an exemplary life of charity – a life dedicated to the Divine Heart of Christ the King. The Catholic laity, with the ministry of the priests and bishops, is the true and real consecration that will bring about the Kingdom of Christ in which the peace of Christ can operate. Catholic Action, infused with Apostolic zeal, must be the ally of the Church and must attach itself unreservedly to the Church’s prerogatives.

In this manner does Pius XI intend to make religion independent of every political contingency. He would leave to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, but he defends the independence and the integrity of the Church with a holy jealousy. The Church develops outside of and independent of parties and its sole task is to penetrate the Christian spirit into the men and social institutions in the midst of which Providence has placed it. Such is Catholic Action, the soul and spirit of the pontificate of Pius XI. Quite accurately might Pius XI be proclaimed the Pope of Catholic Action.

Ending the long struggle between the Church and the State, the Lateran Accord signed by Pius XI bridged for all time the former antagonism, for the Pope agreed to remain outside of international politics except when invited to participate; but the Papacy by no means relinquished its right and duty to moral and spiritual leadership in the world. Indeed, by placing herself above parties and states, the Church has legalized a spiritual supremacy that leaves her free to fulfill her mission of peacemaker and to condemn un-Christian acts impartially and courageously. For instance in his message to the cardinals on Christmas Day, 1930, the Pope declared: “Peace is made difficult because the spirit of peace does not possess the intelligence and hearts of men, because of an unequal distribution of privileges and burdens, of rights and duties, of participation in the fruits which can only be produced by their friendly co-operation, because there reigns a hard, egotistical nationalism, which is the same as saying hatred and envy ambition for hegemony and mastery in the place of respect for all rights, even those of the weak and small.”

But whether Pius XI will be remembered in history as the Pope of the Missions, the Pope of Reconciliation, the Pope of Catholic Action, we are confident that he will always be spoken of as the Pope of Peace, in company with the sainted Pius X and the “War-time Pope,” Benedict XV, whose via dolorosa was trodden through those disheartening years of ceaseless effort to bring a mad world back to sanity. For whether Pius XI has bent his noble mind to the more efficient achievement of missionary labor, or to the nurturing of the faithful seed of Catholic Action, or to the successful solution of the Roman Question, or to the writing and sending forth of his famous encyclicals to the ends of the earth in all that he has promoted and achieved, the underlying urge, like the motif of a great composer that recurs again and again in the masterpiece, lest in the intricacies of the vast composition the thread and source of inspiration be lost, has been reiterated and restated, reaffirmed and reinforced time and again, to strengthen and support, to succor and sustain, to plead and protest in a crescendo of affecting accents the theme of his pontificate peace, peace, peace!


Those individuals privileged with frequent access to His Holiness, Pius XI, like the cardinals and high ecclesiastics in Vatican circles and more particularly Cardinal Pacelli (who upon Cardinal Gasparri’s retirement to private life, succeeded that great prelate as Papal Secretary of State) , may be said, perhaps, to know at first hand the innermost workings of the Papal mind. The sole source of such knowledge for the less favored is through the medium of his writings as revealed in his encyclicals.

All the pastoral letters of Pius XI reveal the careful mind of a trained scholar, the humility of a truly great soul, the undaunted courage that can essay spiritual mountains and scale insuperable difficulties with clear-sighted prudence and disciplined patience. In spite of the numerous duties and interruptions that must have accompanied the writing of these letters, one feels there is nothing hurried, no thought carelessly expressed, no decision hastily arrived at. The abiding faith that shines through these documents is not the result of a detached mind dwelling in an ivory tower, but rather it is the habitual attitude of an experienced captain who does not minimize the perils of the storm, but whose steady hand on the helm and calm gaze facing the troubled sea, are fortified by a confident awareness that a Supernatural Pilot stands behind him a Pilot who can not only safely steer the ship through every danger, but can calm the angry sea as well.

