This document provides a biography of Pope Pius XI, including: 1) He was born in Italy in 1857 and was educated at the Milan Seminary before being ordained as a priest in 1879. 2) He had an academic background and held positions at the Ambrosian Library in Milan and the Vatican Library before being appointed Cardinal Archbishop of Milan in 1921. 3) He was elected as Pope in 1922, taking the name Pius XI, and issued several encyclicals addressing issues like Catholic Action, communism, and establishing Vatican City state through the Lateran Treaty. 4) As Pope, he provided spiritual leadership during a time of unrest in the 1920s-1930s, confronting threats

1. May 31, 1857 – February 10, 1939Pope Pius XI

2. Early LifePius XI was born in Italy on May 31,1857, as AchilleRatti, in Lombardy, Italy, near Milan.

3. Studied at the Milan Seminary

4. Ordained in 1879 at the Lateran Basilica

5. Sent to the Gregorian University to earn three doctoral degrees

6. Assigned to teach at the seminary in Padua by Pope Leo XIII from 1882-1888Academic BackgroundExpert in palaeology ( the study of antiquities)

7. Academic BackgroundExpert in palaeology ( the study of antiquities)Appointed to the Ambrosian Library in Milan by Pope Leo XIII

8. Academic BackgroundExpert in palaeology ( the study of antiquities)Appointed to the Ambrosian Library in Milan by Pope Leo XIIIEdited the Ambrosian Missal

9. Academic BackgroundExpert in palaeology ( the study of antiquities)Appointed to the Ambrosian Library in Milan by Pope Leo XIIIEdited the Ambrosian MissalProduced numerous articles and theses

10. Academic BackgroundAppointed to the Vatican Library by Pope St. Pius X in 1911

11. Academic BackgroundAppointed to the Vatican Library by Pope St. Pius X in 1911Appointed Prefect of the Vatican Library in 1914 by Pope Benedict XV

12. Academic BackgroundAppointed to the Vatican Library by Pope St. Pius X in 1911Appointed Prefect of the Vatican Library in 1914 by Pope Benedict XVSent to Poland in 1918 by Pope Benedict XV as Apostolic Visitor

13. Diplomatic BackgroundAppointed Nuncio to Poland in 1919 by Pope Benedict XV

14. Diplomatic BackgroundAppointed Nuncio to Poland in 1919 by Pope Benedict XVOnly diplomat in Poland to remain in Warsaw as the Bolsheviks advanced from Russia

15. Diplomatic BackgroundAppointed Nuncio to Poland in 1919 by Pope Benedict XVOnly diplomat in Poland to remain in Warsaw as the Bolsheviks advanced from RussiaAfter the Bolshevik revolution and the establishment of Poland, Ratti was recalled to Rome and made Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, June 13, 1921

16. Cardinal Ratti Becomes PopePope Benedict XV died of pneumonia on January 22, 1922

17. Cardinal Ratti Becomes PopePope Benedict XV died of pneumonia on January 22, 1922The Consistory following the death of Pope Benedict went to 14 ballots

18. Cardinal Ratti Becomes PopePope Benedict XV died of pneumonia on January 22, 1922The Consistory following the death of Pope Benedict went to 14 ballotsOn the 14th ballot, AchilleRatti was elected to the Throne of Peter

19. Pope Pius XIPius chose as his motto: "Christ's Peace in Christ's kingdom“

20. Pope Pius XIPius chose as his motto: "Christ's Peace in Christ's kingdom" December 23, 1922 Pius issued his first Encyclical: Ubiarcano which introduced Catholic Action, a movement of the Catholic laity

21. Pope Pius XIPius chose as his motto: "Christ's Peace in Christ's kingdom" December 23, 1922 Pius issued his first Encyclical: Ubiarcano which introduced Catholic Action, a movement of the Catholic laityOn December 11, 1925 he instituted the Feast of Christ the King

22. Threats to the ChurchThe threat of Communism became serious and worldwide in the 1920’s

23. Threats to the ChurchThe threat of Communism became serious and worldwide in the 1920’sPius XI issued the Encyclical DiviniRedemptoris

24. Threats to the ChurchThe threat of Communism became serious and worldwide in the 1920’sPius XI issued the Encyclical DiviniRedemptorisThis Encyclical exposed atheistic Communism and it’s threat

25. The Freedom of the Holy SeeOn February 11, 1929 Cardinal Gasparini, for the Holy See and Premier Mussolini for the Italian Kingdom signed the Lateran Treaty

26. The Freedom of the Holy SeeOn February 11, 1929 Cardinal Gasparini, for the Holy See and Premier Mussolini for the Italian Kingdom signed the Lateran TreatyFor the first time in nearly a century, the Holy See was free of the politics of Italy and could stand on it’s own

27. The Freedom of the Holy SeeOn February 11, 1929 Cardinal Gasparini, for the Holy See and Premier Mussolini for the Italian Kingdom signed the Lateran TreatyFor the first time in nearly a century, the Holy See was free of the politics of Italy and could stand on it’s ownPius XI had truly established that the Papacy was a spiritual reign, not a temporal reign.

