From the bulletin of July 18, 2021
Pope Benedict XV died in January of 1922. His successor and the next person in our journey through Papal documents is Pope Pius XI who reigned from 1922 to 1939.
Pope Pius’ birth name was Abroglio Damiano Achille Ratti. He was born in Milan in 1857 to Francesco and Teresa. His father owned a silk factory. Ambroglio Ratti was ordained a priest in 1879 and went on to be something of an academic in the Church, ultimately earning three doctoral degrees in Rome and becoming a professor at the seminary in Padua. Many people know that Pope John Paul II was an accomplished academic and avid outdoorsman who liked to canoe down rivers and climb mountains. Well. Pope Pius XI also combined these two traits and was known to summit a few major mountains in his free time as student and teacher.
Eventually, Ambroglio Ratti was moved into diplomacy and was sent to Poland, which was technically independent but was really still under German control at the time. He was ordained an Archbishop in 1919 and made the Papal Nuncio to Poland. During his time there, Soviet Russia attempted to conquer Poland and politics was heated. Bishop Ratti attempted to navigate by finding allies in both Russia and Poland, but this ended up costing him the trust of the Polish people. Eventually, tensions led to him being asked to leave Poland.
Shortly after his time as nuncio, Bishop Ratti was made a Cardinal and became Archbishop of Milan in 1921. The very next year, Pope Benedict died of Pneumonia. The conclave – the meeting where Cardinals elect the Pope – took a relatively long time because there was a pretty even split in what they wanted. Cardinal Ratti was elected as a compromise candidate and chose the name Pius XI to honor Pius IX who was pope when he was a child and to honor Pius X who was pope during his priesthood.
As Pope, Pius XI covered a wide range of topics in his teaching. His very first work focused on the peace of Christ and the “Catholic Action” movement, which we’ll look at next week. Unlike his immediate predecessors, who lived through some serious conflicts with politics in Europe, Pope Pius XI tried to be more open. Whether that was better or worse remains a matter of debate. Of course, he was pope during the conflicts leading up to World War II, so things did not always go well and some of his writings, which we’ll look at, had to take a more aggressive position. Because he was pope on the 40th anniversary of Rerum Novarum (Pope Leo XIII), he wrote a document marking the anniversary and re-emphasizing it’s teachings. We’ll also look at this when the time comes.
Internally, Pope Pius XI continued the practices of his predecessors, urging the training of missionaries and and effective preachers. He fought against modernism and related heresies. He strove to help draw Orthodox and Anglican Christians into union with the Catholic Church. He supported devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and sought to promote Catholic and religious education. During his reign, Pope Pius XI canonized 24 saints, several of whom he also made Doctors of the Church. By 1938, Pope Pius XI’s health was not good. In November he had two heart attacks and in February of 1939 suffered a third that led to his death. He died speaking of and praying for peace.
– In Christ,
Fr. Albert