One is struck by the simplicity of the encyclicals of Pius, so that he who runs may read; by the felicity of the style; their easy flow even in translation. They seem to bear witness to Pius’ admiration for the letters of Saint Francis de Sales, “whose writings are easy to understand and can be read with great pleasure” and whom he nominated “the Heavenly Patron of all Writers.” We feel His Holiness’ advice to writers “to express their thoughts clearly and in beautiful language so that readers will the more readily come to love the truth,” has been the guiding inspiration of his own messages. They reveal a character in which “the union of strength and meekness” which he stresses as the peculiar grace of Saint Francis de Sales, is an active principle.

Three great encyclicals: On the Education of Youth, On Christian Marriage and On the Reconstruction of the Social Order give the reader a comprehensive idea of the mentality of the Holy Father. They compass the major problems of modern society which, unless solved, will destroy all that Christian civilization has built up through the travail of two thousand years. Unless the family unit is preserved, the western world will disintegrate and perish. Unless youth is educated to the full meaning of responsibility through a careful training, not only of the mind, but even more of the heart and will, the future of human culture presents a dubious outlook; and unless there is created a spirit of civic concern, an unselfish devotion to the larger good of the community, of the state and of the society of nations, through a constructive program based on morality and religion, wars between the classes and the nations will surely wreck the accumulated wealth and treasures of the ages.

Because the Catholic Church has throughout her history looked at the world, and has contributed so magnificently to the flowering of civilization, through an approach sub specie aeternitatis, it is urgent and fitting that the voice from the Vatican, speaking with the authority of the exalted responsibility it assumes, should be listened to and pondered over with all the seriousness the; troubled times demand. The fleeting panaceas of well-meaning hasty reformers do not suffice to meet these grave issues that baffle the stoutest heart. A steadier influence, a firmer authority, a wiser counsel, must prevail if the chaos that threatens to overwhelm the world is to be brought to ordered sanity.

Pius XI, in unmistaking phraseology, has invited all faiths to participate with him to defend the Church’s institutions. He begs that all differences be submerged so that the world’s forces may work together toward the achievement of that longed-for peace which is the crying need of our day.

Implicit in Pius’ gospel of peace, and conditioned by it, is his gospel of Social Justice which found eloquent expression in his Encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno (In the Fortieth Year) given to the world on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of Leo XIII’s great message, Rerum Novarum, (On the Condition of the Working Classes). In this document Pius XI amplifies and brings up to date the teachings of Leo. Together, the two Encyclicals form a consistent body of social doctrine, declared by many able statesmen to be the only guide and answer to the blatant injustices in the industrial and economic disorders of our time. The whole problem of capital and labor, of class strife, and of the international money power which hold in their hands “the very soul of production since they supply its life-blood, so that no one dares breathe against their will” is examined with the courageous impartiality demanded by these basic aspects of the modern chaos we have inherited.

If, in time, the world will listen to “the better way” advocated by these two great Pontiffs, society may yet be saved from the suicidal class warfare advocated by the followers of Karl Marx and exemplified in modern Russia, cultivated in France and in “loyalist” Spain under cover of the “United Front.” Fifty years ago Leo XIII foresaw and warned the world what would happen if the discontented and underprivileged classes followed the siren voice from the British Museum.

At the inauguration of the World Catholic Press Exposition in the spring of 1936, which was represented by journalists of forty-five nations of Europe and America and by fifty-three regions of Asia, Africa and Oceanica, after deploring the absence of “two great countries and two great peoples” (Russia and Germany), Pius XI warned those present of the perils that beset our modern times, perils not only to the cause of religion but to the very fabric of the entire social order.

The Pontiff gave a message to take back to the communities whence the delegates came. In unequivocal words that permit of no misunderstanding or misinterpretation he bade those present convey his avowed purpose of “providing remedies and means of defense against neo-paganism, to which immorality allies itself easily and almost inevitably, even under the varnish of a civilization materially refined. . . .”

