Tag: Pope Pius XII

Pastor Column: Divino Afflante Spiritu I

Posted on by Father Albert
[Note: This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article for the bulletin of June 12, 2022]           Next in our tour of papal documents is Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, which translates to “Inspired by the Divine Spirit.” It is Pius XII’s teaching on the interpretation of Sacred Scripture, which he published on the feast of St. Jerome, September 30, 1943. At that point in time, there was a growing interest in applying archaeological and linguistic methods to the study of scripture. Pope Leo XIII had given permission to use newer critical methods of studying scripture...Read More

Pastor Column: Mystici Corporis III

Posted on by Father Albert
[Note: This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article for the bulletin of May 29, 2022]      Recall that last week, we noted Pope Pius XII’s call to practice “effective love.” In the context of the early 1900s, this prompts him to specifically condemn the idea and practice of eugenics and euthanasia. This is of course targeted at the Nazis, but we would do well to remember that eugenics was a popular idea in our own country prior to the war. It is primarily because of what we saw in the Nazis that eugenics faded as a popular...Read More

Pastor Column: Mystici Corporis II

Posted on by Father Albert
[Note: This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article in the bulletin for May 22, 2022]      Having laid out the need for a single visible head in the Church (the Pope), Pope Pius XII turns to the three virtues that manifest the unity of the Church: Faith, Hope, and Love. These connect Catholics to each other and to God. Citing several passages of the New Testament, the Pope focuses first on faith.      We share one faith in the sense of having the same beliefs. We have the same faith in the sense that the one Holy...Read More

Pastor Column: Mystici Corporis I

Posted on by Father Albert
[Note: This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article for the bulletin of May 15, 2022]      The next encyclical of Pope Pius XII is Mystici Corporis Christi (“On the Mystical Body of Christ”) written in 1943. By “Mystical Body,” the pope is referring to the Church and this document gives a thorough teaching on what we mean when we say “the Church is the body of Christ.” So, we’ll take it a little at a time and see what it says.      To start with, Pope Pius says he is speaking specifically about the Church Militant, which...Read More

Pastor Column: Pope Pius XII

Posted on by Father Albert
[Note: This is not the Sunday Homily. It is an article from the bulletin of May 1, 2022]      We’ve wrapped up most of the encyclicals written by Pope Pius XI, so now we move on to Pope Pius XII. Born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli on March 2 1876, he was raised in a very devout family in Rome. The Pacellis had historic connections to the papacy with a number of ancestors who served in important positions under previous popes.      Once he turned 18, Eugenio Pacelli entered seminary in Rome to begin training for the priesthood. He was...Read More