Pope Pius XII
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Pope Pius XII was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. Pius reigned as pope during a highly consequential 19 years that includ
Pius XII, c. 1951
Pio XII Luis Fernández Laguna 1958
Eugenio Pacelli at the age of six in 1882
Pacelli on the day of his ordination: 2 April 1899
Pope Pius XI
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Pope Pius XI was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of Vatican City upon its creation on 11 February 1929.
Pope Pius XII
…father a Franciscan tertiary and dean of the Roman Rota. His brother, Francesco Pacelli (1872-1935), became a lay canon lawyer and the legal advisor to Pope Pius XI, in which role he negotiated the Lateran Treaty in 1929 with Benito Mussolini. Together with his brother and two sisters, Giuseppina (1874–1955) and…
Photograph by Nicola Perscheid, c. 1922
The parents of Pius XI
The young Ratti as a newly ordained priest.
Ratti (centre) circa 1900 in the Alps on a tour.