Pope Pius XI

Pope Pius XI, born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (May 31, 1857 – February 10, 1939), reigned as Pope and sovereign of Vatican City from February 6, 1922 until February 10, 1939. He issued the encyclical Quas Primas establishing the feast of Christ the King. Its main idea is that the Catholic religion, beliefs, morality, and rule must spread itself to all areas of human living: the home, the city, politics, economics, art, etc.

Rumours he was murdered

Pope Pius XI, who had been in declining health for some years, died in February 1939. A prominent French cardinal, Eugene Cardinal Tisserant, made a sensational claim in his personal diary. The Pope had been scheduled to deliver a blunt strongly worded address attacking fascism and anti-semitism on February 11. According to Tisserant, twenty-four hours before delivering this address, the Pope was given an injection by Dr. Francesco Petacci, who worked as the medical practitioner for the Vatican, and whose daughter was the longterm mistress of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. As a result of the injection, the Pope supposedly died hours before delivering his historic attack on Mussolini and European fascism.

Related Topics:
Eugene Cardinal Tisserant - February 11 - Benito Mussolini

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While it is known that the Pope was planning to deliver a major attack on fascism in a speech to cardinals, and the text of the speech disappeared after his death, the claim that he was killed by Mussolini's mistress's father, to stop him attacking fascism in general and Mussolini in particular is not widely believed.{{ref|murder}}

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