Pope Pius XII

Pope Venerable Pius XII
Bishop of Rome
Pius XII in c. 1951
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	2 March 1939
Papacy ended	9 October 1958
Predecessor	Pius XI
Successor	John XXIII
Previous post(s)	Pro-Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1912‍–‍1914) Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1914‍–‍1917) Apostolic Nuncio to Bavaria (1917‍–‍1925) Titular Archbishop of Sardes (1917‍–‍1929) Apostolic Nuncio to Germany (1920‍–‍1930) Apostolic Nuncio to Prussia (1926‍–‍1929) Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo al Celio (1929‍–‍1939) Cardinal Secretary of State (1930‍–‍1939) Prefect of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1930‍–‍1939) Archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica (1930‍–‍1939) Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber (1935‍–‍1939)
Orders
Ordination	2 April 1899 by Francesco di Paola Cassetta
Consecration	13 May 1917 by Benedict XV
Created cardinal	16 December 1929 by Pius XI
Personal details
Born	Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (1876-03-02)2 March 1876 Rome, Lazio, Italy
Died	9 October 1958(1958-10-09) (aged 82) Castel Gandolfo, Lazio, Italy
Education	Almo Collegio Capranica Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Roman Athenaeum Saint Apollinare Sapienza University of Rome
Motto	Opus justitiae pax (Latin for 'The work of justice [shall be] peace')[a]
Signature
Coat of arms
Sainthood
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Title as Saint	Venerable
Ordination history
History Priestly ordination Ordained by Francesco di Paola Cassetta Date 2 April 1899 Episcopal consecration Principal consecrator Pope Benedict XV Co-consecrators Agostino Zampini Giovanni di Corneliano Date 13 May 1917 Place St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, Italy Cardinalate Elevated by Pope Pius XI Date 16 December 1929
Episcopal succession Bishops consecrated by Pope Pius XII as principal consecrator Michel d'Herbigny 29 March 1926 Giuseppe Pizzardo 27 April 1930 Luigi Centoz 14 February 1932 Francis Spellman 8 September 1932 Albert Levame 4 February 1934 Saverio Ritter 11 August 1935 Maurilio Silvani 13 September 1936 Eugène Tisserant 25 July 1937 Francesco Cialeo 29 October 1939 Carlo Confalonieri 4 May 1941
Pope Pius XII's voice Message of Pope Pius XII at the opening of the Holy Year Recorded 1949
Other popes named Pius

Pope Pius XII^[b] (born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli;^[c] 2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in 9 October 1958.

The papacy of Pius XII was long, even by modern standards: it lasted almost 20 years, and spanned a consequential fifth of the 20th century. Pius XII was a diplomat pope during the destruction wrought by World War II, the recovery and rebuilding which followed, the beginning of the Cold War, and the early building of a new international geopolitical order, which aimed to protect human rights and maintain global peace through establishment of international rules and institutions (such as the United Nations). Born, raised, educated, ordained, and resident for most of his life in Rome, his work in the Roman Curia—as a priest, then bishop, then cardinal—was extensive. He served as secretary of the Vatican's diplomatic Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio to Germany, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, and Cardinal Secretary of State for the Holy See, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with various European and Latin American nations, including the Reichskonkordat treaty with Nazi Germany.^[1]

While the Vatican was officially neutral during World War II, the Reichskonkordat and Pius XII's leadership of the Catholic Church during the war remain the subject of controversy—including allegations of public silence and inaction concerning the fate of the Jews.^[2] Pius employed diplomacy to aid the victims of the Nazis during the war and, by directing the church to provide discreet aid to Jews and others, saved thousands of lives.^[3][4] Pius maintained links to the German resistance, and shared intelligence with the Allies. His strong public condemnation of genocide was considered inadequate by the Allied Powers, while the Nazis viewed him as an Allied sympathizer who had dishonoured his policy of Vatican neutrality.^[5]

During his papacy, the Catholic Church issued the Decree against Communism, declaring that Catholics who profess the atheistic and materialist doctrines of communism are to be excommunicated as apostates from the Christian faith. The church experienced severe persecution and mass deportations of Catholic clergy in the Eastern Bloc. He explicitly invoked ex cathedra papal infallibility with the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in his Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus.^[6] His forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis Christi, on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; and Humani generis, in which he instructed theologians to adhere to episcopal teaching and allowed that the human body might have evolved from earlier forms. He removed, by additional international cardinal appointments, the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals in 1946.

After he died in 1958, Pope Pius XII was succeeded by John XXIII. In the process toward sainthood, his cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by Paul VI during the final session of the Second Vatican Council. He was made a Servant of God (the first threshold step toward sainthood) by John Paul II in 1990, and Benedict XVI declared Pius XII Venerable (the second step) on 19 December 2009.^[7] He is the most recent pope to take the regnal name of Pius.

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