“You will say, dearest sons. . . . what the Vicar of Christ does not fear to say aloud, and that not only as Common Father of all the Faithful, but also and above all as a man of his day, not only for the good of the Church of which He is the Head, but also for the general good, that the Catholic Church is the only and irreplaceable preserver of true and authentic Christianity.” For, asks the Pontiff pertinently, “What remains . . . outside the Church, after the devastation caused by so-called free thought, by liberalism and pretended reformations? . . . And in the Catholic Church we possess, at this moment, the providential aid of Catholic Action, which was also the efficacious collaborator of the first Apostolic Hierarchy in the evangelization of a world under the yoke of ancient paganism.

“We have intentionally said that We are speaking not only as Head of the Catholic Church, but also and above all as a man of our day … as a witness and participant in the events which menace our contemporaries and the institutions which frame and develop their daily individual, family and social life. We speak thus . . . because from the point of view of recent definite happenings, We are more painfully preoccupied with the purely human and worldly social and government institutions than with the Catholic Church herself. . . . For the Church is a Divine Institution, favored with Divine promises. The forces against Her may become more threatening, their assaults more and more violent or insidious, but it remains written: non praevalebunt.”

It is a mistake for governments to put obstacles in the path of the action of the Church, for by so doing they are denying themselves the invaluable contribution that the Church alone can give to public security, to social well-being, and to true peace.

In conclusion the aged Pontiff declared the Exhibition of the World Catholic Press “a true symbol, a real example, an efficacious instrument, a fervent and hopeful invocation, that in many languages says to all nations . . . peace, peace, peace. To the frightful cry, Sans Dieu, the Exhibition replies with the confident, affectionate, liturgical prayer Mane nobiscum, Domine . . . Abide with us, Lord: a cloudy twilight, which seems to herald a still darker night, hangs over the whole world: Abide with us and … let your light shine in the darkness and guide us: Abide with us. Mane nobiscum, Domine.”


Clear-spoken and frank in his denunciation of evil, however highly placed, Pius displays an untiring and uncompromising will in combating the perverse spirit which animates the leaders of the people who stir up strife among the nations and classes. But he does not let the matter rest there. In a spirit of compassion and fatherly solicitude he points out a better way, a way practical and feasible, a way tested by two thousand years of experience of the Christian Church.

The indomitable will displayed by Pius during the days and nights of racking pain when his physician gave no hope to a waiting world and his death seemed imminent, was so sublime as to call forth expressions of astonished admiration from many American non-Catholic sources. An editorial, dated January 26, 1937, in the Chicago Daily News, rose to the high occasion declaring that Pope Pius XI “shows forth in fullest measure the serene elevation of the spirit over the flesh . . . Unmindful of himself, he almost hourly exercises a dauntless and devotional solicitude for the cause of the Church and for peace among mankind. To such a soul there can be no reality in dissolution.” Vatican circles declared that his mind seemed more lucid, if anything, than usual; and his memory clearer than ever. To those nearest to him, in reply to anxious queries about his condition, he replied in a Latin phrase, paraphrasing Saint Martin: Ne recuso dolorem, peto laborem. It was enforced idleness, not pain, that irked him. The fear that he might be incapacitated for a long time and unable to resume his duties as Supreme Pontiff; the memory of his brother Fermo’s protracted illness caused him profound concern for the welfare of the Church. Accordingly, through the weeks of intense suffering, he seemed determined to ignore his own condition as much as possible; to carry on all his duties as Head of the Church, and to pursue a normal routine as far as his physical torments permitted. Cardinal Pacelli was in almost constant attendance at his bedside, receiving advice and instructions on weighty Church matters. His Holiness sent a radio message to “pray for the re-establishing of peace in a world that needs it badly.” He sent a message of sympathy for the flood victims in the United States, granted audiences to numerous ecclesiastics, and by every means kept in touch with Church and world affairs. During his long illness from the time he was stricken on 5 December 1936, until, unassisted, he celebrated his first Mass at the altar of his private chapel, 19 March 1937, although on the threshold of his eightieth year, the Pope’s demeanor was an unparalleled example of a rigorously disciplined mind, an unconquerable will, and a sublime spirit.