28. Spiritual Leadership in a Dangerous WorldThe 1920’s were a period of unrest in the world

29. Spiritual Leadership in a Dangerous WorldThe 1920’s were a period of unrest in the worldThe Treaty of Versailles created animosity and hardship in Germany and Austria

30. Spiritual Leadership in a Dangerous WorldThe 1920’s were a period of unrest in the worldThe Treaty of Versailles created animosity and hardship in Germany and AustriaDangerous political movements sprang up throughout the world

31. Spiritual Leadership in a Dangerous WorldThe 1920’s were a period of unrest in the worldThe Treaty of Versailles created animosity and hardship in Germany and AustriaDangerous political movements sprang up throughout the worldAtheistic Communism became a threat in the East

32. Spiritual Leadership in a Dangerous WorldThe 1920’s were a period of unrest in the worldThe Treaty of Versailles created animosity and hardship in Germany and AustriaDangerous political movements sprang up throughout the worldAtheistic Communism became a threat in the EastPagan Fascism became a threat in the West

33. Pius XI Leads His FlockPope Pius Taught the Church throughout his Pontificate

34. Pius XI Leads His FlockPope Pius Taught the Church throughout his PontificateHe issued many Encyclicals dealing with spiritual, theological and political matters of the day

35. EncyclicalsUBI ARCANO DEI CONSILIOENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XION THE PEACE OF CHRIST IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST (December 23, 1922)One thing is certain today. Since the close of the Great War individuals, the different classes of society, the nations of the earth have not as yet found true peace. They do not enjoy, therefore, that active and fruitful tranquility which is the aspiration and the need of mankind. This is a sad truth which forces itself upon us from every side. For anyone who, as We do, desires profoundly to study and successfully to apply the means necessary to overcome such evils, it is all-important that he recognize both the fact and the gravity of this state of affairs and attempt beforehand to discover its causes. This duty is imposed upon Us in commanding fashion by the very consciousness which We have of Our Apostolic Office. We cannot but resolve to fulfill that which is so clearly Our duty. This We shall do now by this Our first encyclical, and afterward with all solicitude in the course of Our sacred ministry.

36. RERUM OMNIUM PERTURBATIONEMENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI ON ST. FRANCIS DE SALES (January 26, 1923) In Our recent encyclical We examined the disorders with which the world today struggles for the purpose of discovering a sure remedy for such great evils. At that time We pointed out that the roots of these evils lie in the souls of men and that the sole hope of curing them is to have recourse to the assistance of the Divine Healer Jesus Christ by the means which He has placed at the disposal of His Holy Church. The great need of our day is to curb the unmeasured desires of mankind, desires which are the fundamental cause of wars and dissensions, which act, too, as a dissolving force in social life and in international relations. It is no less necessary to turn back the minds of men from the passing things of this world to those which are eternal, which latter unhappily are too often neglected by the great majority of mankind.We are now happily called upon to celebrate the Third Centenary of the entrance into heaven of another great saint, one who was remarkable not only for the sublime holiness of life which he achieved but also for the wisdom with which he directed souls in the ways of sanctity. This saint was no less a person than Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Universal Church. Like those brilliant examples of Christian perfection and wisdom to whom We have just referred, he seemed to have been sent especially by God to contend against the heresies begotten by the Reformation. It is in these heresies that we discover the beginnings of that apostasy of mankind from the Church, the sad and disastrous effects of which are deplored, even to the present hour, by every fair mind.

37. Pius XI EncyclicalsEcclesiam Dei (November 12, 1923) on Saint JosaphatIn order that this unity and concord might be perpetuated forever, God, in His supreme providence consecrated it, so to speak, by the seal of sanctity and of martyrdom. The great privilege of being both a saint and martyr belongs to Josaphat, Archbishop of Polotsk, of the Eastern Slavic Rite, who is rightly looked upon as the glory and support of the Eastern Slavs. Certainly it would be difficult to discover another man who has brought greater luster to his people or who has done more for their eternal welfare than he, their pastor and apostle. This is particularly evidenced by the fact that he shed his very blood in order to preserve the unity of Holy Church. MAXIMAM GRAVISSIMAMQUE (January 18, 1924) ON FRENCH DIOCESAN ASSOCIATIONSWe recall, but with sorrow, those sad days when in your country the evil project of separating the interests of the Republic from those of the Church was conceived and how, what is more unfortunate, steps were taken to put the project into execution. We cannot forget either how, at one fell stroke, the relations which existed between the Holy See and France were brusquely and unjustly broken off, how on December 9, 1905, the law of separation was passed by which the Concordat which had been in force over a long period of time was abrogated by but one party to the contract in direct violation of all the formalities demanded by law, how also, without the slightest regard either for the hierarchy of the Church or for the authority of the Holy See, unjust and arbitrary laws were enacted concerning the rights and possessions of the Church, as well as on the subject of divine worship.

38. QUAS PRIMAS ON THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING (December 11, 1925)In the first Encyclical Letter which We addressed at the beginning of Our Pontificate to the Bishops of the universal Church, We referred to the chief causes of the difficulties under which mankind was laboring. And We remember saying that these manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics: and we said further, that as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations. Men must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ; and that We promised to do as far as lay in Our power. In the Kingdom of Christ, that is, it seemed to Us that peace could not be more effectually restored nor fixed upon a firmer basis than through the restoration of the Empire of Our Lord. We were led in the meantime to indulge the hope of a brighter future at the sight of a more widespread and keener interest evinced in Christ and his Church, the one Source of Salvation, a sign that men who had formerly spurned the rule of our Redeemer and had exiled themselves from his kingdom were preparing, and even hastening, to return to the duty of obedience.

39. Pius XI EncyclicalsRERUM ECCLESIAE February 28, 1926(ON CATHOLIC MISSIONS)In reviewing attentively the history of the Church, one cannot fail to notice how, from the first ages of Christianity, the especial care and solicitude of the Roman Pontiffs have been directed to the end that they, undeterred by difficulties and obstacles, might spread the light of the Gospel and the benefits of Christian culture and civilization to the peoples who "sat in darkness and in the shadow of death." The Church has no other reason for existence than, by developing the Kingdom of Christ on earth, to make mankind participate in the effects of His saving Redemption. RITE EXPIATIS April 30, 1926(On Saint Francis of Assisi)…it seems necessary for Us to affirm that there has never been anyone in whom the image of Jesus Christ and the evangelical manner of life shone forth more lifelike and strikingly than in St. Francis. He who called himself the "Herald of the Great King" was also rightly spoken of as "another Jesus Christ," appearing to his contemporaries and to future generations almost as if he were the Risen Christ. He has always lived as such in the eyes of men and so will continue to live for all future time.

