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| CHRISTIAN | MORALITY |
Pope Pius XII —Champion in the
Battle Against the
Culture of Death
by John Dombrowski
During the 1930’s the eugenics movement was enjoying great popularity and was enthusiastically supported by the secular Mass Media in the U.S. and Europe. Among other things, eugenicists were supporting forcible sterilization, abortion, and other means of improving the human race by eliminating the mentally subnormal, the congenitally criminal, and the physically “unfit” from the gene pool. Adolf Hitler was an enthusiastic supporter of the U.S. eugenics leader, Margaret Sanger—who returned the compliment by promoting methods and policies in many respects indistinguishable from those of the National Socialist Workers Party of Germany. This was before it was clear that Hitler visualized entire races, such as Africans, Jews, and Gypsies as slated for elimination.
The only strong and vocal champion of the concept of universal human dignity and the inherent value of all human persons was the Catholic Church. The most outspoken proponent of human rights and values related to human life and reproduction was Pope Pius XII. He saw the values inherent in the institution of marriage under attack by the Communists, the Nazis, and, to a lesser extent, by the secular media (including press, films, and publishing houses). Well aware of the relative weakness of the voice of Catholics, he nevertheless kept reminding Catholics working in the media of their moral obligations.
By 1945, when Nazi and Japanese crimes against humanity became evident, and were universally condemned, Pius XII was in a much stronger position. The Nazis, above all, had given the eugenicists and other advocates of population control a bad name which would outlast the pontificate of Pius XII. He made the most of his opportunity to encourage a courageous Catholic press, and to condemn the evil trends which he saw in the post-war world as a threat to the integrity of the family.
The Press and Public Opinion
More than most religious leaders of his generation—and those up to the present day—Pius XII well understood, and gave voice to, the dangers to society from a Mass Media of Communication in the hands of people inimical to the Church and its teachings. He called on Catholics to use the Media to combat the evil trends in “public opinion” manipulated by the enemies of Christ and His Church through a method called “engineered consent,” which was first developed in the U.S. during World War I.
The Press must be undeviatingly loyal to the truth, lest its tremendous influence be exercised amiss . . . truth in vision . . . truth in presentation. Now truth is dispassionate, not partisan, factual, not fanciful. Truth is not venal; it does not fear to be known, but it asks only to be presented in the clear white light of objectivity, not in any special tint of prejudice or conjecture. Truth . . . knows . . . that evil is not to be garnished while the good is slurred over. Truth is...aware that death may enter the soul through the windows of the eyes. Alas, does not experience teach that incalculable harm may come to domestic and civil society through an unethical press . . .
The Holy Father goes on to warn against “mute servility” in journalists and emphasizes that strength of character must be their outstanding attribute. He insists on the importance of Catholic influence to prevent the dominance of false ideas “on the social question and the problem of peace.”
Truth and Error
Today, far more than half a century ago, we have the phenomenon of error flooding the Western world and beyond via the Mass Media and the educational establishment.
According to Pius XII, the situation was already serious half a century ago:
Errors . . . are being spread today, either on account of the craze for novelty or also because of immoderate apostolic zeal....We prefer to prescribe a remedy at the outset, rather than wait to administer the medicine when the illness is already advanced . . . . We order Bishops and Superior Generals of Religious Orders and Congregations to take every precaution to prevent such opinion from being voiced in schools...or from being taught, in any way to clergymen or to the faithful. Teachers . . . should . . . infuse into the minds and souls of their students that dutiful reverence and obedience which they must profess toward the teaching authority of the Church . . . . Let them not believe, through false irenism that it is possible to bring about the happy return to the . . . Church of dissidents . . . without teaching to everybody, sincerely, the whole truth.
Sadly, within about five years of Pius XII’s death in 1958, errors began to be taught massively throughout the English-speaking world, regarding almost every aspect of the morality relating to Christian marriage. Among the most notorious issues which suddenly began to be soft-pedaled were condemnations of contraception, divorce, masturbation, homosexual relations, abortion, and pre-marital relations. Pius XII had spoken clearly and vehemently on these and related issues.
