MOMENTOUS REIGN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19861, 11 February 1939, Page 5

MOMENTOUS REIGN

CONCILIATION AIM

OBJECTIVE DECLARED

CONCORDAT ACHIEVED

WORK FOR EOT'CATION TERM OF 17 YEARS Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti, Pope Pius XI, when Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, was elected Pope on February (i, 1922. in succession to Pope Benedict XV. He was the junior Cardinal Priest. He was born at Desio. near Milan, on March 31. 1857, the son of an engineer, one of six children. He was a great student, especially in languages, of which he become proficient in many, ancient and modem. In 187!) he was dedicated to the priesthood.

He studied at Lombard College, Rome, and at the Gregorian University he obtained the triple doctorate in philosophy, theology and law. From 1882 to 1886 he taught theology in Milan. Subsequently he was called to Rome to undertake the practical administration of the Vatican Library. After the Great War he was sent as apostolic visitor to Poland, and when that country secured its independence, he was appointed apostolic nuncio to the new republic. To lend dignity to his oflice. he was in 1919 made titular Archbishop Lepanto.

Cardinal for Year Only

Two' years later he was created Archbishop of Milan and a cardinal, a*nd was thus only a cardinal of one year's standing when he was made Pope. He opened the Russian, Ethiopian and Chechoslovakian colleges in Rome; gave great impetus to foreign missions, and greatly extended the diplomatic relationships of the Holy Pee When elected Pope, he said: "Pius is a name of peace, aad I will bear it," words which have since defined his attitude to current worid affairs.

For almost a century the pontifical throne has 'been occupied by a series of Popes whose .reigns are remembered for remarkable historic ii events. The reign of Pius XI will go down in history as one of the most momentous in the long existence of the Papacy, for in it has been signalled the healing of the breach caused in 1870, when the Italian soldiers captured the imperial city and brought about the fall of the temporal power, which had endured for 1100 years, or since the time of Pepin the Short, who made the original grant of land to Pope Stephen. 11. The concordat, which restored peace between Church and State, was made possible by Pius XI, who has thus permanently engraved his name in history as "The Pope of the Conciliation." Scholar and Mountaineer The character oi Pius XI represented a most perfect blending of the man of thought and the man of action. Basically he was a scholar, an inquirer into the secrets of the past, an acute and indefatigable hunter and co-ordinator of facts long forgotten. First as doctor, Vice Prefect, and Prefect of the famous Ambrosiana Library in Milan, then as Vice-Prefect and Prefect of the still more famous Vatican Library, his (best 30 years were spent as a librarian. During this period he wrote more than 70 publications, mostly of a historical nature He also was. however, what most bookworms are not, a man of action. In his young days he was one of the best alpine climbers in Italy, and made mountain-climbing history.

The institution of the Pope as head of the Roman Catholic Church datis back to the time of St. Peter, who derived his spiritual authority directly from Christ, and from whom each Pope in succession has inherited it. Pope Pius XI was the 24Gth holder oi the rank.