40. INIQUIS AFFLICTISQUENovember 18, 1926(ON THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH IN MEXICO)If in the first centuries of our era and at other periods in history Christians were treated in a more barbarous fashion than now, certainly in no place or at no time has it happened before that a small group of men has so outraged the rights of God and of the Church as they are now doing in Mexico, and this without the slightest regard for the past glories of their country, with no feelings of pity for their fellow-citizens. They have also done away with the liberties of the majority and in such a clever way that they have been able to clothe their lawless actions with the semblance of legality. It is assuredly not in the power of man to control the course of events or of history, nor can he direct them as he may desire to the welfare of society by changing either the minds or hearts of his fellow-men. Such action, however, is well within the power of God, for He without doubt can put an end, if He so desires, to persecutions of this kind. Nor must you conclude, Venerable Brothers, that all your prayers have been in vain simply because the Mexican Government, impelled by its fanatical hatred of religion, continued to enforce more harshly and violently from day to day its unjust laws. The truth is that the clergy and the great majority of the faithful have been so strengthened in their longsuffering resistance to these laws by such an abundant shower of divine grace that they have been enabled thereby to give a glorious example of heroism. They have justly merited, too, that We, in a solemn document executed by Our Apostolic authority, should make known this fortitude to the whole Catholic world.Martyrdom of Fr. Miguel Pro

41. APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION: Rerum CondicioON THE APPROBATION OF THE RULE OF THE THIRD ORDER REGULAR OF THE SERAPHIC FATHER ST. FRANCIS November 3, 1927…no one is ignorant that the duty of emending the society of those times had been divinely committed to Francis of Assisi, who countering unbridled vices with the study of Christian humility and poverty, strove to conjoin all in mutual charity. And so when very many disciples flowed together from all sides towards such a man, there grew up an indeed immense Franciscan Family, since from the members of the three Orders which Francis himself established, then successively from those tertiaries who, desirous of a more perfect life, (and) observing a common life, were named members of the Third Order Regular.… indeed all know how diligently, from the beginning of their institute, the tertiaries regular contended to put on the holy spirit of Francis, and accustomed themselves to the same (spirit) in displaying many works of religion and charity… it was necessary that that law of Leo XIII be accommodated to these Our times and likewise to the more recent decrees of the Church, so that the Tertiaries Regular, and the many other religious families of simple vows which, since they have put on the spirit of Francis in the establishment of the same and use the Franciscan name, have Francis as (their) Father in a certain manner…

42. APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION: Rerum Condicio

43. Pius XI EncyclicalsMORTALIUM ANIMOS January 6, 1928(ON RELIGIOUS UNITY)We were created by God, the Creator of the universe, in order that we might know Him and serve Him; our Author therefore has a perfect right to our service. God might, indeed, have prescribed for man's government only the natural law, which, in His creation, He imprinted on his soul, and have regulated the progress of that same law by His ordinary providence; but He preferred rather to impose precepts, which we were to obey, and in the course of time, namely from the beginnings of the human race until the coming and preaching of Jesus Christ, He Himself taught man the duties which a rational creature owes to its Creator: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days, hath spoken to us by his Son."[3] From which it follows that there can be no true religion other than that which is founded on the revealed word of God: which revelation, begun from the beginning and continued under the Old Law, Christ Jesus Himself under the New Law perfected.MISERENTISSIMUS REDEMPTOR May 8, 1928(ON REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART)Among the many proofs of the boundless benignity of our Redeemer, there is one that stands out conspicuously, to wit the fact that when the charity of Christian people was growing cold, the Divine Charity itself was set forth to be honored by a special worship, and the riches of its bounty was made widely manifest by that form of devotion wherein worship is given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Coloss. ii, 3). For as in olden time when mankind came forth from Noe's ark, God set His "bow in the clouds" (Genesis ix, 13), shining as the sign of a friendly covenant … assuredly among those things which properly pertain to the worship of the Most Sacred Heart, a special place must be given to that Consecration, whereby we devote ourselves and all things that are ours to the Divine Heart of Jesus, acknowledging that we have received all things from the everlasting love of God. When Our Savior had taught Margaret Mary, the most innocent disciple of His Heart, how much He desired that this duty of devotion should be rendered to him by men, moved in this not so much by His own right as by His immense charity for us; she herself, with her spiritual father, Claude de la Colombiere, rendered it the first of all.

44. MISERENTISSIMUS REDEMPTOR May 8, 1928(ON REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART)

45. Pius XI EncyclicalsRerum Orientalium, September 8, 1928 (ON THE PROMOTION OF ORIENTAL STUDIES)…since, among Oriental nations, on account of the confusion of the times, nearly all the possibilities of scientific study were destroyed and it was impossible to cultivate higher studies among students well qualified for them, you know, Venerable Brethren, that Our Predecessors also were careful that not only in the chief Universities of that age there should be Oriental centers of learning, but also in a special manner that seminaries should be opened in the heart of this mother city of Rome, easily accessible to students of those nations, whence after a careful education they should go forth prepared to fight the good fight. On that account monasteries and colleges were opened in Rome for the Greeks and the Ruthenians, and also houses were given to the Maronites and Armenians. We may see what gain for souls was achieved when we consider the liturgical and other works which the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda caused to be published in various Oriental languages, and the precious Oriental codices which the Vatican library diligently gathered together and religiously preserved. MENS NOSTRA, December 20, 1929 (ON THE PROMOTION OF THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES)…pious retreats of this kind do much greater things than this, for since they compel the mind of a man to examine more diligently and intently into all the things that he has thought, or said, or done; they assist the human faculties in a marvellous manner; so that the mind becomes accustomed, in this spiritual arena, to weigh things maturely and with even balance, the will acquires strength and firmness, the passions are restrained by the rule of counsel; the activities of human life, being in unison with the thought of the mind, are effectively conformed to the fixed standard of reason; and, lastly, the soul attains its native nobility and altitude, as the holy Pontiff St. Gregory declares in his "Pastoral," by a concise similitude: "The human mind, like water, when shut up around, is gathered up to higher things; because it seeks that from which it descended; but when it is left loose, it perishes; because it spreads itself uselessly on lowly things."