Sexual Initiation
The Holy Father was greatly indignant at the
introduction, during his time, of immodest classroom sex education and the textual
material which accompanied such classes. He called on Christian fathers to organize to
guarantee “the rights of parents over their children...the full freedom of parents to
educate their children . . . and . . . conditions that will guarantee that . . . young
people need not have the moral certainty of being subjected to corruption.” He urged
a “coalition of fathers to endeavor to enlighten public opinion,” sparing no
effort to achieve its goals.
The intolerable impudence of such literature [writings concerning sexual initiation] is appalling . . . . The secret intimacy of married life today . . . is offered . . . even to the young, as a vivid sensual spectacle. There is truly reason to wonder whether there still remains a sufficiently clear borderline between this initiation—so-called Catholic—and the erotic obscene literature and illustrations which aim deliberately at corruption....
Such propaganda...exaggerates beyond measure the importance . . . in life, of the sexual element . . . Sexual life...acquires, in the mind of the reader . . . the meaning and value of something which is an end in itself. It makes him lose sight of the true aim of matrimony, which is the procreation and education of children....
Corrupting Effects on Teenagers
of Indecent Visual Images
The Pope, throughout the 1940’s, repeatedly warned, especially in his addresses to women and to U.S. movie producers, of the great harm done by the “rising tide of immorality . . . which threatens to submerge society,” and which “astonished and appalled” him. He did not mince his words, in spite of his knowledge that what he was condemning was not under the control of Catholics, or even Christians. No wonder he has been the object of hatred and calumny for decades by those he offended:
Any Christian . . . endowed with decency and natural common sense is astonished and appalled at the . . . rising tide of immorality . . . . No one hesitates to recognize the cause of it, particularly in the licentious publications and the indecent shows . . . offered to the eyes and ears of adolescents . . . . One can hardly believe that writers, publishers, artists . . . and promoters . . . do not hesitate to sink to such low levels of corruption . . . .
You see teen-agers throw themselves at such a diet of the mind and eye with all the impulsiveness of the awakened passions; you see . . . boys and girls, in whose tender hearts and eyes are impressed fatal images and cravings, which are often never erased . . . . Except for a small minority, people would not spontaneously seek, still less demand, unwholesome entertainment, if it were not offered to them and sometimes almost imposed on them by surprise.
Mostly in vain, the Supreme Pontiff urged: “all who can do so should direct all their efforts and employ all their talents toward creating and promoting a type of literature, theater, and motion picture which constitutes genuine art, elevating, wholesome, and at the same time interesting and attractive.” He refers to the professional corrupters as “unscrupulous exploiters.” He urges “decent people” not to simply “stand helplessly aside.” He insists that Catholics must organize to “succeed in arousing . . . disgust and repudiation of all turpitude.” He sees a partial remedy in passing and enforcing laws so “that whatever of an objectionable nature . . . maybe prevented and suppressed.” He also thought that public opinion would be a strong tool “to purify the films and keep them clean.” Little did he know that in a few decades the control of the Mass Media—which is in a stronger position than ever to mold public opinion—would be, in a stronger position than ever to mold public opinion—would be, in an increasingly monopolistic manner, in the hands of the same people responsible for producing the corrupting visual spectacles which so outraged him.
The Pope cites St. Paul’s quote of the ancient Greek poet, Menander, about what corrupts morals, and states: “And if . . . bad conversation corrupts morals, how much more effectively are they corrupted by . . . conduct, vividly depicted, which flouts the laws of God and civilized decency?”
But beyond, and deeper than, all of the causes of immorality the Pope has cited lies a more serious and more intractable root cause against which he fought throughout his papacy—the corrupting influence of the Mass Media.
The radio and the films have been used . . . in the spreading of . . . materialism . . . . The bad book, the licentious illustrated periodical, the indecent show, the immoral dance, the immodesty on the beaches have contributed to increase superficiality . . . and the sensuality of youth . . . . But primarily responsible is the breakup of marriage, of which the moral debasement of youth is the hallmark and deplorable consequence.
