It is my sad privilege to move:—
That, as a tribute of respect to the memory of His Holiness Pope Pius XII, Seanad 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.
The universal sorrow occasioned by the death of His Holiness Pope Pius XII is evidence of the love and respect he inspired, not only in 450,000,000 Catholics whose spiritual leader he was, but in millions of people of every faith and race who saw in him a fearless champion of social justice and human freedom, and the foremost advocate of peace and goodwill among men.
Pius XII came to the throne of St. Peter only a few months before the Great Darkness fell over Europe in 1939. As Secretary of State to his illustrious predecessor he had worked unceasingly to avert the disaster which threatened mankind for the second time in a generation. As Pope, he intensified his efforts—alas, without avail. "Nothing is lost by peace—all can be lost by war," he said, in a memorable appeal before the guns spoke in Poland, and this wise counsel motivated his unremitting labours during every one of the 19 arduous years of his great Pontificate.
The world remembers with gratitude his paternal concern for the military and civilian victims of the holocaust; for the prisoners, for the orphans, for the sick, for the refugees. His charity knew no frontiers of creed or ideology. He directed and financed a worldwide organisation whose phenomenal achievements in the alleviation of hunger, suffering, and distress make a splendid chapter in the history of our times.
The voice of Pius XII was always raised against tyranny and injustice, and on behalf of the workers, the poor, and the downtrodden. He was the Supreme Crusader against race hatred and the colour bar. His succour of the persecuted Jews in the hour of their direst need will stand for all time as a shining example of brotherly love and as a powerful rebuke to the enemies of religious liberty in every land.
His sympathetic understanding of the awakening national consciousness of the peoples in Asia and Africa was reflected in his creation of a Chinese and an Indian Cardinal, and in his anxiety to speed the day when a native clergy would be available to meet all the needs of the mission fields.
Better than any of the long line before him, this widely travelled multilingual Pontiff knew the world in which he lived and was keenly aware of its complex problems. He was an earnest and consistent advocate of international co-operation in every field. He welcomed the advent of the United Nations Organisation but deplored its lack of effective means to enforce the rule of law. He pleaded the cause of the undeveloped lands and the rights of colonial peoples. Appreciating the deadly menace to civilisation of the hydrogen bomb and the expanding stockpile of nuclear weapons, he repeatedly stressed the urgent need for an international agreement to control them.
Pope Pius XII had a deep affection for Ireland. He received and honoured the leaders of our country and, on one occasion, expressed his admiration for the Constitution and system of government under which we live. He paid a unique tribute to our national language by addressing a group of Irish pilgrims in the native tongue.
That gentle voice which radio made familiar to us all is stilled forever. The Catholic Church has lost a wise and saintly Father, the world a great statesman and an outstanding exponent of the Christian way of life.
Anois, nuair atá an Pápa Pius a Dó Dhéag imithe ar shlí na fírinne uainn, níl le déanamh againn-ne ach guieachaint ar a shon. Go raibh solus na síoraíochta ag a anam uasal, agus go raibh an dea-shaol a chaith se anseo os chionn na hEaglaise in a lóchrann soillseach dúinn fad a mhairfimíd.
