“The Vatican is investigating an alleged miracle that could put the wartime pope Pius XII just one step away from canonisation. An unnamed person in Castellammare di Stabia in southern Italy has claimed to have been healed from cancer after praying to Pope Pius.” Click here to read more
A few weeks ago, our Treasurer (Miss McMoneypenny – Betty) was given the tragic news that, following her stroke at the beginning of August 2009, she would never walk again. Her family asked me not to publish this news at the time, as it was “taking some getting used to” – to put it mildly; Betty is still a young fifty-something.
Betty’s husband’s first thought was to take her on pilgrimage to Lourdes. The suggestion was also made, at that time, to pray to Pope Pius XII for a first class miracle – that is, a healing that is undeniably due to God’s intervention, in this case, through the intercession of Pope Pius XII.
The pilgrimage to Lourdes is scheduled to take place in July but there is nothing to stop us all praying – as from this moment – for that first class miracle through the intercession of Pope Pius XII. Let’s do all we can to push forward, the cause for the canonisation of this great Pope. We’ve defended him plenty on this blog so we’re hopeful of a result!
A few minutes ago I spoke with Betty. Still undergoing speech therapy, she was, nevertheless, able to communicate that she is very keen for me to post this thread. So, please, read the linked article on the first alleged miracle obtained by the unnamed person overseas, and then storm that corner of Heaven undoubtedly occupied by Pope Pius XII for a first class – “no question about it” – miracle for Betty/Miss McMoneypenny. Feel free to comment if you wish or to post any prayers or devotions that you think would be of interest or spiritual benefit.
Thank you all.
Tags: canonisation, miracles, pope pius xii
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I do hope some miracle happens to make Betty well. I will also pray for her!
Why hasn’t Pope Pius X been canonized? I would be grateful if someone could explain to me .God Bless
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“According to one version, the woman’s husband said he began to pray to Pope John Paul II, who had died that year. The man then had a dream that John Paul II asked him to turn to another pope for help, and showed him a picture of Pius XII. The man did as requested and his wife was later cured. Doctors have said they cannot explain what happened scientifically”
Hmmmm. This part is interesting regarding Pope John Paul II. Makes you wonder.
Betty certainly has my prayers for a miracle from Pius XII.
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Miles Christi Sum,
I noticed that, too, about Pope John Paul II and it made me think it was God’s way of telling us which Pope He wanted to be canonized.
I remember reading somewhere that Jesus told Sr Faustina that He would refuse no request made during his “Hour of Mercy” – so perhaps we could all say a short prayer for Betty’s miracle, at 3 pm every day. I will, anyway.
Gemma, nobody can be canonized until they have had their “cause” introduced and then the Vatican investigates their life and speaks to witnesses so they can decide if the candidate has led a holy Catholic life. Pope Pius XII only had his cause introduced a couple of weeks ago, so it is in the beginning stages and the Vatican needs a few miracles to prove that the person is in Heaven before they can be pronounced a canonized saint.
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I’ve been including Miss McDear McSweet McMoneypenny in my Rosary intentions for a long time…looks like it’s time to step it up a notch!
Very interesting anecdote about JPII, Miley. Editor, didn’t you mention to me while I was visiting that someone had a vision of JPII surrounded by flames – to which you dryly remarked that you had never before heard about the “flames of heaven”?
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Mistress Editor:
I have been remembering Betty in my daily devotions ever since before the Glasgow Conference and had been thinking of praying to Pope Pius XII.
Thanks to your post, I shall now elevate “had been thinking of” into “am”as of tomorrow morning.
Thank you.
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Torkay, interestingly, I was telling someone only this morning about that “vision” of Pope John Paul II “in flames”.
Thanks the convert, for elevating Betty up that notch – I’ll be seeing her on Tuesday and will tell her about the comments on here.
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Like Miles Sum Christi, I think it very interesting indeed, of the version in which Pope John Paul II, tells the husband to ask help of another Pope, whilst showing him the picture of Pope Pius XII.
Editor, yesterday you did mention that someone had a “vision” of Pope John II “in flames”, to a couple of us. It has sent me wondering.
Betty certainly has be included in my Rosaries, but, perhaps this would be a good time to begin to ask Pope Pius XII, for help in her behalf.
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With my late brother now laid to rest, I am looking forward to catching up on events on the blog.
I should like to take up the cause of seeking a miracle for Betty, the Treasurer of Catholic Truth, through Pope Pius XII in the hope that it will be recognised as a valid contribution towards his cause, but . . .
I haven’t prayed before to a Pope who is not yet a Saint. How does one form the address (not the intention)? Does one say:
“Your holiness, Pius XII, I ask you to intercede for a miracle on behalf of . . . ”
Or what does one say?
Guidance gratefully accepted.
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leprechaun,
I don’t think it matters how you address Pope Pius XII. I’ve just been praying “Pope Pius XII please obtain a first class miracle for Betty, so she can walk again, thank you”. That’s all I say.
I read about the other miracle and the lady stormed Pope Pius XII with prayers to get her cancer cure, so I hope more and more people will do that for Betty.