Love and Marriage
Pius XII presents Christian matrimony as “the gift of self . . . total, exclusive, irrevocable . . . . The husband is head of the wife, who is subject to him as to the Lord,” in contrast to the prevailing — and mostly temporary — nature of what passes for marriage today.1 He asserts that God does not command the impossible, but grants the graces and strength to fulfill the proper obligations of matrimony. His message is that in order to succeed marriage must be based on God’s laws, rather than on the whim of the partners. He quotes St. Francis de Sales:
Keep, o husbands, a tender, constant, and cordial love for your wives . . . . And you, wives, love tenderly, cordially, but with a love both respectful and full of deference, the husbands whom God has given you . . . . Love and faithfulness always create intimacy and confidence.
In great contrast to the advice of such modern pop-psychology manuals as I’m OK, You’re OK and The Road Less Traveled, often recommended by even “Catholic” marriage counselors, the Holy Father insists on the need for self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness in marriage. The focus must be on the good of the family and not on the satisfaction of individual desires. In this picture, happiness comes from bringing happiness and fulfillment to one’s spouse and focusing on the spiritual and moral well-being of the children. Above all, success in marriage depends on the complementarity of the spouses. As Pope Pius XII phrased it: “Husband and wife . . . are . . . two flowers with a different beauty, springing . . . from a root somewhat different in man and woman.” Faithfulness and mutual trust are absolute essentials, and jealousy is sternly warned against. A mutual prayer life is the basis for a strong bond and a balm for all the inevitable difficulties.
The relationship of the spouses must take precedence over all other relationships and their mutual confidences are the most sacred. They may not have secrets from one another, nor confide their personal affairs to outsiders. Postponement of parenthood, except in the most dire circumstances is unequivocally condemned, and artificial contraception even more so. There is a stress on the conjugal right of each of the spouses to the body of the other, as the fulfillment of the contract made at the moment vows are exchanged. Artificial insemination and similar out of the body procedures in the treatment of fertility are totally condemned.
Pius XII places a great stress on the indissolubility of a valid consummated marriage contracted between two baptized persons:
No human agency may interfere with the bond. For has not Christ led the matrimonial common life back to the fundamental dignity which the creator had given it...one and indissoluble? . . .
Christ . . . elevated man in marriage and again raised up woman who had been cast down by the ancients to the role of a slave...and an unsubdued animal.
While Pius affirms the legitimacy, under certain circumstances, of the use of natural family planning, he enthusiastically praises “those generous married couples who, for love of God, and trusting in Him, courageously bring up numerous family.” (In 1951, only a family of at least five children was considered large.) He unequivocally chastises any married woman who, except in dire circumstances, neglects her primary duty of providing a pleasant and proper home, preferring instead to pursue her own career ambitions or to augment family income for a luxurious life.2
In short, Pope Pius XII, by his teaching, preaching and writings, has made himself the perfect counter-cultural icon for the present age. This, perhaps above other reasons, gives grounds for rejoicing at the prospect of being able, in the midst of so many crises at the turn of the millennium, to pray for the intercession of Blessed Pius XII.
On July 25, 1999, at 11:30 am, Maryland Public Television began its broadcast of Religion & Ethics Newsweekly with a segment on “Strained Relations” between Jews and Catholics. It seems that organized Jewish groups take issue with Pope John Paul II over his determination to proceed with the process leading to the beatification of Pope Pius XII.
It is sadly ironic that the enemies of Pius, who became determined to continue, in the early 1960’s, the population control campaign abandoned more than two decades earlier, decided to proceed by accusing him of complicity in the slaughter of the Jews by the Nazis. In spite of the relentless, world-wide, campaign of slander and vilification initiated with the 1963 opening of Rolf Hochhuth’s totally fictional play, The Deputy, the Church never ceased in its efforts to clear this heroic pope’s name. The fact that the slander has been disproved by a three-decade search of the archives of a half-a-dozen countries does not mean that the antagonism toward Pius XII will cease—or even diminish.
According to 30 Days, in the fall of 1997, the Church had finally decided that, in the cause of “Pius XII’s beatification...all the factors obstructing the proclamation of the heroic virtues of the wartime Pope had been removed.”
