Someone has sent me another link on Pope Pius XII. Believe it or not I remember watching Pope Pius XII funeral on television in Atlanta, Georgia in October of 1958. The television we watched it on was our family's first and it was purchased a few months earlier! I remember its delivery to our apartment.
Pope Pius XII was very savvy about the use of the new media in his day and very conscious of the symbol of his person. He was unlike any other pope in terms of his appeal to the masses.
This video in Italian has English subtitles, and the sub titles are in literal Italian not an equivalency English, which I hate, as you know:
5 comments:
I hear Pius overworked himself. I wonder what would have happened had he lived just a few years longer.
The video alludes to the fact that toward the end of his papacy, he became more isolated and withdrawn. He was also having visions which could be taken in the religious sense or that he was experiencing dementia. I can remember my father speaking about the controversy these visions were stirring in the religious and secular press of the day and the video indicates that too. This video is a great historical artifact to say the least.
Very interesting observation, Father. Many people say that there were those taking advantage of Pope Pius XII's illness to introduce the 1955 Holy Week changes, which are included strange changes in light of his brilliant prior encyclical on the liturgy - Mediator Dei.
I have a great affection for Pius XII for some reason. If anyone happens to read this and can recommend a good biography on this saintly Pontiff, please let me know. I'm all the more intrigued by Fr. McDonald mentioning these visions - I haven't read a lot about Pius XII, so I wasn't aware of that controversy.
Pius XII - Sancto Subito!
I don't know of a bio of Pius 12, but two books I have read about his role in WW2 are Pierre Blet's "Pius XII and the Seond World War" and David Dahlin's "The Myth of Hitler's Pope."
Thank you, Fr. Kavanaugh, for those suggestions. Would you suggest one over the other?
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