Marking 50 Years Since Death of "Papa Pacelli"
By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB
VATICAN CITY, 9 OCT. 2008 (ZENIT)For decades, the figure of Eugenio
Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, has been at the center of some volatile
polemics.
The controversy has raged since the end of the Holocaust over whether
the Pope did and said enough in defense of the Jews and other victims of
the Nazis. The Roman Pontiff, who guided the Church through the terrible
years of the Second World War and the Cold War, is the victim of a
"black legend," which has proven difficult to combat and is so
widespread that many consider it to be more true than the actual
historical facts.
One of the unpleasant secondary consequences of this black legend, which
falsely portrays Pius XII as indulgent toward Nazism and indifferent to
the fate of the victims of persecution, has been to sideline or even
obliterate the extraordinary teaching and contribution of this Pope who
was a precursor of the Second Vatican Council.
Pius XII must be remembered for his encyclical “Mediator Dei,” the great
preparatory work that would flow into the conciliar liturgical reform.
It is the same Pope who, in the encyclical "Humani Generis," takes
evolutionary theory into consideration. Pius XII also gave notable
impetus to missionary activity with the encyclicals "Evangelii Praecones"
in 1951, and "Fidei Donum" in 1957, highlighting the Church's duty to
proclaim the Gospel to the nations, as Vatican II would amply reaffirm.
One of the most frequent questions among the many foreign journalists
covering the “Synod on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the
Church” deals with this morning's commemoration of the 50th anniversary
of the death of Pius XII in the context of the synod.
At 11:30 today, just after the synod's morning session, Benedict XVI
presided at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, attended by, among others,
all participants at the synod and a host of other people to mark this
anniversary. I have been asked numerous times in the Vatican press
center, “Why did this commemoration take place today in the midst of a
Synod on the Bible?” Or, “What does Pope Pius XII have to do with the
Scriptures?”
My answer to the first question has been: “Because Oct. 9 marks the date
of his death in 1958, and today happens to be Oct. 9. When would you
like the Pope to commemorate this anniversary? On Christmas Day?”
To the second question, my answer has been: “Everything. Pius XII has
everything to do with what is taking place in the synod hall and in the
small groups and among anyone around the Catholic world who wishes to
take Scripture studies seriously.” Alas, like the rich young man in the
New Testament, several went away sad because of my answers to their
questions.
Biblical criticism
A synod on the Bible cannot ignore nor forget the landscape of Catholic
biblical studies in the last century. Physical, historical, and
linguistic methods, known to us only in approximately the last 125
years, have produced a scientifically critical study of the Bible, a
study that has revolutionized views held in the past about the
authorship, origin, and dating of the biblical books, about how they
were composed, and about what their authors meant.
In the first 40 years of the last century (1900-1940), the Roman
Catholic Church clearly and officially took a stance against such
biblical criticism. The modernist heretics at the beginning of the last
century employed biblical criticism, and the official Vatican
condemnations of modernism made little distinction between the possible
intrinsic validity of biblical criticism and the theological misuse of
it by the modernists.
Between 1905 and 1915 the Pontifical Biblical Commission issued a
series of conservative decisions on the composition and authorship of
the Bible. Although phrased with nuance, these decisions ran against the
trends of contemporary Old and New Testament investigations. Catholic
scholars were obliged to assent to these decisions and to teach them.
After 40 years of strident opposition, the Catholic Church in the
1940’s, under the pontificate of Pius XII, made an undeniable about-face
toward biblical criticism. That Pontiff's 1943 encyclical “Divino
Afflante Spiritu” instructed Catholic scholars to use the methods of
scientific approach to the Bible that had hitherto been forbidden to
them. It was now safe for Catholic scholars to take up the methods that
were previously forbidden. A particular aspect of the encyclical
definitively steered Catholics away from fundamentalism: namely, the
recognition that the Bible includes many different literary forms or
genres, not just history.
Within 10 years teachers trained in biblical criticism began to move in
large numbers into Catholic classrooms in seminaries and colleges, so
that the mid-1950’s really marked the watershed. By that time the
pursuit of the scientific method had led Catholic exegetes to abandon
almost all the positions on biblical authorship and composition taken by
the Vatican at the beginning of the century.
