Dum Maerenti Animo, (June 29, 1956) an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the faithful in Eastern Europe regarding their persecutions and the persecutions of the Church. "The whole family of Christianity stands in respectful admiration before you, and what you suffer in silence for so long. She prays for God’s mercy. She prays also for those who persecute you [1]
Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, was head of the Catholic Church from 2 March 1939 to his death. Before his election to the papacy, he served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio to Germany, and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with European and Latin American nations, most notably the Reichskonkordat with Nazi Germany.
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of the European continent. There is no consensus on the precise area it covers, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, cultural, and socioeconomic connotations. There are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region". A related United Nations paper adds that "every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct".
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, imprisonment, internment, fear, or pain are all factors that may establish persecution, but not all suffering will necessarily establish persecution. The suffering experienced by the victim must be sufficiently severe. The threshold level of severity has been a source of much debate.
Pope Pius XII describes a decade of ” the most terrible and saddest persecutions” in these regions. The Church has lost its freedom, Church associations and religious institutes were closed, bishops cannot operate, or worse, they are jailed or exiled. Both, the Catholic faithful of the Latin and Oriental rites are suffering, but the Eastern Church has been forced to disband or unite with the Russian Orthodox Church. All Eastern cardinals, József Mindszenty, Aloysius Stepinac and Stefan Wyszyński are persecuted and jailed for their faith. [2] The apostolic letter reminds of the 500th anniversary of the "Turkish bell" a prayer crusade ordered by his predecessors against the dangers from the East. He asks the faithful throughout the world, to pray for the persecuted Church in the East during the mid-day Angelus.
The Russian Orthodox Church, alternatively legally known as the Moscow Patriarchate, is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The Primate of the ROC is the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'. The ROC, as well as the primate thereof, officially ranks fifth in the Orthodox order of precedence, immediately below the four ancient patriarchates of the Greek Orthodox Church, those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Since 15 October 2018, the ROC is not in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, having unilaterally severed ties in reaction to the establishment of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was finalised by the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 5 January 2019.
József Mindszenty [jo:ʒɛf mindsɛnti] was the Prince Primate, Archbishop of Esztergom, cardinal, and leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary from 2 October 1945 to 18 December 1973. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, for five decades "he personified uncompromising opposition to fascism and communism in Hungary". During World War II, he was imprisoned by the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party. After the war, he opposed communism and the communist persecution in his country. As a result, he was tortured and given a life sentence in a 1949 show trial that generated worldwide condemnation, including a United Nations resolution. After eight years in prison, he was freed in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and granted political asylum by the United States embassy in Budapest, where Mindszenty lived for the next fifteen years. He was finally allowed to leave the country in 1971. He died in exile in 1975 in Vienna, Austria.
Aloysius Viktor Stepinac was a Croatian prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal, Stepinac served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his death, a period which included the fascist rule of the Ustaše over the Axis puppet state the Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. He was tried by the communist Yugoslav government after the war and convicted of treason and collaboration with the Ustaše regime. The trial was depicted in the West as a typical communist "show trial", biased against the archbishop; In a verdict that polarized public opinion both in Yugoslavia and beyond, the Yugoslav authorities found him guilty on the charge of high treason, as well as complicity in the forced conversions of Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but served only five at Lepoglava before being transferred to house arrest with his movements confined to his home parish of Krašić.
The letter mentions that some Christians lose courage. Others argue, that the teachings of Christ should be updated, to fit their new realities. Pius calls this the wrong kind of reconciliation. Heaven and earth will disappear before His Word disappears. The Pope encourages to endure the tribulations, even if no contact with him or Church officials are possible. He assures the faithful in Eastern Europe, that all Christianity is full of admiration and united with them in prayer. Finally, he asks them to pray with him for those who persecute them. [3]
Ad Sinarum gentem issued October 7, 1954, is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII to the Chinese people on the super-nationality of the Church.
Sacro Vergente anno is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to all people of Russia. In it the Pope consecrates all the people of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Because of the Virgin Mary, he has great faith in the future of their country but is anguished about the Soviet hostility towards religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular.
