When our pope speaks
Posted: 01.09.08
CNS
Eugenio Pacelli — Pope Pius XII (1939–1958) | Elected pope during a time when rise to power in Germany hit an apex, photographic evidence revealed he offered his retreat as a haven to Jewish refugees. In his 1947 Christmas message, he announced, “We are either with Christ or against Christ.”
ORLANDO | Six popes have led the church during the Florida Catholic’s 70 years of publication, each of whom guided the faithful and gave voice to Gospel values in the context of the often-tumultuous world events of their respective times.
By carrying reports from Catholic News Service, and before that from its predecessor the National Catholic Welfare Conference news service, the Florida Catholic has kept readers informed about what the Holy See had to say about war and peace, life and death, global solidarity, justice and other matters through the changing times.
Covering our first pope
Pope Pius XII was elected pontiff in 1939, the same year the newspaper began publication and during the Nazi rise to power. Pius XII focused not only on the desirability of peace, but also on a concrete means for achieving it in his first Christmas message as pope. The address was delivered Dec. 24, 1939 – roughly four months after the Germans invaded Poland, marking the start of World War II in Europe – and reported in the Dec. 29, 1939, issue of the Florida Catholic.
The pope would repeat the theme often as the war raged on and reached global proportions. The report of the 1943 papal Christmas message in the Dec. 31, 1943, issue of the Florida Catholic began: “Speaking by radio to the world as it prepared to observe its 5th Christmas ‘in a sombre atmosphere of death and hate,’ His Holiness Pope Pius XII today called upon the leaders of the peoples to ‘give mankind, thirsting for it, a peace that shall reinstate the human race in its own esteem in history.’”
CNS
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli — Blessed John XXIII (1958–63) | He established the Second Vatican Council in 1962, but died before its completion. In 1963, he released his encyclical, “Pacem in Terris” (“Peace on Earth”). Beatified in 2000, his feast day is Oct. 6, in honor of the first session of Vatican II.
The Florida Catholic reported in its Jan. 4, 1946, issue that Pope Pius XII delivered his first peacetime Christmas message, but it was not long before the pope was routinely expressing concerns about another threat. In its last issue of 1947, the Florida Catholic reported that the pope condemned “traitors” who would abet godless forces. Though the pope did not mention Russia in the address, it was widely seen as a scathing indictment of Soviet policy and an early salvo in the pope’s efforts against communism, Cold War politics and nuclear proliferation that would last the rest of his life. In what would be his last Christmas message, as reported in the Dec. 27, 1957, issue of the Florida Catholic, he reminded world rulers of a strict obligation “to prevent war by means of suitable international organizations to reduce armaments under a system of effective inspection, to deter whoever should aim at disturbing the peace with the most fully guaranteed mutual dependence between the nations who sincerely desire it.”
Popes cold to cold war
Pope John XXIII picked up the mantle. In his first Christmas message in 1958, as reported in the Florida Catholic, he issued a plea for world unity and peace and sharply criticized the godless rule of communist regimes. He also mentioned the “most grave plight” of the church in communist China.
CNS
Giovanni Battista Montini — Paul VI (1963–78) | He wrote historic encyclicals, including “Humanae Vitae” (“Human Life”), the basis of respect life; and “Populorum Progressio” (“The Development of Peoples”), which spoke of the church’s awareness and deep concern for social justice.
Other themes expressed by Pope John XXIII and reported in the Florida Catholic, included the importance of truth and, of course, the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The newspaper reported Dec. 30, 1960, that the pope urged leaders, parents and all of those responsible for shaping public opinion to “think, honor, say and do what is true.” And on Dec. 28, 1962, the paper reported that the pope likened Christmas joy to participation in Vatican II, the first session of which had recently been completed.
Pope Paul VI continued the previous pontiffs’ calls for disarmament and focused specific attention on the war in Vietnam. In his 1964 Christmas message, reported in the Jan. 1, 1965, Florida Catholic, the pope said: “Would that every nation thinking thoughts of peace not of affliction and war would contribute even part of its expenditures for arms to a great world fund for relief of many problems of nutrition, clothing, shelter and medical care, which affect so many people.”
A few days before Christmas in 1967, Pope Paul VI hosted a visit to the Vatican from U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. On New Year’s Day, as reported in the Jan. 5, 1968, Florida Catholic, the pope expressed hope that negotiations might re-establish peace for the people of Vietnam.
CNS
Albino Luciani — John Paul I (1978) | Elected pontiff Aug. 26, 1978, during the second day of the conclave, he offered his first radio address, “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World) the next day. But the pope’s tenure ended when he died two months later on Sept. 28.
Pope Paul VI spoke again about the Vietnam War in his weekly audience four days after Christmas in 1971, expressing concern that U.S. bombings marred the season. “We have contemplated the mystery of Christmas, which is a mystery of goodness and of humanity. All the more do we reprove and deplore the scene the world offers us in these very days.”
More recent popes
The next pope did not live long enough to deliver a Christmas message. John Paul I was elected Aug. 26, 1978, and died Sept. 28, 1978. A report published in the Florida Catholic Sept. 1, 1978, suggested John Paul I intended to continue in the true spirit of Vatican II, to embrace ecumenism, to stimulate preaching of the Gospel and to work for peace and against hunger and illiteracy. In his first speech, he warned against being tempted to make “autonomous decisions which ignore moral laws, bringing modern man to run the risk of reducing earth to a desert, the person to a robot and brotherly co-existence to a leveling of society, introducing death where God wills life.”
His successor, John Paul II, wrote and spoke often of life and peace, and targeted his message at young people in special ways, including the founding of World Youth Day. For example, the Florida Catholic reported Jan. 4, 1985, that the pope exhorted youths to build societies based on peace, justice and general participation in political life.
CNS
Karol Józef Wojtyła — John Paul II (1978–2005) World Youth Day. “Evangelium Vitae” (“Gospel of Life”). Most well–traveled pope. Interreligious dialogue. Missionary spirit. All these terms surround this well–loved pope and man of the people. His pontificate was one of the longest of the church.
“Some of you may be tempted to take flight from responsibility: in the fantasy worlds of alcohol and drugs, in short-lived sexual relationships without commitment to marriage and family,” he said. “Put yourselves on guard against the fraud of a world that wants to exploit or misdirect your energetic and powerful search for happiness and meaning.”
Through the years, the Florida Catholic has largely relied on the Catholic wires services for papal news. A notable exception: when the current pope visits the United States. The Florida Catholic wrapped up the message of Pope Benedict XVI’s April 2008 visit to the United States in an editorial in the April 25 issue that year: “Many people took advantage of the opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the leader of the Catholic Church in their own country by making a pilgrimage to Washington or New York last week.
“Several advance stories told us to expect a stern Pope Benedict ready to tell American Catholics everything that is wrong with the church in our country.
“Those expectations of scoldings or rebukes were wrong, say those who attended the pope’s meeting with U.S. bishops and with leaders in Catholic education. Certainly, Benedict issued challenges: He urged all Americans to continue in global solidarity to promote truth, freedom and justice; he asked Catholic educators to be mindful of the need to keep Catholic education available to the poor and to inspire their students to ‘contribute to society in a way that engenders hope in others’; he told the bishops the Catholic Church in America must recapture ‘the Catholic vision of reality and (present) it in an engaging and imaginative way.’”