biography
| name: |
Pius XII
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originally Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1876–1958)
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| biography:
| Pope (1939–58), born in Rome, Italy. Ordained in 1899, he became a papal diplomat, cardinal (1929), and secretary of state to the Holy See. Under his leadership during World War 2 the Vatican did much humanitarian work, notably for prisoners of war and refugees. There has been continuing controversy, however, over his attitude to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany, critics arguing that he could have used his influence with Catholic Germany to prevent the massacres, others that any attempt to do so would have proved futile and might have worsened the situation. In the post-war years he was particularly concerned with the plight of persecuted churchmen in Communist countries. |
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