Pope Pius XII

Venerable Pius XII
Bishop of Rome
Pius XII, c. 1951
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	2 March 1939
Papacy ended	9 October 1958
Predecessor	Pius XI
Successor	John XXIII
Previous posts Previous posts Pro-Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1912‍–‍1914) Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1914‍–‍1917) Titular Archbishop of Sardes (1917‍–‍1929) Apostolic Nuncio to Bavaria (1917‍–‍1925) Apostolic Nuncio to Germany (1920‍–‍1930) Apostolic Nuncio to Prussia (1926‍–‍1929) Cardinal Priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo al Celio (1929‍–‍1939) Prefect of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1930‍–‍1939) Cardinal Secretary of State (1930‍–‍1939) Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica (1930‍–‍1939) Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber (1935‍–‍1939)
Orders
Ordination	2 April 1899 by Francesco di Paola Cassetta
Consecration	13 May 1917 by Benedict XV
Created cardinal	16 December 1929 by Pius XI
Rank	Cardinal priest
Personal details
Born	Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (1876-03-02)2 March 1876 Rome, Italy
Died	9 October 1958(1958-10-09) (aged 82) Castel Gandolfo, Italy
Education	Almo Collegio Capranica Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Roman Athenaeum Saint Apollinare Sapienza University of Rome
Motto	Opus justitiae pax (Latin for 'The work of justice [shall be] peace')
Signature
Coat of arms
Ordination history
History Priestly ordination Ordained by Francesco di Paola Cassetta Date 2 April 1899 Episcopal consecration Principal consecrator Pope Benedict XV Co-consecrators Agostino Zampini Giovanni di Corneliano Date 13 May 1917 Place St. Peter's Basilica, Rome Cardinalate Elevated by Pope Pius XI Date 16 December 1929
Episcopal succession Bishops consecrated by Pope Pius XII as principal consecrator Michel d'Herbigny 29 March 1926 Giuseppe Pizzardo 27 April 1930 Luigi Centoz 14 February 1932 Francis Spellman 8 September 1932 Albert Levame 4 February 1934 Saverio Ritter 11 August 1935 Maurilio Silvani 13 September 1936 Eugène Tisserant 25 July 1937 Francesco Cialeo 29 October 1939 Carlo Confalonieri 4 May 1941
Other popes named Pius

Pope Pius XII (Italian: Pio XII; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. Pius reigned as pope during a highly consequential 19 years that included the Second World War, the Holocaust and the beginning of the Cold War.

Born, raised, educated, ordained and resident for most of his life in Rome, prior to his papacy he was secretary of the Vatican's Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, nuncio to Germany, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, and Cardinal Secretary of State for the Holy See, in which capacity he was entrusted with negotiating treaties with other sovereign states.

The Vatican was officially neutral during World War II. The Reichskonkordat — the treaty Pacelli had signed with Nazi Germany — and Pius' actions during the war remain the subject of debate, including accusations of public silence and inaction concerning the fate of the Jews. Pius' defenders state that he employed diplomacy to aid the victims of the Nazis and directed the Church to provide discreet aid to Jews and others, thereby saving thousands of lives; that the Nazis viewed him as an Allied sympathizer who had dishonored his policy of Vatican neutrality; and that Pius maintained links to the German resistance and shared intelligence with the Allies. His detractors state that he didn't issue any widespread orders to hide or shield Jews and that Church rescue efforts depended instead on the initiatives of local clergy (including those in Vatican City and Rome) and nuncios; and that Pius's generalized public statements about genocide didn't specifically mention Jewry and were considered inadequate by the Allies and Polish government-in-exile.

During his papacy, the Catholic Church issued the Decree against Communism, declaring that Catholics who profess the atheistic and materialist doctrines of communism are to be excommunicated as apostates from the Christian faith. He explicitly invoked ex cathedra papal infallibility with the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in his Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus. His forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis Christi, on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; and Humani generis, in which he instructed theologians to adhere to episcopal teaching and allowed that the human body might have evolved from earlier forms. He removed, by international cardinal appointments, the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals in 1946.

After he died in 1958, Pius was succeeded by Pope John XXIII. Pius' beatification process was opened in 1965 by Pope Paul VI during the final session of the Second Vatican Council. Upon the opening of the beatification process in 1990, Pius was titled a Servant of God. Pope Benedict XVI declared Pius venerable in 2009.