Pope Pius XI

Pope Pius XI (Italian: Pio XI; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, Italian: [amˈbrɔ:dʒo daˈmja:no aˈkille ˈratti]; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State upon its creation on 11 February 1929.

Pius XI issued numerous encyclicals, including Quadragesimo anno on the 40th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's groundbreaking social encyclical Rerum novarum, highlighting the capitalistic greed of international finance, the dangers of atheistic socialism/communism, and social justice issues, and Quas primas, establishing the feast of Christ the King in response to anti-clericalism. The encyclical Studiorum ducem, promulgated 29 June 1923, was written on the occasion of the 6th centenary of the canonization of Thomas Aquinas, whose thought is acclaimed as central to Catholic philosophy and theology. The encyclical also singles out the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum as the preeminent institution for the teaching of Aquinas: "ante omnia Pontificium Collegium Angelicum, ubi Thomam tamquam domi suae habitare dixeris" (before all others the Pontifical Angelicum College, where Thomas can be said to dwell). The encyclical Casti connubii promulgated on 31 December 1930 prohibited Catholics from using contraception.

To establish or maintain the position of the Catholic Church, Pius XI concluded a record number of concordats, including the Reichskonkordat with Nazi Germany, and he condemned their betrayals four years later in the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge ("With Burning Concern"). During his pontificate, the longstanding hostility with the Italian government over the status of the papacy and the Church in Italy was successfully resolved in the Lateran Treaty of 1929. He was unable to stop the persecution of the Church and the killing of clergy in Mexico, Spain, and the Soviet Union. He canonized saints including Thomas More, Peter Canisius, Bernadette of Lourdes, and Don Bosco. He beatified and canonized Thérèse de Lisieux, for whom he held special reverence, and gave equivalent canonization to Albertus Magnus, naming him a Doctor of the Church due to his writings' spiritual power. He took a strong interest in fostering the participation of laypeople throughout the Church, especially in the Catholic Action movement. The end of his pontificate was dominated by speaking out against Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and defending the Catholic Church from intrusions into its life and education.

Pius XI died on 10 February 1939 in the Apostolic Palace and was buried in the Papal Grotto of Saint Peter's Basilica. In the course of excavating space for his tomb, two levels of burial grounds were uncovered that revealed bones now venerated as the bones of St. Peter.

Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti was born in Desio, in the province of Milan, in 1857, the son of the owner of a silk factory. His parents were Francesco Antonio Ratti (1823–1881) and his wife Angela Teresa née Galli-Cova (1832–1918); his siblings were Carlo (1853–1906), Fermo (1854–1929), Edoardo (1855–1896), Camilla (1860–1946), and Cipriano. He was ordained a priest in 1879 and was selected for a life of academic studies within the Church. He obtained three doctorates (in philosophy, canon law, and theology) at the Gregorian University in Rome, and from 1882 to 1888 was a professor at a seminary in Padua. His scholarly speciality was as an expert paleographer, a student of ancient and medieval Church manuscripts. In 1888, he was transferred from seminary teaching to the Ambrosian Library in Milan, where he worked until 1911.

During this time, Ratti edited and published an edition of the Ambrosian Missal (the rite of Mass used in a wide territory in northern Italy, coinciding above all with the diocese of Milan). He also engaged in research and writing on the life and works of the reforming Archbishop of Milan, Charles Borromeo. Ratti became head of the Ambrosian Library in 1907 and undertook a thorough programme of restoration and reclassification of its collections.

Despite his job as a librarian, Ratti was physically active. During his entire time in Milan, he was an avid mountaineer, undertaking over twenty major tours between 1885 and 1913 and climbing, among others, Mont Blanc (the Italian normal route to Mont Blanc now bears his name), the Matterhorn, the Presolana and the Dufourspitze. He climbed the latter in July 1889 on the route via the eastern flank, which had been first climbed in 1872, an extremely challenging route, previously considered unclimbable, and he was part of the first Italian rope team to conquer the 4634 meter high mountain peak. They were also the first to make the traverse from Macugnaga to Zermatt by the Zumsteinjoch. After climbing the Dufourspitze, he spent the night on the summit with his companions. Ratti also wrote a significant number of mountaineering writings. A scholar-athlete pope was not seen again until John Paul II.

In 1911, Ratti was appointed by Pope Pius X Vice-Prefect of the Vatican Library, and in 1914 was promoted to Prefect.