John XXIII and Pius IX Are Beatified: September 3, 2000
- Catholic Textbook Project
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This text comes from our book, Light to the Nations, Part II.
“I always think of Pius IX of holy and glorious memory, and by imitating him in his sacrifices, I would like to be worthy to celebrate his canonization.” These words, written by Pope John XXIII during a spiritual retreat he made in 1959, reveal the devotion the pope of Vatican II had for the pope of Vatican I.
We might think it would be hard to find two more different popes than John XXIII and Pius IX. History remembers Pius as the pope who closed off the Church from the modern world. Pius IX relentlessly battled what he called “progress, liberalism and modern civilization.” He sought to protect the teachings of the Church from the poison of modern errors and to preserve her independence against the powers of the world. Many hated Pius because they thought him a heartless reactionary; others loved him for his unconquerable courage and fidelity to duty in the face of great suffering. John XXIII, on the other hand, radiated warmth and love. The round and smiling Pope John spoke optimistically about the world of his time. Instead of closing off the Church from the modern world, he wanted the Church to open herself to what was good in the modern world and embrace it.
How, then, could Pope John XXIII speak so fondly of Pius IX? The answer to this question can perhaps be found if we think about the Church in the light of history, and history in light of the Church. The Church has always had the same task—to teach the world the truth about Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us. The Church must bring Christ to the world so that all people can know God and understand what it means to be truly human. This task never changes, but how the Church carries out this task can vary from age to age. The truth the Church teaches is always the same, but how she communicates that truth to people can change.
Pius IX saw that he had to defend the Church against the revolutionary force of Liberalism. He did what he did to prevent the modern world from overwhelming the Church. John XXIII did not abandon the teachings Pius IX defended. John did not want to cast these teachings away but to find new ways of communicating them to the world. New times, he thought, needed new tactics.
Indeed, the world had changed dramatically from the days of Pius IX to those of John XXIII. The civilization of Western Europe had spread throughout the world. Technology and science were transforming societies everywhere. Modern transportation (automobiles, railroads, and airplanes) and communication (telephones and motion pictures) seemed to bring everyone in the world closer together. Liberal ideas in one form or another were influencing cultures all over the world, even in those countries under the rule of Communism. The modern world offered advantages—the easier spread of knowledge, for instance, and the delivery of medical technology that saved and prolonged lives. Yet the modern world was filled with dangers, among them the destruction of the natural environment through pollution and the looming threat of nuclear war.
Worst of all, however, the modern world (in Europe and North America) was moving ever farther from the Christian faith and, indeed, from any worship of God. Modern culture was growing ever more secular; people were turning not only from faith but toward moral libertinism. The question that confronted Pope John XXIII was, how would the Church speak to the people of his times? His answer was not the same one Pius IX gave in the mid-19th century, but the goal was the same—to make the light of Christ shine more resplendently to the people of the world.
Many things have changed since the death of Pope John XXIII in 1963. Computer technology has brought about an even greater transformation in the life of the world’s peoples. Today, we can communicate almost instantaneously with people all over the world by means of the Internet. We can store vast amounts of data on tiny microchips so that individuals can possess vast libraries of information. Medical science has made dramatic strides forward; today, we can not only save the lives of those who in other ages would be doomed to death but also construct replacements for human organs and do other wonders. The political world, too, has changed. The Soviet Union is no more; its socialist republics have been transformed into republican governments. The world today has only one military superpower—the United States of America—a country that says its goal is to spread freedom and democracy all over the world.
Yet, despite all the advances in technology and politics, our world is still afflicted with the same evils that confronted the world of Pius IX and that of John XXIII. Around the world, people still suffer from poverty and injustice. Employers still oppress workers. The threat of war, even nuclear war, has not gone away. Wars still lay waste to the property and lives of nations. Family life has not grown stronger; instead, divorce has increased dramatically since the 1960s, and more children grow up without either a father or a mother. Respect for human rights in some ways still seems strong, yet the widespread legalization of abortion and even euthanasia seems to tell a different story. Many ask, how can we say we honor human rights when we do not protect the lives of the poor, the aged, the crippled, and the unborn? And, how can we learn to respect the dignity of human beings when more and more people the world over ignore God and the moral law that he has written on our hearts?
