Is mór an onóir duinn-ne go bhfuil caoi agus cóir agus cead againn sa Phairlimint seo indiu chomh-bhrón Muintir na h-Éireann do chur i n-iúil ar bhás an Phápa, ár n-Athair ró-Naomhtha. Ní raibh an chóir ná an chead san ag aon ghlúin de Chlanna Gaedheal a chuaidh romhainn leis na céadta blian.
It is our great privilege to belong to a generation which through an Irish Parliament and Irish institutions of government can express the sympathy of the Irish people on the death of a Pope. The Pope whom we mourn to-day stands forth as a truly great successor of Peter—remarkable in a long line of illustrious rulers. His predecessor had to cope with the difficulties of a world at war. Pius XI governed the Church during a period of world change which saw an aggravation of old problems and the emergence of new theories and forces that struck at the very foundation of religion and what is best in our European civilisation. He brought to bear upon these complex problems a unique combination of qualities, spiritual, mental and physical.
A teacher and a profound scholar, he was never removed from personal contacts with ordinary people and never failed to show his sympathy with their real problems, social or national. Before he was called from his studies he had inured himself to feats of bodily endurance which gave him the immense physical strength which he displayed in the many-sided activities of his Pontificate.
He has been called the Pope of the Missions. He did inspire renewed and greater missionary efforts in pagan lands, but who can say where his greatest interest lay—in the missions, in education, in philosophy, in the problems of social justice or of international peace? Though he was the Pope of Peace he did not suffer injustice in silence. He recognised that there were principles which could not be abandoned and he proclaimed them unflinchingly. Whatever attacked these principles he was not slow to denounce, whether Bolshevism, racism, or extreme nationalism.
If the late Pope held fast to old principles and to unchangeable moral laws, he was not afraid of what was new in the sphere of science. He was prompt to use new methods and discoveries to further the eternal truths for which he stood. In a world of pagan theories and selfish policies his fearlessness and spirituality gave solace and hope and courage, not only to his own flock but to multitudes outside the Catholic Church. He never ceased to preach that peace could not be achieved by the multiplication of engines of destruction but by turning men's minds to God.
The reign of Pius XI began shortly after this State was born. It was to him that the first Irish Minister to the Vatican was accredited. It was by his gracious thought that an Irishman was selected to come to Dublin as the first Nuncio to a recognised sovereign Irish State. In us here he had a special paternal interest and men and women of every class and creed in Ireland mourn his death.
Guidhmíd solus na bhflathais agus radharc na Trionóide dá anam.
I have the honour to second the motion.
