Pius XII

2.III.1876 - 9.X.1958
Pius XII, earlier held the post of papal secretary, was elected Pope on March 2, 1939, in his 63rd birthday. His ordination took place in San March 12 of that year, and the name of Pius was chosen without regard to Pius XI.
Selecting the Pope Pius XII was unusual for many reasons. He was the first in many years the papal secretary of state, accepted the papacy. His choice was the fastest in history, as Pius XII was chosen electoral conclave on the first day of voting, after three ballots,. Over the past 200 years it was the first Roman, and the first man to visit the United States and the elected Pope.
Eugenio Pacelli was born in Rome on March 2, 1876. His aristocratic clan had titles of nobility Akuapendente (Acquapendente) and Sant 'Angelo (Sant Angelo) in Wado (Vado). For two centuries, family members Pacelli served the papacy. His father was a lawyer and the Vatican had expected that his son will also be a lawyer, but Eugenio decided to become a priest.
After the Gregorian (Gregorian) University of Rome, in 1899, Eugenio Pacelli was ordained. In 1901, Pope Leo (Leo) XIII appointed him to the Secretariat of State. This gave him the opportunity to better understand the international situation in Europe and later helped to become an eminent statesman. During his service was replaced by four popes.
In 1917, Pacelli was ordained a nominal archbishops Sardi (Sardi). Pope Benedict (Benedict) XV, who tried to prevent the First World War, he was sent to the peacekeeping mission in Germany as papal nuncio. Archbishop Pacelli stayed in Germany throughout the troubled post-war era of the Weimar Republic.
In 1929, Pope Pius XI dedicated it to the rank of cardinal. A year later, Cardinal Pacelli was appointed papal secretary of state. In this position he signed several important agreements, the most significant of which was agreement with the new National Socialist government of Adolf Hitler in 1933. In the years of social and political unrest, Cardinal became famous for his vigorous action against the persecution of the church from totalitarian governments. In 1935, he proclaimed that the Church will always oppose the "enemies obsessed superiority of one race or nation over others".
In 1939, when he became pope, his first address was to call for world peace. In October 1939, after the Second World War, he issued his first encyclical (circular letter intended for wide distribution). It condemned the theory of racial superiority and the doctrine of totalitarian governments. In his second encyclical, published in November of that year, he called for an increase in "living wage" for workers and defending their right to form associations and organizations.
Pius XII has repeatedly declared that, as the spiritual leader of all Roman Catholics, he could not provide some sort of one nation. He said that he considers it his duty to condemn any expression of aggression by a nation to its neighbors. In its peacekeeping activities, he actively cooperated with the personal representative of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Vatican, as well as with diplomats from many countries.
In 1939, Pope Pius XII proposed a peace plan raised by the time of international conflict, in which he emphasized the right of all nations to independence, justice and mercy. In 1943, he again called for the establishment of peace based on human rights and public policy, based on a Christian principles. In 1944 he called for the establishment of an international organization to prevent the threat of aggression in the future.
Once in 1940, Italy entered the war, the Vatican has closed its borders as a nation that supports the neutrality. But Pius XII continued to liaise with international policy makers in other countries. He sent aid to victims of war and prisoners of war around the world. When in 1943-1944, the aerial bombardment of the Vatican have caused death and destruction, Pius XII strongly condemned the actions of the Nazis, who caused damage to neutral territory. In 1943, when German troops occupied Rome, he argued, and the Nazis and the Allied liberation forces to refrain from destroying the city.
After the war he actively opposed communism. Calling for peace throughout the world, in 1957 he spoke out against further testing of the hydrogen bomb.
Pius XII died October 9, 1958 after a short illness at the summer papal residence at Castel Gandolfo (Castel Gandolfo).

WWC Team