Peter Gumpel, the German Jesuit relator of the cause “. . . said that the preliminary examination commission has ascertained that the accusations against Pius XII (1939-1958) of silence in the face of the Nazi persecution of the Jews were unfounded. As relator the Jesuit had collated hundreds of testimonies, many of which bear the signatures of rabbis from various European cities . . . . [which] highlight the consensus of appreciation and gratitude for the work carried out by the Pontiff at the difficult time of anti-Jewish persecution. Many of the texts and written testimonies gathered . . . were found in . . . archives opened for the occasion. . . . in London . . . Washington and the Italian, French, German and Spanish Foreign Ministries.”
This news was especially gratifying to this author who, in the words of an editorial in TheWanderer, “has been in the forefront of the defense of Pope Pius XII and his relations with the Jews,” since 1982.3
Pius XII did not hesitate to face death in defense of his flock and the deposit of faith and morals which had been entrusted to him. He was equally strong in the defense of other persons not of his own flock and in condemning inhuman, immoral, or unjust policies toward victims of Hitler and the Nazis.
Pope Pius XII had no doubt as to where his duty lay. Even before becoming pope, as Pius XI’s nuncio in Germany, Eugenio Pacelli made forty public pronouncements against the Nazis. As cardinal and Vatican Secretary of State he sent 55 diplomatic notes of protest over Nazi government policies. Later, as pope, he vigorously opposed the Nazis and, after the War, the Communists. However, as the present Holy Father was also to learn, Pope Pius XII once said, “We have contended with diabolical forces.”
John Paul II often speaks of the need to oppose the Culture of Death. It is this phenomenon, championed by the manipulators of U.S. and European Mass Media, which, if successful, would achieve the largest-scale genocide ever attempted in the history of the world. Whether through an active campaign to recruit homosexuals, introduce pornographic sex education, distribute condoms, sterilize unwitting obstetrical patients, increase the divorce rate, intensify the battle of the sexes, flood the internet with every sort of perversion, drive wedges between generations, or push for abortions and infanticide, among countless other evils, zero population growth zealots have radically reduced birth and marriage rates.
If current trends continue in Italy, the last Italian baby will be born in about 2050. Spain, also with a 1.2 fertility rate per woman will not be far behind on the road to extinction (It takes a rate of 2.1 children per woman to maintain a stable population). Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Portugal, and Japan are half of the countries with a fertility rate of less than 1.64 —and all are doomed to rapid annihilation, if present trends continue. Hitler could not have dreamt of coming close to the achievement of the population extermination cabal currently in control of “World Opinion” in the United States, Europe, and much of the rest of the world.
In working to achieve zero population growth, the international clique of population controllers exhibits all the zeal and determination of scientists bent on the extermination of the Mediterranean fruit fly. In their eagerness to eliminate present and future human lives, the Death Culture crusaders focus their efforts on the destruction of marriage as it has existed for thousands of years. Decades ago, this author was reproached for his championing of chastity among youth by a former columnist of the New Republic. That writer (an advisor to a U.S. President and listed in Who’s Who as a novelist) insisted, already in the late 1960’s, “You’re trying to defend a morality based on the family. The family is on its way to extinction!”
By beatifying Pope Pius XII, the Church would be raising one of the century’s greatest crusaders against the forces of evil — who was also one of the greatest champions of Christian marriage, and all of the morality related to that glorious institution.
John Dombrowski is a writer and a historian.
1 “The Family Versus Feminism,” The Catholic Faith, July/
August 1999.
2 “Pope Pius XII on Conjugal Love and the Family,” The Catholic Faith, May/June 1998.
3 The Wanderer, May 15, 1997, p.10; The Sentinel, Winston-Salem, N.C., Feb.4, 1983, p15; “Pius XII and Anti-Semitism . . . ,” Faith & Reason, vol. XIV, No.4, Winter 1988.
4 1999 NYT Almanac, pp. 475 & 284; Handbook on Population, 5th ed (Robert L. Sassone).