Pope Pius XII (March 2, 1876-October 9, 1958) whose given name was Eugenio Pacelli, in a radio broadcast on September 1, 1944, stated:
<Private property is a natural fruit of labor, a product of intense activity of man, acquired through his energetic determination to ensure and develop with his own strength his own existence and that of his family, and to create for himself and his own an existence of just freedom, not only economic, but also political, cultural and religious.> 1876PP001
On August 28, 1947, in an exchange of messages with Pope Pius XII, President Harry S. Truman stated:
<Our common goal is to arouse and invigorate the faith of men to attain eternal values in our own generation-no matter what obstacles exist of may arise in the path....
An enduring peace can be built only upon Christian principles. To such a consummation we dedicate all our resources, both spiritual and material, remembering always that "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it."> 1876PP002
In writing to Pope Pius XII, in 1947, President Truman said of America:
<This is a Christian nation.> 1876PP003
On March 2, 1955, in a tribute to Pope Pius XII, President Eisenhower stated at a new conference:
<As to His Holiness, the Pope, [on] his seventy-ninth birthday, a man that I have had the honor of visiting personally, admiring him greatly, and particularly because of his unbroken record of opposition to all forms of fascism and communism, I am quite certain that America, all America, would wish this great spiritual leader a very happy day today, and many more of them.> 1876PP004
In reply to an expression of loyalty given him from American bishop Fulton Sheen, published in Look Magazine, August 22, 1955, Pope Pius XII stated:
<It is true that Divine Providence has invested me, although unworthily, in this position as head of the Church, but as a man I am nothing - nothing-nothing.> 1876PP005
In a message for Labor Day, published in Guideposts, September 1955, Pope Pius XII stated:
<Labor is not merely the fatigue of body without sense or value; nor is it merely a humiliating servitude. It is a service of God, a gift of God, the vigor and fullness of human life, the gage of eternal rest.> 1876PP006
On January 8, 1956, in an address on the science and morality of painless childbirth, Pope Pius XII stated:
<If the new technique spares her the sufferings of childbirth, the mother can accept it without any scruple of conscience; but she is not obliged to do so. In the case of partial success or failure, she knows that suffering can be a source of good, if she bears it with God and in obedience to His will....
The life and sufferings of our Saviour, the pains which so many great men have born and even sought and through which they have matured and risen to the summits of Christian heroism, the daily examples we see of acceptance of the cross with resignation: all this reveals the meaning of suffering, of the patient acceptance of pain in the present plan of salvation, for the duration of this earthly life.> 1876PP007
On April 1, 1956, in an Easter address in St. Peter's Square, Rome, Pope Pius XII stated:
<This year's celebration of Easter should be primarily a recall to faith in Christ, addressed to people who, through no fault of their own, are still unaware of the saving work of the Redeemer; to those who, on the contrary, would wish to have His name wiped out of the minds and hearts of nations; and finally, in a special manner, to those souls of little faith who, seduced by deceptive enticements, are on the point of exchanging the priceless Christian values for those of a false earthly progress.> 1876PP008
On September 1, 1956, in a comment to a group of international heart specialists received at the Vatican, Pope Pius XII stated:
<Bodily pain affects man as a whole down to the deepest layers of his moral being. It forces him to face again the fundamental questions of his fate, of his attitude toward God and fellow men, of his individual and collective responsibility and of the sense of his pilgrimage on earth.> 1876PP009
On September 3, 1956, in an address from Rome to the seventy-seventh Catholic Day at Cologne, Germany, Pope Pius XII stated:
<The Church continues to fight, not in the field of politics and economics as she has been falsely accused of doing, but with weapons that are proper to her: the perseverance of her faithful prayer, truth and love.> 1876PP010
On September 21, 1956, in a comment on interplanetary explorations, Pope Pius XII stated:
<God has no intention of setting a limit to the efforts of man to conquer space.> 1876PP011
On October 15, 1956, in an address to several thousand members of an Italian feminist group, Pope Pius XII stated:
<The concept of the woman of the shipyards, of the mines, of heavy labor as it is exalted and practiced by some countries that would want to inspire progress is anything but a modern concept. It is, on the contrary, a sad return toward epochs that Christian civilization buried long ago.> 1876PP012
On November 28, 1956, in a message to the Olympic Games at Melbourne, Australia, Pope Pius XII stated:
<We have been pleased to recall the harmony of relations between Christian principles and sporting acitvities....Make manifest in your acts how, without losing any of its technical value, sport, being a school of energy and of self mastery, must be ordained towards the intellectual and moral perfecting of the soul.> 1876PP013
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1876PP001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII, September 1, 1944, in a radio broadcast. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 757.
1876PP002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Harry S Truman, August 28, 1947, in an exchange of messages with Pope Pius XII. T.S. Settel, and the staff of Quote, editors, The Quotable Harry Truman introduction by Merle Miller (NY: Droke House Publishers, Inc., Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1967), pp. 79, 126.
1876PP003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Harry S Truman, Larry Witham, "'Christian Nation' Now Fighting Words" (The Washington Times, November 23, 1992), p. Al. Gary DeMar, The Biblical Worldview (Atlanta, GA: An American Vision Publication-American Vision, Inc., 1993), Vol. 9, No. 2, p. 12. Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States; 143 U. S. 457, 471 (1892).
1876PP004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Dwight David Eisenhower, March 2, 1955, in a tribute to Pope Pius XII, stated at a new conference. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 204.
1876PP005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII. August 22, 1955, Look Magazine, statement made in reply to an expression of loyalty given him from American bishop Fulton Sheen. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 239.
1876PP006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII. September 1955, Guideposts, statement made in a message for Labor Day. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 239.
1876PP007. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII. January 8, 1956, in an address on the science and morality of painless childbirth. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 348.
1876PP008. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII. April 1, 1956, in an Easter address in St. Peter's Square, Rome. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 349.
1876PP009. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII. September 1, 1956, in a comment to a group of international heart specialists received at the Vatican, news summaries. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 349.
1876PP010. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII. September 3, 1956, in an address from Rome to the seventy-seventh Catholic Day at Cologne, Germany, news summaries. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 350.
1876PP011. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII. September 21, 1956, in a comment on interplanetary explorations, news summaries. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 350.
1876PP012. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII. October 15, 1956, in an address to several thousand members of an Italian feminist group, news reports. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 350.
1876PP013. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pope Pius XII. November 28, 1956, in a message to the Olympic Games at Melbourne, Australia, news reports. James Beasely Simpson, Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1957), p. 351.