Historical-Critical
“Divino Afflante Spiritu” sparked an enormous growth in Catholic
biblical scholarship. New teachers were trained, and the results of the
changed approach to Scripture were gradually communicated to the people
—
the very steps that Pius XII had urged. “Papa Pacelli” opened up the
application of the historical-critical method to the Bible, and
established the doctrinal norms for the study of sacred Scripture,
emphasizing the importance of its role in Christian life. After sacred
Scripture, the Second Vatican Council's documents cite no single author
as frequently as Pius XII.
Let us remember some other key facts about the Pope's story and about
history. Pius XII led the Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958. Immediately
before his election, then Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was the Vatican
secretary of state. He, more than anyone else in the Vatican, knew what
was happening in the world. Pius XII was not only the Pope of the Second
World War, but a pastor who, from March 2, 1939, to Oct. 9, 1958, had
before him a world at war during very troubled times.
Those who attack Pius XII often do so for ideological reasons. The
campaign against him was started in the Soviet Union and was then
sustained in various Catholic environments. He took sides against the
Communist world in a severe, strong and determined way.
As Benedict XVI pointed out this morning in his moving homily and
tribute to his predecessor, Pius XII, Hitler and his closest followers
were motivated by a pathological hatred for the Catholic Church, which
they appraised correctly as the most dangerous opponent to what they
hoped to do in Germany. There was radical divergence between the Nazis
and the Catholic Church. Papa Pacelli cannot be the person who is blamed
for something that belongs in a complex way to the world community.
Popes do not speak with the idea of pre-constituting a favorable image
for future ages. They know that the fate of millions of Christians can
at times depend on their every word; they have at heart the fate of men
and women of flesh and blood, not the applause or fleeting approval of
historians.
Prudence
Pius XII was not concerned for his reputation, but with saving Jewish
lives and this was the only just decision, which clearly required wisdom
and a great amount of courage. The Pope protested vehemently the
persecution of Jews, but he explained in 1943 that he could not speak in
more dramatic or public terms without the risk of making things much
worse than they were. His was a prophecy in action, which saved the
lives of countless victims of the neo-pagan Nazi reign of terror, rather
than potentially counter-productive public statements.
Since Pius XII's death 50 years ago today, the Church has taken great
strides in forging closer relations with the Jewish faith. Pope John
Paul II made Jewish-Christian relations a priority of his pontificate.
Benedict XVI has continued on that path. Both Popes have strongly
defended the actions of Pius XII, while speaking as well of the silence
and inaction of some other Catholics during the Holocaust.
In my other life in Toronto, when I am not serving as the “Deputati
Notitiis Vulgandi” for Vatican synods on the Word of God, I am the
“Director Exsecutivus Retis Televisifici Catholici 'Salt and Light.'"
This week we are premiering our latest documentary “A Hand of Peace:
Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust."
Through a generous grant from the Knights of Columbus, each synod
father, expert, auditor and staff person received a copy of the
documentary this morning during the synod. Benedict XVI received his
copy yesterday.
It is our hope that this documentary will shed light and truth on this
Pius XII’s life, prophetic actions, courageous words and his significant
contributions to Scripture scholarship and to humanity. We can learn
much from Eugenio Pacelli's wisdom, heroism, courage and prophetic
gestures during a very dark period of world history.
Pius XII has been called many names. He is a significant patron and
intercessor for the synod now under way at the Vatican. We owe much to
him and remain every grateful for his foresight, vision and love of
God’s word. May this Servant of God, on the path to beatification and
canonization, continue to intercede for all us as we discover new ways
to make God’s word alive, known, loved and available to the world.
* * *
Basilian Father Thomas Rosica is the Vatican's English-language press
attache for the 2008 world Synod of Bishops. A Scripture scholar and
university lecturer, he is the chief executive officer of the Salt and
Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network in Canada, and a
member of the General Council of the Congregation of St. Basil.
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