46. MENS NOSTRA, December 20, 1929 On the Promotion of Spiritual Exercises

47. Pius XI EncyclicalsQuinquagesimo Ante Anno, December 23, 1929 (On His Sarcerdotal Jubilee)Settlement of Roman Question …the convention contracted with the Republic of Portugal for establishing the confines and prerogatives of the Diocese of Meliapor, We also concluded a Concordat with Rumania, and another with Prussia. Eastern Church Draws Nearer Joy at Promise of More Priests Monte Cassino Fourteenth Centenary Sweden's Great Celebration of conversionFrench celebration of Joan of ArcCzechoslovakian celebration of St. John NepomuceneEmancipation Centenary of Catholics in England, Scotland and IrelandBeatifications of Claude de la Colombiere; Teresa Margaret Redi, Carmelite; Francis Mary of Camporosso, Capuchin; John Bosco

48. Pius XI EncyclicalsQuinquagesimo Ante Anno, December 23, 1929 (On His Sarcerdotal Jubilee)Great Throngs of Pilgrims for the Holy YearExamples of Piety and Virtue

49. Pius XI EncyclicalsRAPPRESENTANTI IN TERRA, (Italian); DIVINI ILLIUS MAGISTRI (Latin) DECEMBER 31, 1929 (ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION)We have directed a helpful word, now of admonition, now of exhortation, now of direction, to youths and to their educators, to fathers and mothers, on various points of Christian education, with that solicitude which becomes the common Father of all the Faithful, with an insistence in season and out of season, demanded by our pastoral office never has there been so much discussion about education as nowadays; never have exponents of new pedagogical theories been so numerous, or so many methods and means devised, proposed and debated, not merely to facilitate education, but to create a new system infallibly efficacious, and capable of preparing the present generations for that earthly happiness which they so ardently desire. Education is essentially a social and not a mere individual activity. Now there are three necessary societies, distinct from one another and yet harmoniously combined by God, into which man is born: two, namely the family and civil society, belong to the natural order; the third, the Church, to the supernatural order.

50. RAPPRESENTANTI IN TERRA, (Italian); DIVINI ILLIUS MAGISTRI (Latin)DECEMBER 31, 1929 (ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION)

51. Pius XI EncyclicalsAd SalutemHumani, April 30, 1930 (On St. Augustine)While our Lord in securing the stability and promoting the growth of His foundation, which belongs to all time, did not limit Himself to a single method nor proceed always in the selfsame way, yet it is noteworthy that in every age He raised up distinguished men, who, by talents and efforts suited to the times and their exigencies, should rejoice the heart of the Christian people, by successively curbing and conquering the "power of darkness." This choice of Divine Providence, when it fell upon Augustine of Tagaste, was marked by a discrimination that was more than ordinarily striking.

52. Pius Xi Encyclicals: CASTI CONNUBII, December 31, 1930ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGEHow great is the dignity of chaste wedlock, Venerable Brethren, may be judged best from this that Christ Our Lord, Son of the Eternal Father, having assumed the nature of fallen man, not only, with His loving desire of compassing the redemption of our race, ordained it in an especial manner as the principle and foundation of domestic society and therefore of all human intercourse, but also raised it to the rank of a truly and great sacrament of the New Law, restored it to the original purity of its divine institution, and accordingly entrusted all its discipline and care to His spouse the Church. By matrimony, therefore, the souls of the contracting parties are joined and knit together more directly and more intimately than are their bodies, and that not by any passing affection of sense of spirit, but by a deliberate and firm act of the will; and from this union of souls by God's decree, a sacred and inviolable bond arises. Hence the nature of this contract, which is proper and peculiar to it alone, makes it entirely different both from the union of animals entered into by the blind instinct of nature alone in which neither reason nor free will plays a part, and also from the haphazard unions of men, which are far removed from all true and honorable unions of will and enjoy none of the rights of family life.

53. Cast ConubiiDecember 31, 1930ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

54. Pope Pius XI Encyclicals: QUADRAGESIMO ANNO, May 15, 1931(ON RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOCIAL ORDER)Issued on the anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical On the Condition of WorkersIt is not surprising, therefore, that many scholars, both priests and laymen, led especially by the desire that the unchanged and unchangeable teaching of the Church should meet new demands and needs more effectively, have zealously undertaken to develop, with the Church as their guide and teacher, a social and economic science in accord with the conditions of our time. 20. And so, with Leo's Encyclical pointing the way and furnishing the light, a true Catholic social science has arisen, which is daily fostered and enriched by the tireless efforts of those chosen men whom We have termed auxiliaries of the Church.…while the principles of Liberalism were tottering, which had long prevented effective action by those governing the State, the Encyclical On the Condition of Workers in truth impelled peoples themselves to promote a social policy on truer grounds and with greater intensity, and so strongly encouraged good Catholics to furnish valuable help to heads of States in this field that they often stood forth as illustrious champions of this new policy even in legislatures. Sacred ministers of the Church, thoroughly imbued with Leo's teaching, have, in fact, often proposed to the votes of the peoples' representatives the very social legislation that has been enacted in recent years and have resolutely demanded and promoted its enforcement.

