Librarian, Mountainclimber, Pope

Today marks the election of Pope Pius XI in 1922. Born Achille Ratti in 1857, he grew up near Milan and was ordained in 1879. He taught in Milan’s seminary and was named head of the Ambrosian Library in 1888. Father Ratti was an expert in Medieval paleography. In 1907 he was named head of the Vatican library. In addition to this, he was also a keen mountaineer and wrote a book of essays on mountain climbing. In 1919, one historian writes, Pope Benedict XV “whisked” him “out of his library” and made him Apostolic Nuncio, with the rank of Archbishop, to Poland. At the time Poland was at war with Russia, and Ratti’s experience made him a diehard anticommunist. In 1921 he was named Archbishop of Milan and a cardinal. The cardinals who elected him were looking for a pontiff who would address the challenges of modernity in a positive manner. Like Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), Pius used encyclicals to promote the Church’s teaching role, addressing issues like family life, labor, the press, cinema, and totalitarianism (both Communism and Fascism). He settled a local Church-state conflict that had been brewing since 1870, when Italy was united and the Papal States was dissolved. Following up on Benedict XV’s call for native clergy in mission territories, he ordained native bishops in Africa and Asia. As anti-Semitism reached a fever pitch in 1930’s Europe, he reminded Catholics that “spiritually we are all Semites.” Before his death in 1939, he was preparing to issue an encyclical condemning anti-Semitism.