Hospitalized pope urges deacons to selfless service as thousands gather for jubilee Mass

Vatican City, Mar 4, 2019 / 07:33 am (CNA).- Pope Francis announced Monday that the Vatican will open its archives on the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. Confidential files of the pope who led the Church during World War II will be made available next year.

“Serious and objective historical research” will be able to evaluate Pius XII’s “hidden but active diplomacy” “in its proper light,” Pope Francis said March 4. The pope said that the full confidential files, called a “secret archive,” will be released March 2, 2020.

The pontificate of Pius XII has been often misunderstood. Critics have accused him of indifference to the plight of the Jewish people during the Second World War, despite several already public documents which show the pope’s systematic efforts to assist Jews in Italy.

In the late 1990s, debate over whether Pius XII did enough to counter the Nazis reached a high point with the publication of the deeply controversial book, “Hitler’s Pope,” by British journalist John Cornwell. The book was highly critical of Pius XII, charging that he was culpably silent – if not an accomplice – in the rise of Nazism.

A book published in 2015 documented how Pope Pius XII chose to resist Adolf Hitler with covert action in lieu of overt protest. Historian Mark Riebling, author of Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler, drew on wartime documents and interviews with American intelligence agents to tell how Pope Pius XII secretly provided support for three attempts to overthrow Hitler.

“The Church is not afraid of history, rather, loves it and would like to love it more and better, as God loves it!” Pope Francis said in a meeting with Vatican secret archives personnel in which he made the announcement.

The Vatican archives for the entirety of Pius XII’s pontificate March 1939 – Oct. 1958 will open on March 2, 2020. The complete catalog is expected to include approximately 16 million documents.

Pius XII “found himself leading the Barque of Peter at one of the saddest and darkest moments of the twentieth century,” Pope Francis said.

He faced “moments of serious difficulties, of tormented decisions, of human and Christian prudence, which some might have seemed reticent,” he explained. For this, some have criticized Pius with “some prejudice or exaggeration,” Francis added.

Pope Francis has previously considered Pope Pius XII’ cause for sainthood, according to a source in the Vatican’s Congregation for Causes of Saints.

Benedict XVI declared Pius XII Venerable on Dec. 19, 2009, based on the recommendation of the committee investigating his cause.

When Pope Paul VI started the beatification and canonization process in 1967, nine years after Pius XII’s death, he formed a committee of historians to conduct an in-depth study of his predecessor’s life and behavior, giving particular attention to the events of World War II.

Their work led to the publication of “Actes et Documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale” (Acts and Documents of the Holy See related to the Second World War), an 11-volume collection of documents from the Vatican’s Secret Archive about Pius XII’s papacy during that tumultuous time. The remainder of the documents from Pius XII’s papacy have remained unpublished.

“Knowing what I do about Pius XII, and having researched him for many years, I believe he wanted to be a saint. He wanted people in Germany to be saints,” Riebling previously told CNA.

“When he heard that a priest was arrested for praying for the Jews and sent off to a concentration camp, he said: ‘I wish everyone would do that’ … But he didn’t say it publicly,” the writer acknowledged.

[…]

Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square after the Wednesday general audience, May 7, 2014. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Vatican City, Aug 21, 2021 / 11:35 am (CNA).

A Vatican Mass in the Korean language on Saturday marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of martyred priest St. Andrew Kim Taegon, whom Pope Francis praised as “an exemplary witness of heroic faith.”

In a message, Pope Francis called the saint a tireless apostle of evangelization, even “in difficult times, marked by persecution and suffering for your people.”

St. Andrew Kim Taegon was the first Korean-born Catholic priest. In 1846, at the age of 25, he was tortured and beheaded near Seoul, South Korea. He was canonized in 1984 with 102 other Korean martyrs.

Pope Francis’ words about the Korean saint were read aloud in St. Peter’s Basilica following Mass Aug. 21.

The pope said “even today, in the face of the many manifestations of evil that disfigure the beautiful face of man, created in the image and likeness of God, we need to rediscover the importance of the mission of every baptized person, who is called to be everywhere operator of peace and hope, willing, like the Good Samaritan, to bend over the wounds of those who are eager for love, help, or simply a fraternal gaze.”

“Good always prevails, because God’s love wins over hatred,” Pope Francis stated. He also expressed the hope that those working for reconciliation on the Korean peninsula “will continue with renewed commitment to be good peacemakers, encouraging everyone to a respectful and constructive dialogue for an ever brighter future.”

The Vatican Mass was celebrated by Korean Archbishop Lazarus You Heung-sik, the new prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, and attended by around 30 priests and 70 lay people.

In his homily, Archbishop You recalled the life of St. Andrew Kim, noting that he and other Korean Catholics “practiced what they believed, even if they lived in a society dominated by a hierarchical social system, and did their best to live the Gospel ideals of human dignity and equality among peoples.”

Calling attention to the ongoing suffering caused by COVID-19, You said it seemed “providential” that the 200th anniversary of Kim’s birth “is celebrated right in the middle of the pandemic.”

The coronavirus pandemic “unfortunately seems to have accentuated our tendency to selfishness and discrimination within society,” he said, pointing out that the example of the martyr St. Andrew Kim “might teach us the path with which we can deal with the current crisis.”

The archbishop also expressed the hope that a pope might someday be able to visit North Korea.

[…]

Albrecht von Boeselager. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Rome Newsroom, Oct 6, 2022 / 06:30 am (CNA).
The former grand chancellor of the Order of Malta has written a letter to members calling for unity while also expressing concern over the new constituti… […]