55. Pius XI EncyclicalsNON ABBIAMO BISOGNO, June 29, 1931 (On Catholic Action in Italy)It has been for us an exquisite satisfaction to see the Catholic Action organizations of all countries, both near and far, united round the common Father, inspired by a single spirit of faith, of filial sorrow and of generous impulses, all expressing their astonishment and grief in seeing Catholic Action societies persecuted and assailed here, in the very centre of the Apostolic Hierarchy, where its raison d'etre is strongest. Here in Italy, as in all parts of the world where Catholic Action exists, Catholic Action is true to its solemn and authentic definition. Obeying Our watchful and assiduous instructions (which you, Venerable Brethren, have so largely seconded), it does not wish to be nor can be anything other than "the participation and the collaboration of the laity with the Apostolic Hierarchy." Already on several occasions, Venerable Brethren, in the most solemn and explicit manner and assuming entire responsibility for what We were saying, We have protested against the campaign of false and unjust accusations which preceded the disbanding of the Associations of the young people and of the University students affiliated to Catholic Action. It was a disbanding which was carried out in such a way and by such methods as to give the impression that action was being taken against a vast and dangerous organization of criminals, although the young men and young women involved are certainly some of the best among the good, concerning whom We are happy and paternally proud to pay tribute still once more. It is noteworthy that even among the officers of the law charged to carry out these orders of suppression, there were many who were ill at ease and showed by their expressions and courtesies that they were almost asking pardon for obeying peremptory orders. We have appreciated the delicate feelings of these officers and We have reserved for them a special blessing.

56. NON ABBIAMO BISOGNOJune 29, 1931 (On Catholic Action in Italy)

57. Pius XI EncyclicalsNOVA IMPENDET, October 2, 1931 (ON THE ECONOMIC CRISIS )A new scourge threatens - indeed, it has already in large measure smitten - the flock entrusted to Us. It strikes most heavily at those who are the most tender and are Our most dearly beloved; upon the children, the proletariat, the artisans and the "have-nots."[1] We are speaking of the grave financial crisis which weighs down the peoples and is accelerating in every land the frightful increase of Unemployment. We behold multitudes of honest workers condemned to idleness and want, when all they desire is opportunity to earn for themselves and their families that daily bread which the divine command bids them ask of their Father Who is in heaven. Their cry is in Our ears; and it moves Us to repeat, with the same tenderness and pity, those words which broke from the most loving Heart of the Divine Master when He beheld the crowd fainting with hunger: "I have compassion on the multitude" (Mark viii, 2). Our call is to a Crusade of charity and of succour which, by caring for bodies and comforting souls, will bring to pass a re-birth of quiet confidence, will put to flight the deadly counsels which misery engenders, and will quench the flames of hate and passion putting in their place the ardours of love and of concern to the end that the peoples, linked in the noble bond of peace, may move forward towards individual and collective prosperity. It is then to a Crusade of piety and of love - and no doubt, of sacrifices also - that We rally all the sons of the one Father, all the members of the one great family, which is the family of God Himself. It belongs to the sons and to those members of the one family to share not only in the common joys, but also in the common sorrows.

58. Pius XI EncyclicalsLUX VERITATIS, December 25, 1931 (On the Council of Ephesus)The Council of Ephesus addressed the Nestorian heresyHistory, the light of truth, and the witness of the ages, if only it be rightly discerned and diligently examined, teaches us that the divine promise of Jesus Christ: "I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Matthew xxviii, 20), has never failed the Church His Bride, and therefore that it will never fail her in time to come. Nay, further, the more turbulent the waves by which the divine bark of Peter is tossed, in the course of ages, the more present and powerful is her experience of the help of heavenly grace. This happened more especially in the first age of the Church, not only when the Christian name was regarded as an execrable crime, to be punished by death, but also when the genuine faith of Christ, confounded by the perfidy of the heretics who were spreading, chiefly in the eastern regions, was placed in grave jeopardy. For even as the persecutors of the Catholic name, one after another, perished miserably, and the Roman Empire itself came to ruin, so all the heretics, as withered branches (cf. John xv, 6) torn from the divine vine, could neither drink the sap of life nor bring forth fruit.we are taught, by Holy Scripture and by Divine Tradition, that the Word of God the Father did not join Himself to a certain man already subsisting in Himself, but that Christ the Word of God is one and the same, enjoying eternity in the bosom of the Father, and made man in time. For, indeed, that the Godhead and Manhood in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of mankind, are bound together by that wondrous union which is justly and deservedly called hypostatic, is luminously evident from the fact that in the Sacred Scriptures the same one Christ is not only called God and man, but it is also clearly declared that He works as God and also as man, and again that He dies as man and as God He arises from the dead. That is to say, He who is conceived in the Virgin's womb by the operation of the Holy Ghost, who is born, who lies in a manger, who calls Himself the son of man, who suffers and dies, fastened to the cross, is the very same who, in a solemn and marvellous manner, is called by the Eternal Father "my beloved Son"

59. Pius XI EncyclicalsCARITATE CHRISTI COMPULSI, May 3, 1932 (On the Sacred Heart)the leaders and authors of this iniquitous faction do all they can to turn the present distress and need of all things to their own purpose; and they seek, by infamous cavils, to persuade the people that God and religion are to blame as the cause of all these great evils; and that the sacred Cross of Christ our Savior itself, the ensign of poverty and humility, may be compared with the ensigns of the modern lust of domineering; as though, forsooth, religion was joined in friendly union with those conventicles of darkness which have brought such an immense mass of misery upon the whole world. And by this line of argument they strive, not without fatal effect, to mix up the struggle for daily food, the desire to possess a smallholding, to have a fair wage, an honorable home and, lastly, those conditions of life that are not unworthy of a man, with their iniquitous war against God. …now, indeed, which is much to be lamented, immense multitudes of men, having completely lost touch with the truth, adopt these delusions, and believing that they are fighting for livelihood and culture utter violent invectives against God and against religion. Nor is this directed against the Catholic religion alone. For it is against all those that acknowledge God as the Author of this visible world, and as the Supreme Ruler of all things. Moreover, the Secret Societies, which by their nature are ever ready to help the enemies of God and of the Church - be these who they may - are seeking to add fresh fires to this poisonous hatred, from which there comes no peace or happiness of the civil order, but the certain ruin of states.

