AD 1939–1958
Pius XII
Historians continue to debate whether his wartime public silence about the extermination of the Jews was prudence that saved lives or a moral failure; Vatican archives for his pontificate opened in 2020.
Audio narration
0%
Narration is generated on your device, so no audio files are downloaded.
- Years served
- AD 1939–1958
- Biography
- A career diplomat, Pius XII led the Church through the Second World War, defined the Assumption in 1950, and authorised modern biblical criticism in Divino Afflante Spiritu.
- Historical context
- Total war, the Shoah and the beginning of the Cold War.
- Major events
- Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943)
- Definition of the Assumption, Munificentissimus Deus (1950)
- Mediator Dei (1947) on the liturgy
- Historical significance
- Historians continue to debate whether his wartime public silence about the extermination of the Jews was prudence that saved lives or a moral failure; Vatican archives for his pontificate opened in 2020.
Sources and References
- Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943)vatican.va