As late as 15 November 1937, Cardinal Mundelein, in a letter to the clergy and Faithful of his own diocese, holds up the example of the Pope, Pius XI, as “a model and exemplar of every Christian Bishop, priest and layman” declaring that “at death’s door, he stood forth as a heroic figure and an example and consolation to all of us of every race and creed.”

During this trying period the long-awaited Encyclical, Divini Redemptoris, condemning atheistical Communism, made its appearance. In this new message Pius urged that “all differences be submerged so that the world’s forces of all faiths may be arrayed to defend its institutions.” He denounced Communism as “a system full of errors … in opposition both to reason and divine revelation . . . subversive to social order,” resulting in the destruction of the very foundations of society. Not minimizing in the least the very real abuses of the economic order, Pius urges the employers of labor to stand behind the Church to see that Justice is done; for, deceived by rash promises, the people are following false prophets. In the front line of battle against Communism should stand the priests supported by religious groups of laymen. Let those who, blinded to the real nature and inevitable results of the victory of such false propaganda, who let themselves be deceived into lending their aid toward the triumph of a doctrine intrinsically wrong – let all such know that they will fall the first victims of their error, warns the voice of Pius XI.

For the destruction of such pernicious doctrines and practices the Pope invokes the collaboration of all believers, renewing his invitation extended to them five years previously in Caritate Christi that “all those who do not want anarchy and terrorism ought to take energetic steps to prevent the enemies of religion from attaining the goal they so brazenly proclaim to the world.” For, continues His Holiness, “the Church undertakes the mission confided to her by Christ, of constructing a Christian society” and resists unto victory all attacks against her. This is her duty and her responsibility, for “this anti-God campaign shakes society to its very foundations.”

In a second Encyclical in the same week, Pius sent a message to the German Catholics, which, like the Letter, non abbiamo bisogna, was placed in the hands of trusted emissaries and smuggled by airplane through the press censorship – this time into Germany – and there read in the pulpit of the Berlin Cathedral by Bishop von Preysing. In this Papal document the Holy Father charges the Nazi government has broken the Concordat of 1933 and has rendered it “intrinsically valueless.”

If its terms were not kept that is not the fault of the Church; the other side made unfair interpretations of the Concordat, evaded its provisions, undermined its content, and finally more or less openly violated its stipulations and the unwritten law governing its actions.

Pius says he signed this document “despite grave misgivings” because he believed it to be “to the interest of the Church and the German people.” The rebuke to the assertion that Nazism is Gottgläubig is answered by the scathing words:

He is not Gottgläubig who merely knows how to use that word oratorically. Whoever raises the concepts of race, or people, for the state, or the form of government beyond mundane evaluations and makes heathenistic ideals of them, falsifies the divine order of things.

In conclusion the Encyclical ends with these solemn words:

God is our witness that we have no more earnest wish than the reestablishment of real peace between the State and the Church in Germany. If, however, through no fault of ours, peace is not to come, then the Church of God will defend its rights and liberties in the name of the All Highest, whose arm, even today, has not been shortened.

To the German Catholics Pius promised:

We shall not fail to continue to champion your rights before the leaders of your people, irrespective of temporary success or failure, and obedient only to our conscience and our duties as Shepherd, we shall continue to oppose an attitude that seeks to stifle guaranteed rights by open or covert show of force.

To those Nazis who charged “unfairness” against the method of smuggling the Papal letter by airplane into Germany, it should be remembered that the Holy Father employed this step only as a last resort. Various Vatican notes to Germany had remained unanswered and the government had refused to receive Catholic bishops for a conference on Church matters.