60. Pius XI EncyclicalsACERBA ANIMI, September 29, 1932 (ON PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH IN MEXICO)But whereas other Governments in recent times have been eager to renew agreements with the Holy See, that of Mexico frustrated every attempt to arrive at an understanding. On the contrary, it most unexpectedly broke the promises made to Us shortly before in writing, banishing repeatedly Our Representatives and showing thereby its animosity against the Church. Thus a most rigorous application was given to Article 130 of the Constitution, against which, on account of its extreme hostility to the Church, as may be seen from Our Encyclical Iniquisafflictisque of November 18, 1926, the Holy See had to protest in the most solemn manner. Heavy penalties were then enacted against the transgressors of this deplorable article; and, as a fresh affront to the Hierarchy of the Church, it was provided that every State of the Confederation should determine the number of priests empowered to exercise the sacred ministry, in public or in private. In view of these unjust and intolerant injunctions, which would have subjected the Church in Mexico to the despotism of the State and of the Government hostile to the Catholic religion, you determined, Venerable Brethren, to suspend public worship, and at the same time called on the faithful to make efficacious protest against the unjust procedure of the Government. For your apostolic firmness, you were nearly all exiled from the Republic, and from the land of your banishment you had to witness the struggles and martyrdom of your priests and of your flock; whilst those very few amongst you who almost by miracle were able to remain in hiding in their own dioceses succeeded in effectively encouraging the faithful with the splendid example of their own undaunted spirit.An effort has been made to strike the Church in a still more vital spot; namely, in the existence of the clergy and the Catholic hierarchy, by trying to eliminate it gradually from the Republic. Thus the Mexican Constitution, as We have several times deplored, while proclaiming liberty of thought and conscience, prescribes with the most evident contradiction that each State of the Federal Republic must determine the number of priests to whom the exercise of the sacred ministry is allowed, not only in public churches, but even within private dwellings.

61. Pius XI EncyclicalsDILECTISSIMA NOBIS, June 3, 1933 (ON OPPRESSION OF THE CHURCH OF SPAIN)We cannot fail to raise Our voice against the laws lately approved, "Relating to religious Confessions and Congregations," which constitute a new and graver offense not only to Religion and the Church, but also to those declared principles of civil liberty on which the new Spanish regime declares it bases itself. Universally known is the fact that the Catholic Church is never bound to one form of government more than to another, provided the Divine rights of God and of Christian consciences are safe. She does not find any difficulty in adapting herself to various civil institutions, be they monarchic or republican, aristocratic or democratic. The new Spanish legislators, indifferent to these lessons of history, wanted a form of separation hostile to the Faith professed by the great majority of citizens, - a separation so much more painful and unjust especially since it was advanced in the name of that liberty promised and assured to all without distinction. Thus they wished to subject the Church and her ministers to measures by which they sought to put her at the mercy of the civil power. In fact, while under the Constitution and successive laws all opinions, even the most erroneous, have wide fields in which to manifest themselves, the Catholic Religion alone, that of almost all of the citizens, see its teaching odiously watched, its schools and other institutions, so helpful for science and Spanish culture, restrained.

62. DILECTISSIMA NOBISJune 3, 1933 (ON OPPRESSION OF THE CHURCH OF SPAIN

63. Photo: Spanish Leftists shoot at a statue of ChristPius XI EncyclicalsAD CATHOLICI SACERDOTII, December 20, 1935 (On the Catholic priesthood)The human race has always felt the need of a priesthood: of men, that is, who have the official charge to be mediators between God and humanity, men who should consecrate themselves entirely to this mediation, as to the very purpose of their lives, men set aside to offer to God public prayers and sacrifices in the name of human society. For human society as such is bound to offer to God public and social worship. It is bound to acknowledge in Him its Supreme Lord and first beginning, and to strive toward Him as to its last end, to give Him thanks and offer Him propitiation. In fact, priests are to be found among all peoples whose customs are known, except those compelled by violence to act against the most sacred laws of human nature. They may, indeed, be in the service of false divinities; but wherever religion is professed, wherever altars are built, there also is a priesthood surrounded by particular marks of honor and veneration. the Apostles, and their successors in the priesthood, began to lift to heaven that "clean oblation" foretold by Malachy, through which the name of God is great among the gentiles. And now, that same oblation in every part of the world and at every hour of the day and night, is offered and will continue to be offered without interruption till the end of time: a true sacrificial act, not merely symbolical, which has a real efficacy unto the reconciliation of sinners with the Divine Majesty. 15. "Appeased by this oblation, the Lord grants grace and the gift of repentance, and forgives iniquities and sins, however great." The reason of this is given by the same Council in these words: "For there is one and the same Victim, there is present the same Christ who once offered Himself upon the Cross, who now offers Himself by the ministry of priests, only the manner of the offering being different." 16. And thus the ineffable greatness of the human priest stands forth in all its splendor; for he has power over the very Body of Jesus Christ, and makes It present upon our altars. In the name of Christ Himself he offers It a victim infinitely pleasing to the Divine Majesty. "Wondrous things are these," justly exclaims St. John Chrysostom, "so wonderful, they surpass wonder."