And, what about the Church? As we have seen, only three years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI said the Catholic Church seemed to be destroying herself. Many Catholics said the same thing 32 years later, at the beginning of the second millennium since Christ—the year 2000. What had happened to the Church that seemed so strong and united at the beginning of the Second Vatican Council? By 2000, the Church, at least in Europe and North America, had succumbed to the enemy against which Pius IX strove to protect her. The Church had at long last fallen to Liberalism.
The popes who have reigned since the Second Vatican Council—Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI—have seen the crisis in the Church and have attempted to correct errors and point the way to Catholic truth. They have understood the mistakes made by Catholics in all levels of Church life since the council, and they have sought out ways to restore respect and love for Catholic tradition. At the same time, these pontiffs have not ignored the world; they have tried to shine the light of Christ and Catholic teaching on the struggles of our time, just as the Second Vatican Council called on them and the entire Church to do.
One thing is perhaps clearer now than it was in the 1960s: if the Church is going to renew the world, Catholics have to take the tradition they have received from all the ages of the Church seriously. The Church has been guided in every age—by God the Father, through Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. It is the duty of Catholics to listen not only to what the Church is saying now in our day, but to the witness of the Church in every age. The Church has a history, and we cannot ignore that history. The Catholic Faith is both ancient and ever new.
This is perhaps the meaning of the beatifications of John XXIII and Pius IX by Pope John Paul II on September 3, 2000. “Holiness lives in history,” said John Paul in the beatification homily. “In beatifying one of her sons, the Church does not celebrate the specific historical decisions he may have made, but rather points to him as someone to be imitated and venerated because of his virtues, in praise of the divine grace which shines resplendently in him.” But even though by beatifying John XXIII and Pius IX, the pope was not necessarily giving his approval to everything they did, he spoke as if he thought their example both as individuals and pastors was important to the Church of today.
Pius, said John Paul, was, “amid the turbulent events of his time . . . an example of unconditional fidelity” to the changeless truths of the Catholic Faith. He placed nothing above his devotion to God and “spiritual values.” Pius was “much loved, but also hated and slandered,” said John Paul; but he had a “deep serenity, even amid the misunderstandings and attacks of so many hostile people. He liked to say to those close to him: ‘In human affairs we must be content to do the best we can and then abandon ourselves to Providence, which will heal our human faults and shortcomings.’”
John XXIII, who shared “many human and spiritual similarities” with Pius IX, lived in a very different time in history than Pius did, said John Paul. Pope John “won over” many people “by his simplicity” and brought “a breath of newness” into the Church. He turned “a new page in the Church’s history: Christians heard themselves called to proclaim the Gospel with renewed courage and greater attentiveness to the ‘signs’ of the times.” In calling the council, Pope John XXIII “opened a season of hope for Christians and for humanity.”
Fidelity to the Catholic Faith (displayed by Pius IX) and hope (exemplified by John XXIII)—these virtues have ever inspired the Church. They have carried her through all the events of her long journey on this Earth. Despite all the mistakes, sins, and stupidities of individual believers, the Church over centuries has succeeded in building a civilization—Christendom—whose ideals continue to inspire the modern world, even as it rejects the Christian Faith behind them.
Fidelity and hope continue to guide the Church of our day. They fill her with the courage of Pius IX and the warm charity of John XXIII. And they embolden her to face challenges, both old and new, with wisdom that is old but ever new. In the end, of course, it is not mere men the Church follows or by whose power she lives. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Scripture calls the “Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:9) and who himself encouraged the first generation of Christians, who faced a hostile and dangerous world of their own, with words of promise and joy. Ecce, nova facio omnia, he said: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).