A third Encyclical to Mexican Catholics appeared within a few days. This was an Easter eve letter, appealing to Mexico’s clergy and laity for a “greater intensification of the Christian life” in order that they might have “true peace and prosperity/’ There was no rebuke in this pastoral letter which gave high praise to the American bishops who assisted the Mexican hierarchy by erecting a seminary for Mexican students in the United States. Pius urged the Mexican laity to co-operate with the clergy “in the intensification of the Christian life in good works in every field of activity, private and public, assisting the needy classes religiously, morally and economically with social Christian good works.”

Then Easter morning came. The great basilica of Saint Peter’s was jammed with the Faithful from all lands, and thousands waited outside in the Piazza for the first appearance of His Holiness since that day in early December when he was stricken. Almost four months of anxious suspense were rewarded by the participation of the Holy Father in the Mass at the altar. At the end of the Mass the Pontiff read aloud the Benedictus. Then he was borne out on the sedia. The pent-up enthusiasm of the crowd once more broke loose. Among the shouts of the Italians’ Viva il Papa! could be heard by those standing near, a strong German Heil! from a group standing at attention giving the Nazi salute. The Pope was then carried up to the balcony of Saint Peter’s by a specially constructed elevator. There, standing below in the raw March wind, a quarter of a million of the Faithful shouted and cheered and wept. Tears streamed down the cheeks of the people as they knelt in thanksgiving that their Shepherd had been granted his prayer and had lived to witness and participate in the Easter celebration. Rome has witnessed many majestic triumphs. No city can equal her in the glamour and splendor of her pomp. But this spectacle was different from the triumph of a Caesar returning from his martial victories. The pageantry was there, but beneath the formal ceremony there was a heartfelt enthusiasm, unpoisoned by dark conspiracies or sinister rumblings of discontent. What a lesson for temporal rulers, for dictators and political heads of states! What a triumphant manifestation of the spirit over the flesh! What a victory of love over hate and strife!


As early as possible after his partial recovery, Pius was eager to leave the Vatican and Rome for the higher land of Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence built by Urban VIII in 1629 and since completely renovated and modernized by himself, where he might breathe the clearer air and find much-needed relaxation on his model farm with its pedigreed fowl and livestock. In the cool of the evenings, gazing over at the Alban hills, he could sit and dream of the foothills of his native Desio and of those loftier heights of the spirit whence cometh help.

There was a slowing down of duties, though no cessation of them during the summer of 1937. Audiences for married couples and for other pilgrims were given. Cardinal Pacelli came to keep the Pontiff informed on world events. In the autumn Pius seemed to wish to tarry as long as possible, but on his return from Castel Gandolfo in late November he stopped the car in which he was driving back to the Vatican so that he might inspect the new approach to Saint Peter’s from the Tiber, an approach created by the demolition of old houses and named the Via della Conciliazione to commemorate the Lateran Accord.

One of his first public acts upon his resumption of duty was the inauguration of the pontifical Roman Atheneum, built out of his own private purse, at Saint John Lateran. It was noted that although precautions were taken to spare him needless exertion at the ceremonies at which he presided and gave a twenty-minute address, his color was healthy and his gestures vigorous and decided.

On December 13th he bestowed the Red Hat on five new Cardinals, one of whom was his former secretary, Pellegrinetti, whom we remember at Warsaw, and who had been serving as Papal Nuncio in Jugo-Slavia. Pius used the occasion to deplore publicly the Far Eastern conflict and inveighed against “men responsible for the destinies of nations” who “despise the sacred duties of religion and push their temerity so far as to rebel against the Divine Majesty itself.”

Among the motives the Pontiff enumerated for his own special gratefulness, Pius cited the divine assistance received during his illness and the joy he felt over the recent Eucharistic congresses in which he was present through his legates, experiencing the pious and public testimony of devotion to a common Father and the faith and concord of the Catholic community.