64. AD CATHOLICI SACERDOTII, December 20, 1935 (On the Catholic priesthood)

65. Pius XI EncyclicalsVIGILANTI CURA, June 29, 1936 (On the Motion Picture)In following with vigilant eye, as Our Pastoral Office requires, the beneficent work of Our Brethren in the Episcopate and of the faithful, it has been highly pleasing to Us to learn of the fruits already gathered and of the progress which continues to be made by that prudent initiative launched more than two years ago as a holy crusade against the abuses of the motion pictures and entrusted in a special manner to the "Legion of Decency".This excellent experiment now offers Us a most welcome opportunity of manifesting more fully Our thought in regard to a matter which touches intimately the moral and religious life of the entire Christian people. First of all, We express Our gratitude to the Hierarchy of the United States of America and to the faithful who cooperated with them, for the important results already achieved, under their direction and guidance, by the "Legion of Decency". And Our gratitude is all the livelier for the fact that We were deeply anguished to note with each passing day the lamentable progress - magnipassus extra viam - of the motion picture art and industry in the portrayal of sin and vice.In August 1934, addressing Ourselves to a delegation of the International Federation of the Motion Picture Press, We pointed out the very great importance which the motion picture has acquired in our days and its vast influence alike in the promotion of good and in the insinuation of evil, and We called to mind that it is necessary to apply to the cinema the supreme rule which must direct and regulate the great gift of art in order that it may not find itself in continual conflict with Christian morality or even with simple human morality based upon the natural law. The essential purpose of art, its raison d'être, is to assist in the perfection of the moral personality, which is man, and for this reason it must itself be moral. And We concluded amidst the manifest approval of that elect body - the memory is still dear to Us - by recommending to them the necessity of making the motion picture "moral, an influence for good morals, an educator".

66. Pius XI Encyclicals: MIT BRENNENDER SORGE, March 14, 1937(On the Church in the German Reich)Written in German, not the usual Latin, it was read from the pulpits of all German Catholic churches on one of the Church's busiest Sundays, (Palm Sunday). It condemned breaches of an agreement signed between the Nazi government and the Church, and included criticism of Nazi ideology and, in the interpretation of some scholars, of Nazism and HitlerThe encyclical was written in German and not the usual Latin of official Catholic Church documents. Because of government restrictions, the nuncio in Berlin, Archbishop CesareOrsenigo, had the encyclical distributed by courier. There was no pre-announcement of the encyclical, and its distribution was kept secret in an attempt to ensure the unhindered public reading of its contents in all the Catholic churches of Germany. Printers close to the church offered their services and produced an estimated 300,000 copies, which however was still insufficient. Additional copies were therefore created by hand and using typewriters. After its clandestine distribution, many congregations hid the document in their tabernacles for protection.It was read from the pulpits of German Catholic parishes on Palm Sunday 1937.

67. Pius XI Encyclicals: MIT BRENNENDER SORGE, March 14, 1937(On the Church in the German Reich)The German newspapers did not mention the encyclical at all; the offices of every German diocese were visited the next day by the Gestapo and all extant copies were seized. Every publishing company that had printed it was closed and sealed, diocesan newspapers were all proscribed and limits imposed on the paper available for Church purposes.Catholicflags were prohibited at religious ceremonies and towns with religious names (Heiligenstadt, etc) were renamed.[Frank J. Coppa asserts that the encyclical was viewed by the Nazis as "a call to battle against the Reich" and that Hitler was furious and "vowed revenge against the Church".[Htlerwrote that “I shall open such a campaign against them [the Catholic clergy] in press, radio and cinema so that they won’t know what hit them …. Let us have no martyrs among the Catholic priests, it is more practical to show they are criminals.”TIME magazine had the first breaking news of the impact of the Encyclical in its March 29th issue.

68. Pius XI Encyclicals: MIT BRENNENDER SORGE, March 14, 1937(On the Church in the German Reich)It is with deep anxiety and growing surprise that We have long been following the painful trials of the Church and the increasing vexations which afflict those who have remained loyal in heart and action in the midst of a people that once received from St. Boniface the bright message and the Gospel of Christ and God's Kingdom. If…the tree of peace, which we planted on German soil with the purest intention, has not brought forth the fruit, which in the interest of your people, We had fondly hoped, no one in the world who has eyes to see and ears to hear will be able to lay the blame on the Church and on her Head. The experiences of these last years have fixed responsibilities and laid bare intrigues, which from the outset only aimed at a war of extermination. In the furrows, where We tried to sow the seed of a sincere peace, other men - the "enemy" of Holy Scripture - oversowed the cockle of distrust, unrest, hatred, defamation, of a determined hostility overt or veiled, fed from many sources and wielding many tools, against Christ and His Church. They, and they alone with their accomplices, silent or vociferous, are today responsible, should the storm of religious war, instead of the rainbow of peace, blacken the German skies.

69. Pius XI Encyclicals: MIT BRENNENDER SORGE, March 14, 1937(On the Church in the German Reich)Different, however, Venerable Brethren, is the purpose of this letter. As you affectionately visited Us in Our illness, so also We turn to you, and through you, the German Catholics, who, like all suffering and afflicted children, are nearer to their Father's heart. At a time when your faith, like gold, is being tested in the fire of tribulation and persecution, when your religious freedom is beset on all sides, when the lack of religious teaching and of normal defense is heavily weighing on you, you have every right to words of truth and spiritual comfort from him whose first predecessor heard these words from the Lord: "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not: and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren" (Luke xxii. 32).Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community - however necessary and honorable be their function in worldly things - whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life which that faith upholds.

70. Pius XI Encyclicals: MIT BRENNENDER SORGE, March 14, 1937(On the Church in the German Reich)In Jesus Christ, Son of God made Man, there shone the plentitude of divine revelation. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by His Son" (Heb. i. 1). The sacred books of the Old Testament are exclusively the word of God, and constitute a substantial part of his revelation; they are penetrated by a subdued light, harmonizing with the slow development of revelation, the dawn of the bright day of the redemption. As should be expected in historical and didactic books, they reflect in many particulars the imperfection, the weakness and sinfulness of man. But side by side with innumerable touches of greatness and nobleness, they also record the story of the chosen people, bearers of the Revelation and the Promise, repeatedly straying from God and turning to the world.Eyes not blinded by prejudice or passion will see in this prevarication, as reported by the Biblical history, the luminous splendor of the divine light revealing the saving plan which finally triumphs over every fault and sin. It is precisely in the twilight of this background that one perceives the striking perspective of the divine tutorship of salvation, as it warms, admonishes, strikes, raises and beautifies its elect. Nothing but ignorance and pride could blind one to the treasures hoarded in the Old Testament.