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The idea that Pius XII might be canonized is deeply worrying. His role before and during World War II was deeply ambiguous. His support of Catholic Poland was underwhelming while he refused to condemn the anti-semitic legislation of the Vichy regime or the forced conversions of Serbs to Catholicism practiced by the Ustaše regime in Croatia. On the other hand he saved many Jews from persecution. Overall the best that can be said of Pius XII was that he remained neutral. But where does neutral between the fascist dictatorships and the democracies place one? As our own Foreign Office put it, Pius XII was “the greatest moral coward of the age”. Thousands of Catholic priests died in Dachau. Nothing that Pius XII did, compares with even a fraction of their commitment to the cross.
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@JamesUccello, I’m obliged to differ with your assessment, which is sadly wide of the mark.
Pius XII was hated by the Nazis because of his constant opposition to them. The “neutrality” of the Vatican in the war was a public face adopted to neutralize Nazi and fascist brutality: whenever the mass murderers were publicly repudiated, they escalated their atrocities against whatever innocent people were at hand. It was rather like trying to talk to a madman who has just shot a room full of people and who has a gun to the head of another hostage: one uses soothing words in that situation to try to calm the fury because telling off the madman will just get another innocent person killed.
Pius was not neutral: he worked tirelessly to save as many people as he could. He had no army; the Vatican was surrounded by fascist Italy and dependent on it for eveything from electricity to water to the means of communication with the outside world. Public suicide for the cheap victory of pointing the finger at a group of tyrants would have done nothing to save anyone from totalitarian atrocities.
Here are a few facts to ponder.
* The Nazis considered the Catholic Church in general and the pope in particular threats to their regime.
* In the winter-spring of 1939-40 Pius deliberately served as a channel of communications between London and the German resistance inside the German army and intelligence service.
* Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, the Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem, Rome, and Budapest, the World Jewish Congress, the American Jewish community, and numerous others praised Pius for his relief efforts and public denunciation of racial persecution. In Rome’s Central Synagogue today there is a bronze memorial plaque mounted near the entrance from Israeli Premier Golda Meir thanking the Vatican for saving Jews from Nazi persecution.
* According to Israeli Orthodox Jewish Rabbi and diplomat Pinchas Lapide, Pius XII was repsonsible for saving over 700,000 Jews, and perhaps as many as 860,000.
During WWII, Pope Pius XII directed that should the Nazis ever follow through on their threat to abduct him, his resignation would be effective immediately. The cardinals of the Vatican would then move to neutral Portugal and elect a successor. Pope Pius told his advisers the person the Nazis would have under these conditions “would not be Pius XII but Eugenio Pacelli” (his name before he was elected Pontiff).
Hitler had ordered the kidnapping because he feared that Pius would further criticise the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews. Pius was loathed by the Nazis for speaking out about the Holocaust and for behind-the-scenes efforts to save Italian Jews who otherwise would have been sent to death camps.
“Only the Catholic Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty. Up till then I had not been interested in the Church, but today I feel a great admiration for the Church, which alone has had the courage to struggle for spiritual truth and moral liberty.”
- Albert Einstein“During a generation of wars and dissensions, he affirmed the high ideals of peace and compassion. During the ten years of Nazi terror, when our people went through the horrors of martyrdom, the Pope raised his voice to condemn the persecutors and to commiserate with their victims. The life of our time has been enriched by a voice which expressed the great moral truths above the tumults of daily conflicts.”
- Golda Meir, Israeli Prime Minister 1969-1974The Nazis were “in reality only miserable plagiarists who dress up old errors with new tinsel. It does not make any difference whether they flock to the banners of social revolution, whether they are guided by a false concept of the world and of life, or whether they are possessed by the superstition of a race and blood cult.”
- Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII), in Lourdes, France, 1935Pope Pius died of acute heart failure. His doctor said: “The Holy Father did not die because of any specific illness. He was completely exhausted. He was overworked beyond limit. His heart was healthy, his lungs were good. He could have lived another 20 years, had he spared himself.” He died as he lived, not counting the cost, lovingly dedicated to shepherding the flock entrusted to his care.
More pertinent material can be found at http://users.binary.net/polycarp/piusxii.html
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JamesUccello,
Welcome to our blog – pity I have to roundly disagree with your very first post. Pope Pius XII was anything but ambiguous before and during WWII. Sadly, you’ve fallen for the propaganda.
Have you read this article, published in a top Israeli newspaper?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144457.htmlAnd frankly, to quote the UK Foreign Office on this saintly pope is to beg not to be taken seriously. Are you kidding? The FOREIGN office? British politicians? Men (and women, of course) who cannot be trusted with money, “that tainted thing” as Our Lord called it? No, JamesUccello, I won’t be placing any weight on what “our own Foreign Office” says. Not for a second.
I prefer to take the word of those Jews, living at the time, who praised Pope Pius XII as the greatest friend Israel ever had.
On the day of Pius XII’s death in 1958, Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, cabled the following message of condolence to the Vatican: “We share in the grief of humanity…When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace.” Before beginning a concert of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Leonard Bernstein called for a minute of silence “for the passing of a very great man, Pope Pius XII.”
http://www.catholicleague.org/pius/dalinframe.htmSo, wrong, JamesUccello. Wrong, big time.
Isaac, our posts went up at the same time – had I known that you were putting it together, I’d have left you to it: your post is excellent. Isn’t it, JamesUccello?
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This is an interesting video which exposes the lie that Pius XII did nothing to help the Jewsih people.
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