Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 22 Oct 1958

Vol. 171 No. 1

Death of His Holiness Pope Pius XII.

Tairgim:—

Mar chomharta urrama do chuimhne An Phápa Ró-Naofa Pius XII, go rachaidh Dáil Éireann ar athló anois agus go gcuirfear in iúl do Dhéan Ró-Oirirc Choláiste Naofa na gCairdinéal an fíor-bhrón atá uirthi mar gheall ar bhás An Athar Ró-Naofa.

I move:—

That, as a tribute of respect to the memory of His Holiness Pope Pius XII, Dáil Éireann do now adjourn, and that an expression of its profound sorrow on the death of the Holy Father be sent to His Eminence the Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals.

When the late Holy Father succeeded to the See of St. Peter, just before the last world war, he took for his motto opus justitiae pax. Close on sixteen years later, during his serious illness in 1954, moved by the ever-present threat of another world war, he said that, looking back, he felt that it was the intention of Divine Providence to assign him the particular mission of helping to lead mankind back to peace.

In the work of that mission, the Holy Father, throughout the whole of his Pontificate, was untiring, constantly pointing to righteousness— Justice and Charity—as the only basis on which peace could effectively be secured.

In this connection, a distinguished historian has remarked that no Pope in the entire history of Christendom was so unwearied in his public utterances or made fuller use of all the available means of communication, and that he has left behind a corpus of Papal doctrine covering the whole field of law in its relation to ethics and politics and to the fundamental principles of human society.

All his utterances, and particularly those delivered yearly at Christmas-time, were marked by the deepest feeling and the most earnest solicitude for the welfare of every individual, irrespective of race, or nation, or creed or culture.

He was, truly, the Universal Father: it is not strange that he should now be universally mourned.

In no country, I venture to say, and among no people was the death of the Holy Father received with greater sorrow than here in Ireland.

He had, I believe, a special regard for this country, with a clear understanding of the past struggles of our nation, a lively interest in our independence and a high admiration for the contribution made by our people to the spread of Christianity and of the Western civilisation founded upon it.

In 1937, whilst still Cardinal Secretary of State, in his address as Papal Legate at Lisieux, he recalled the Eucharistic Congress of 1932 and paid a warm tribute to our country and to this city. Later, as Pope, on a number of occasions he spoke in the most appreciative terms of our history and of our past and present rôles in the world.

Many in this House were privileged to meet the Holy Father and, as he looked upon us and spoke to us, we all felt and knew that we were in the presence of one who was saintly and gentle, gracious and wise.

Like his predecessor, he honoured our language, and paid us the compliment of learning some phrases in it with which to greet us.

I bhfianaise na Tríonóide Ró-Naofa go raibh sé, in éindí le Muire Mháthair, Banríon na bhFlaitheas, dá dtug sé ómós agus caondúthracht a chroí ionúin.

The task of expressing the grief of the Irish nation on the death of His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, is an easy one. Quite simply, the sense of sorrow and of loss was nationwide and profound. Those of his flock, and they comprised the vast majority of the Irish people, felt that they had lost not merely the venerated Head of the Church but that they had lost a Pastor, a Father, and one who directed and inspired, and had become part of their daily lives. During his Pontificate many Irish took the pilgrim's road to Rome and saw the Holy Father. Many not granted this privilege came to know the personality of the Pope through the medium of radio, television and Press, and even the humble parish magazine. Those who had the great privilege of hearing and even speaking to the Holy Father at public or private audience secured not only the impression of a dominant personality but a still more indelible recollection of an intensely human person through whose eyes shone the spirit of sanctity deepened by humility radiating his intense love for mankind. Those, and they were the great majority, who never had audience with the Holy Father secured nevertheless that same conviction of humanity, sanctity and humility. He was a Pope above all others with whom even the humblest people felt that they had somehow an intimate association of a personal character.

Those not of his flock felt the influence of a dedicated, learned and holy man, whose charity—typified by the characteristic all-embracing sweep of his arms extended to bless the world —enfolded not merely all Christians but all mankind.

His Pontificate began at the commencement of that dark period of history which left behind a road of tears and blood. All through his reign he bore the almost intolerable burden of the miseries and fears which "the spirit of violence and domination of force" had imposed upon humanity. In his efforts to spread the ideals of peace and Christian charity he seemed to be—if his own phrase used in another more scared context may without irreverence be adapted—filled with holy daring and a strength unknown to nature. At all times, while uncompromisingly declaring the Catholic moral teaching on the manifold and difficult problems of the times, he sought the co-operation of those who though not belonging to the Church adhered to Christian principles to achieve a more just order of society and a peace based on charity.

His loss is grievous but not irreparable. In the eternal designs of the Almighty his work was completed. Divine Providence will provide a successor.

Pius XII belongs not to history but to eternity.

On behalf of the Labour Party, I should like to be associated with the motion which has been moved by the Taoiseach. To all of us the death of the Supreme Pontiff is a loss of the most profound kind, not only to the Catholic Church but to all Christian Churches. In a generation which produced great and scholarly men the late Pontiff stood out as an intellectual giant; his wisdom and strength of character were clearly manifested in the many messages which he addressed to the world from time to time and it is a matter of profound regret that frail and fallible men charged with the rulership of the world did not hearken to his wise philosophy and sound guidance. The late Pontiff's exalted concepts of the rights, the dignity and the personality of man were refreshing against the attempts, in certain parts of the world, to produce mass regimentation of human beings. By the Pontiff's death the twin causes of peace and social justice have lost a sincere and dauntless champion and the poor and the underprivileged of the world, for whom he pleaded so often, have lost a great friend.

It would be impossible, and indeed presumptuous of me, to attempt adequately to pay tribute to the late Pontiff, or to assess his great qualities of mind and heart. I want, therefore, to conclude by expressing the hope that Almighty God will give to his noble soul the peace and happiness which his services to God and to humanity so richly deserve.

It is only right that this House should pay the tribute that is within its power to the memory of the late Holy Father. He was without doubt one of the greatest successors of St. Peter. He was a champion of justice and of peace—the greatest, I think, in many centuries. It was not by any means an accident that he was elected to rule and guide the people at a time when the world was trembling under threats of violence and war by probably the greatest tyrants since the time of Herod. He outlived them; his messages of peace and justice have prevailed to a very great extent, not perhaps to the extent that the late Holy Father would like, but they have prevailed to a great extent.

He was a tireless worker in the interests of the Church and of God's law, in the interests of the downtrodden and the poor, above all. He never failed to point out to Governments and to rulers where justice to their people lay. There was no section of the people in any country in the world to whom he did not point a guiding hand whether it was in private life, professional life or public life. His loss is a great loss to all humanity and particularly to this country. He was a very warm friend of Ireland as anybody who had the honour of speaking to him or meeting him knows quite well.

I am entirely incapable of expressing myself in words suitable to an occasion like this but I am very pleased to associate myself with the motion to adjourn the House as a mark of respect to the late Holy Father's memory.

Motion put and agreed to, unanimously.

Members rose in their places.

The Dáil adjourned at 3.25 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 29th October, 1958.

Barr
Roinn