Dáil Éireann debate -
Friday, 10 Feb 1939

Vol. 74 No. 3

Death of His Holiness Pope Pius XI.

The Taoiseach

Members of the House have learned that His Holiness Pope Pius XI died this morning. On being informed, I sent a message of sympathy to the Cardinal Secretary of State expressing the regret of the Government and the Nation. As we are met here this morning, I think it right that this branch of the Legislature should join in our expression of sorrow and I ask the House to authorise you, Sir, to send a message on its behalf.

I think it fitting to propose, also, that the Dail should adjourn. Very few, indeed, of the Sovereign Pontiffs, over the long period of nineteen centuries, and none of the great statesmen who have ruled the destinies of people were allotted a task so full of anxiety and unremitting labour. When Pius XI came to the throne of St. Peter, he found a world struggling in the aftermath of the greatest war in history. Men had been forgetting the Christian principles which rule nations as well as individuals but, with inflexible courage, he began his work for the establishment of real peace by restoring and renewing those principles in the hearts of all peoples. We are told that this noble old man, down to a few days before his death, worked far into the night at the duties of his sacred office. He laboured for the poor, the downtrodden and the suffering. With his inspired word as his strength and his prayers as his armies, he opposed violence and materialism and all those evils which are fast bringing the world back to the edge of a new catastrophe. It is not the time to say more. I ask this elected assembly of the Irish people to pay this tribute of respect to the memory of the great Father who is dead by adjourning its sitting. I am sure that all members of the Oireachtas as well as all State servants will add to the tribute by some simple expression of mourning.

Mr. Cosgrave

We mourn to-day— and everyone of goodwill, no matter of what creed of nation, mourns to-day —the death of one of the very greatest of the followers of St. Peter. His work for God and the Church has been so exceptional that many years must pass before its full significance is properly grasped. Called to rule and guide the Church in one of the most troubled periods of the world's history—a period filled with monstrous happenings and doctrines, a period which saw the open and often apparently triumphant challenge to our most cherished values— his vigilance never flagged, he clearly indicated the from which humanity was suffering and laid down the lines on which alone a cure could be sought. The clarity of vision and the exceptional courage—a courage that was due to something above all merely human inspiration—with which he faced the many difficult and very menacing problems has again and again called forth the admiration of mankind. Ever ready to uphold the cause of religion, justice and our common humanity, there were occasions when it would seem that his voice alone was heard—a moral courage that was a rare and priceless gift. Encyclical after encyclical poured forth, to bring the world back to morality and sanity.

The world has good reason to deplore his passing and to join in prayers for the election of a successor who will carry on the grand tradition of which he was such a valiant champion. We here in Ireland who have had many occasions to experience his paternal love and care for his flock—I mention only here the Emancipation Celebrations and the Eucharistic Congress— have special grounds for grief and will ardently join in these prayers.