71. Pius XI Encyclicals: MIT BRENNENDER SORGE, March 14, 1937(On the Church in the German Reich)Whoever wishes to see banished from church and school the Biblical history and the wise doctrines of the Old Testament, blasphemes the name of God, blasphemes the Almighty's plan of salvation, and makes limited and narrow human thought the judge of God's designs over the history of the world: he denies his faith in the true Christ, such as He appeared in the flesh, the Christ who took His human nature from a people that was to crucify Him; and he understands nothing of that universal tragedy of the Son of God who to His torturer's sacrilege opposed the divine and priestly sacrifice of His redeeming death, and made the new alliance the goal of the old alliance, its realization and its crown.The peak of the revelation as reached in the Gospel of Christ is final and permanent. It knows no retouches by human hand; it admits no substitutes or arbitrary alternatives such as certain leaders pretend to draw from the so-called myth of race and blood. Since Christ, the Lord's Anointed, finished the task of Redemption, and by breaking up the reign of sin deserved for us the grace of being the children God, since that day no other name under heaven has been given to men, whereby we must be saved (Acts iv. 12). No man, were every science, power and worldly strength incarnated in him, can lay any other foundation but that which is laid: which is Christ Jesus (1 Cor. iii 11). Should any man dare, in sacrilegious disregard of the essential differences between God and His creature, between the God-man and the children of man, to place a mortal, were he the greatest of all times, by the side of, or over, or against, Christ, he would deserve to be called prophet of nothingness, to whom the terrifying words of Scripture would be applicable: "He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them" (Psalms ii. 3).

72. MIT BRENNENDER SORGECardinal Michael von Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich. In 1938, after Faulhaber condemned the racism of Kristallnacht, a pogrom against Jews throughout Germany and parts of Austria on November 9–10, 1938, a Nazi mob broke the windows in his episcopal residence and threatened his life. The following lyrics are from just one of the many Hitler Youth ditties that called for the blood of the Catholic bishop for his defense of the Jews against Nazi atrocities:

73. MIT BRENNENDER SORGEThe old Jewish mess is swept up at last,But the gang of Black Racketeers [Catholic priests] still holds on fast.Oh, German Volk, is this to be?Shall these Black Swine still spit at thee?If not, then beat 'em up, till highThe sparks fly up into the sky.Hall', Hallo... German men and women all, Enough of this Faulhhaber tack;German men and women all, Pulverize this riff-raff black.And if, just like stuck pigs, they squeal,Stick in 'em something they will feel!Hail, Hallo... To honest German brothers we'll give a friendly paw;For agitating clerics--a sock right on the jaw!)

74. MIT BRENNENDER SORGECardinal Michael von Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich. Cardinal Faulhaber had preached a series of Advent sermons defending the Jews and the Old Testament in the Munich cathedral in 1933

75. Pius XI EncyclicalsDIVINI REDEMPTORIS, March 19, 1937 (ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM)The promise of a Redeemer brightens the first page of the history of mankind, and the confident hope aroused by this promise softened the keen regret for a paradise which had been lost. It was this hope that accompanied the human race on its weary journey, until in the fullness of time the expected Savior came to begin a new universal civilization, the Christian civilization, far superior even to that which up to this time had been laboriously achieved by certain more privileged nations. the struggle between good and evil remained in the world as a sad legacy of the original fall. Nor has the ancient tempter ever ceased to deceive mankind with false promises. It is on this account that one convulsion following upon another has marked the passage of the centuries, down to the revolution of our own days. This modern revolution, it may be said, has actually broken out or threatens everywhere, and it exceeds in amplitude and violence anything yet experienced in the preceding persecutions launched against the Church. Entire peoples find themselves in danger of falling back into a barbarism worse than that which oppressed the greater part of the world at the coming of the Redeemer.

76. Pius XI EncyclicalsDIVINI REDEMPTORIS, March 19, 1937 (ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM)Communism, moreover, strips man of his liberty, robs human personality of all its dignity, and removes all the moral restraints that check the eruptions of blind impulse. There is no recognition of any right of the individual in his relations to the collectivity; no natural right is accorded to human personality, which is a mere cog-wheel in the Communist system. In man's relations with other individuals, besides, Communists hold the principle of absolute equality, rejecting all hierarchy and divinely-constituted authority, including the authority of parents. What men call authority and subordination is derived from the community as its first and only font. Nor is the individual granted any property rights over material goods or the means of production, for inasmuch as these are the source of further wealth, their possession would give one man power over another. Precisely on this score, all forms of private property must be eradicated, for they are at the origin of all economic enslavement .Refusing to human life any sacred or spiritual character, such a doctrine logically makes of marriage and the family a purely artificial and civil institution, the outcome of a specific economic system. There exists no matrimonial bond of a juridico-moral nature that is not subject to the whim of the individual or of the collectivity…. the right of education is denied to parents, for it is conceived as the exclusive prerogative of the community, in whose name and by whose mandate alone parents may exercise this right.

77. Pius XI EncyclicalsFIRMISSIMAM CONSTANTIAM, March 28, 1937 (ON THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN MEXICO)…unfortunately, the enemies of God and Christ have succeeded in overcoming many lukewarm and timid souls who, although they adore God in the intimacy of their consciences, nevertheless, either through human respect or through fear of earthly evils, have become, at least materially, cooperators in the dechristianization of a people that owes to religion its greatest glories. In contrast to these apostasies and weaknesses, which afflict Us profoundly, there appears to Us all the more praiseworthy and meritorious the resistance to evil, the practice of Christian life and the frank profession of faith by those most numerous Faithful whom you, Venerable Brethren, and with you your clergy, illuminate and guide with pastoral strength no less than with the splendid example of your life. This consoles Us in the midst of Our sorrow, and engenders in Us the hope for better days for the Mexican Church, which, re-animated by so much heroism and sustained by the prayers and sacrifices of so many elect souls, cannot perish, even more, it must flourish again more vigorously and more luxuriously.