40 Facts About Pope Pius XII

1. Pope Pius XII finally gave a reason for his consistent refusals to make a public statement in December 1942.

2. The Pope Pius XII offered an interest-free loan without a time limit, according to Chief Rabbi Zolli of Rome.

3. Pope Pius XII is reported to have broken down and wept uncontrollably.

4. On 18 September 1942, Pope Pius XII received a letter from Monsignor Montini, saying, "the massacres of the Jews reach frightening proportions and forms".

5. The Pope Pius XII questions whether such efforts of love and sacrifice could nevertheless furnish reasons for lamentation, for pusillanimity, or for the weakening of apostolic courage and zeal.

6. Pope Pius XII wrote of a time requiring "charity" for victims who had a "right" to compassion.

7. The Pope Pius XII had to make a decree that Native Americans were "rational beings with souls" and not to be enslaved in 1537.

8. Pope Pius XII ruled autocratically, imposed his views, and expected exact obedience from all.

9. Pope Pius XII is effectively ruling that traditionalists can freely celebrate the old rite liturgies, but they cannot reject Vatican II: one of the major criticisms the Lefebvrists have if the council is its teaching on religious freedom.

10. Pope Pius XII reaffirmed previous accounts of Pius having been a saviour of thousands of Europe's Jews.

11. Pope Pius XII could have lived another 20 years, had he spared himself.

12. Pope Pius XII still addressed lay people and groups about a wide range of topics.

13. Pope Pius XII took a firm stand against pastoral experiments, such as "worker-priests", who worked full-time in factories and joined political parties and unions.

14. The Pope Pius XII avoided long ceremonies, canonizations and consistories and displayed hesitancy in personnel matters.

15. Pope Pius XII was responsible for giving the appellative title, The Catholic University of the Philippines to the then Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas.

16. Pope Pius XII was concerned too about the potential spread of Communism in Western Europe and the Americas.

17. In 1939, the Pope Pius XII employed a Jewish cartographer, Roberto Almagia, to work on old maps in the Vatican library.

18. Pope Pius XII is clearly speaking on behalf of the Jews.

19. Pope Pius XII employed the new technology of radio and a series of Christmas messages to preach against selfish nationalism and the evils of modern warfare and offer sympathy to the victims of the war.

20. Pope Pius XII was criticised for his reception of Pavelic: an unattributed British Foreign Office memo on the subject described Pius as "the greatest moral coward of our age".

21. Pope Pius XII warned the Allies of the planned German invasion of the Low Countries in 1940.

22. Pope Pius XII wrote of a persecuted Church and a time requiring "charity" for victims who had a "right" to compassion.

23. The Pope Pius XII declared determination to work to hasten the return of peace and trust in prayers for justice, love and mercy, to prevail against the scourge of war.

24. Pope Pius XII canonized numerous people, including Pope Pius X—"both were determined to stamp out, as far as possible, all traces of dangerous heterodoxy"—and Maria Goretti.

25. Pope Pius XII accepted the rhythm method as a moral form of family planning, although only in limited circumstances, within the context of family.

26. Pope Pius XII took on issues like the uses of medicine in terminally ill persons, medical lies in face of grave illness, and the rights of family members to make decisions against expert medical advice.

27. Pope Pius XII's remains were to be buried in the crypt of Saint Peter's Basilica on the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, 13 October 1958.

28. Pope Pius XII was consecrated as a bishop on 13 May 1917, the very first day of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima.

29. Pope Pius XII gave a new freedom to engage in theological investigations.

30. Pope Pius XII included a "pastoral year", an introduction into the practice of parish work.

31. Pope Pius XII supported the elevation of Americans such as Cardinal Francis Spellman from a minor to a major role in the Church.

32. Pope Pius XII was one of only two men known to have served as Camerlengo immediately prior to being elected as pope.

33. Pope Pius XII was the first cardinal Secretary of State to be elected pope since Clement IX in 1667.

34. Pope Pius XII sent his vice chancellor Franz von Papen, a Catholic nobleman and member of the Centre Party, to Rome to offer negotiations about a Reichskonkordat.

35. Pope Pius XII expected the concordat with Catholic Bavaria to be the model for the rest of Germany.

36. Pope Pius XII blocked French attempts for an ecclesiastical separation of the Saar region, supported the appointment of a papal administrator for Danzig and aided the reintegration of priests expelled from Poland.

37. Pope Pius XII met with Soviet representatives including Foreign Minister Georgi Chicherin, who rejected any kind of religious education, the ordination of priests and bishops, but offered agreements without the points vital to the Vatican.

38. Pope Pius XII negotiated food shipments for Russia, where the Church was persecuted.

39. Pope Pius XII received his first assignment as a curate at Chiesa Nuova.

40. Pope Pius XII was enrolled at the State University, La Sapienza where he studied modern languages and history.