The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-02-10
CATHOLIC WORLD M0URNS DEATH OF P0NTIFF
Biographical Sketch OF Pope Plus XI

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AS "Pope of the Conciliation,'
who after two years of negotiation
with the Italian government ended
the 59-year-old Roman question
and regained temporal power, with
rule over the Vatican City state
Plus XI stood out as one of the
most forceful pontiffs of modern
times.
Elected Pope In 1922
Elected head of the Roman
Catholic church on February g.
1922, he became, seven years lat
er, the first pope since Plus TX ia
reign as a temporal as well as q
spiritual sovereign. He was the
first pontiff in SO years to extend
paternal greetings to the king
queen and princes of united Italy,
And he was the first after 1876
to leave the confines of the Vati-
can.
This last step, ending the "pris-
oner of the Vatican" habits of his
predecessors, he took on July 10,
1929, when he was borne in q
gorgeous procession around ST.
Peters square. But more signifi-
! cant of the new freedom was his
trip of December 20, 1929. Then,
without previous announcement
he motored across Rome to St
John Lateran, mother church of
Christendom," there to celebrate
hat century of priesthood. The
next day, before a cheering throng
which packed st. Peters, he cele-
brated the fiftieth anniversary OF
his first mass.
Endowed With Dramatic Talent
Plus XI had the sense of the
dramatic developed to high de.
gree. His mass of expiation for
the anti-religious, campaign in so.
Wet Russia, said ny himself in st.
Peters on March 10, 1880, he
turned into a solemn protest which
echoed throughout the Christian
world.
In similar vein he called upon
the word to pray for Mexican
Catholics when the hierarchy of
that republic withdrew the priests
from the churches in 1926 as a
protest against suddenly enforced
constitutional regulations. The
controversy famed into open re-
volt a year later when the govern
ment deported all Mexican bish-
ops, but Pope Plus frowned upon
attempts to organize a Catholic
boycott, ordered the priests to
stay out of politics and forbade
them to take Up aims.
Prayer and protest was the
watchword throughout the three
years dispute and when finally the
clergy returned to their parishes
they went back under liberalized
! Interpretation of the laws of the
land.
Wrote Encyclical For Youths
In another dramatic incident
Pope Plus focused upon himself
the attention of educators in all
lands. This happened when he is
sued his encyclical son the Chris.
tian Education of Youth" It was
the first encyclical to be issued in
modern languages, as well as in
the traditional Latin.
1t was lengthy document and
its condemnation of co-education,
for one thing, caused considerable
repercussion in the United States
So too did its broad implication
that Roman Catholic children and
youths should be educated in none
but church schools.
| Drama, in fact, marked the
reign of Plus XII from the very be-
ginning. His first act as pope was
to bestow the apostolic blessing on
the multitude waiting outside St
Peters for news of his election.
This was the first time the cere-
mony had been performed in the
open since 1870. His predecessors
back to that year had blessed the
world from inside the great cathe.
dral as a protest of usurpation OF
power by the Italian government
The new pope, by this act, en-
phasized that he hoped to make
his regime an era of peace. He
repeated the act six days later aft.
er his coronation when he appear.
ed again on the outside loggia.
wearing the tiara and extending
his blessing ito the city and ths
world"
Did Many Unusual Acts
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