Vatican Radio, 24 August 1939
A week before Germany invades Poland, the new pope speaks to the world over the radio.1
“Nothing is lost with peace; all can be lost with war!”
Eugenio Pacelli had been elected that March. The war he begged to prevent broke out days later.
01Pius XII
Before the war
As nuncio in Germany, Pacelli was known for helping Benedict XV try to stop the slaughter of the Great War, and for seeing early the danger of National Socialism with its anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic roots.1
02Pius XII
The war years
Benedict XVI recalled that Pius XII promoted intense charitable work for the persecuted, without distinction of religion, race, nationality or political affiliation.1
Witnesses also spoke of the food, heating and comforts he gave up to share the hardship of the people of Rome.1
Historians still argue about whether he should have spoken more loudly. The Church asks them to keep studying, and his cause for beatification remains open.
In 1950 he defined the dogma of the Assumption of Mary.2
His successor was a smiling old man everyone thought would change nothing.
Notes
- Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on the 50th anniversary of the death of Pius XII, 9 October 2008. Holy See, official English text. vatican.va
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 966. vatican.va
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision (public domain). Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.
Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an error.