Novimus Nos is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic Bishops of the Eastern Catholic Rites, whose dioceses are devastated after years of persecution. The letter commemorates the 1000th anniversary of the conversion of Saint Olga, which was the beginning of Christianity in Russia.
Pope Pius XII and the Church in China involves relations of the Holy See with China from 1939-1958. The Vatican recognized Chinese rites in 1939, elevated the first Chinese cardinal in 1946, and established a Chinese hierarchy.
Ad Apostolorum principis is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII on Communism and the Church in China. It describes systematic persecutions of bishops, priests, religious and faithful and the attempts of the government to establish a patriotic Catholic Church, independent of Rome.
Cupimus Imprimis is an apostolic letter of Pope Pius XII to all the faithful in China regarding their persecutions and the persecution of the Catholic Church.
Veritatem Facientes is an apostolic letter of Pope Pius XII to the Catholic faithful of Romania, protesting against their persecution and the virtual eradication of the Catholic Church in their country. The letter asks for courage and prayers.
Acerrimo moerore is a letter of Pope Pius XII to the Hungarian Episcopate after the jailing and torturing of Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty.
Impensiore Caritate, is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the persecuted bishops, priests, and faithful of Czechoslovakia.
Gloriosam Reginam is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the Polish episcopate, to protest against the persecution of the Church in Poland, and, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Jasna Góra, the Polish sanctuary of the Virgin Mary. The invincible Mother of God, who watches over the freedom for Poland, will most certainly assist.
Poloniae Annalibus is an apostolic letter of Pope Pius XII commemorating the seven hundredth anniversary of the canonization of Saint Stanislaw and encouraging the Polish episcopate to be united and strong in face of persecution.
Meminisse iuvat is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII, asking for prayers of the persecuted Church in the East and criticizing harmful cultural developments in the West. He asks for a novena of prayer preceding the feast of the Assumption.
Orientales ecclesias is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII concerning the persecution of the Eastern Catholic Churches and describing the desperate situation of the faithful in Bulgaria.
Pope Pius XII and Russia describes relations of the Vatican with the Soviet Union, Russia, the Orthodox Church, United Oriental Churches resulting in the eradication of the Church in most parts of the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era. Most persecutions of the Church occurred during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII.
Pope Pius XII and Poland includes Church relations from 1939–1958. Pius XII became Pope on the eve of the Second World War. The invasion of predominantly Catholic Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939 ignited the conflict and was followed soon after by a Soviet invasion of the Eastern half of Poland, in accordance with an agreement reached between the dictators Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. The Catholic Church in Poland was about to face decades of repression, both at Nazi and Communist hands. The Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland was followed by a Stalinist repression which was particularly intense through the years 1946–1956. Pope Pius XII's policies consisted in attempts to avoid World War II, extensive diplomatic activity on behalf of Poland and encouragement to the persecuted clergy and faithful.
Cum Jam Lustri September 1, 1951, is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius XII to the bishops “and brave people” of Poland about their sufferings during Stalinist persecution. He asks for prayers to the Virgin Mary, because She will not deny her help to the Polish people, who dedicated themselves to her protection.
Fulgens corona is an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, given at St. Peter's Rome, on 8 September 1953, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the fifteenth year of his Pontificate. The encyclical proclaims a Marian year for 1954, to commemorate the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Fulgens corona is significant as it contained the mariological methodology of Pope Pius XII and his views on limits and challenges of mariology.
Ingruentium malorum is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII on reciting the rosary, issued on September 15, 1951, the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary. "It is an appeal for an intensification of the traditional October Rosary devotions, making a particular recommendation for the family recitation of the Rosary, begging Our Lady to obtain peace for individuals, for families, for peoples, for nations, and for the Church throughout the world."
Pope Pius XII signed his testament (will) on May 15, 1956, some fifteen months before his death. Unlike the testaments of his predecessor Pius X and successor John Paul II, it is a very short document, omitting names, details and designations of individual material belongings.
Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions include bishops and others among the tens of thousands of victims of Soviet persecutions from 1918 to approximately 1980, under the state ideology of Marxist–Leninist atheism.
