Dear Friends,
During my sermon on Sunday I made a mistake. It was not a huge mistake as mistakes go (and it was an understandable mistake for a Protestant), but still I wanted to set the record straight: I confused Pope Pius the XI and Pope Pius XII.
Sunday was Christ the King Sunday, and in the sermon I mentioned the fact that Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in 1925 in response to the growing threat of Nationalism and Fascism in Europe. The idea behind the celebration of “Christ the King” was that to declare Christ as King was implicitly to declare that Mussolini (and later Hitler and Franco) was not lord. Then I said that Pope Pius was a deeply flawed human being, but he got this one right.
I said Pope Pius XI was deeply flawed because during the Second World War a Pope named Pius failed to speak out against the Holocaust. It turns out, it was Pius XII and not Pius XI who was Pope during the World War II, and while Pius XI may have been flawed (apparently he had a serious temper and he was a bit arrogant), his public legacy is actually kind of amazing.
Pius XI didn’t just speak out against fascism. He also called out and condemned the rising tide of anti-Semitism that was inundating Europe in the years following the First World War. He condemned racism in the United States and championed civil rights for African Americans. In an age when many scientists were trying to establish a link between biology and racial supremacy, the Pius XI declared that there is only one humanity.
I missed all of that before I got the sermon finished, and I know it’s not that big of a deal—both Popes Pius are long dead; I doubt either one of them cares about my blunder—but still. The mostly-forgotten work of Pius XI seems important and worthy of recollection.
But in some ways I’m glad I made the mistake. It gave me an excuse to learn more about Pius XI and about the period of history through which he lived. Unlike many people—including Pius XII—Pius XI rose to the challenges of his time. He was the kind of leader the church needed ninety years ago, and because we are living through trying times today, my prayer is that the Spirit will call forth from among the community of Christians church leaders who, like Pius XI, will be brave and articulate, leaders who will inspire the followers of Jesus to live lives of righteous faith that transforms the world.
God’s Peace,
Ben