Word: pius
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Until the late Renaissance, European artists devoted most of their talents to religious art; then the secular tide set in. Today few artists even think of painting for churches. Pope Pius XII made an attempt to reverse the drift three years ago with an encyclical proclaiming that "modern art should be given free scope in the due and reverent service of the church and the sacred rites, provided that [the artists] preserve a correct balance between styles, tending neither to extreme realism nor to excessive symbolism . . ." Last week he welcomed 300 artists and art authorities from 23 countries...
Born Joseph Sarto, a poor man's son, Pope Pius X reigned as pontiff for eleven years, died in 1914. He was the hero of countless warmly human stories. One told how he got to Rome to be elected Pope. Having given away all his money to the poor of Venice, he applied to the Catholic banks for a travel loan, but was turned down as a poor risk. Finally a Jewish admirer lent him the money for the journey, but Cardinal-Patriarch Sarto was so certain he would not be elected Pope that he bought a round-trip...
...second time this year, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical letter warning the world's Roman Catholics of danger to their church. The first, in March, called attention to such external threats as atheism and Communism. The second, published last week and directed at dangers from within, dealt with "some false opinions which threaten to undermine the foundations of Catholic doctrine...
...Latin words, Humani Generis (Of Mankind), the encyclical cracked down hard on Roman Catholic teachers, priests and philosophers who for various reasons are drifting away from the dogmas of the church and the orthodox system of thought laid down by St. Thomas Aquinas. It is a mistake, wrote Pius, to think that there is the same room for discussion of theological matters today as there was earlier in the church's history...
Actually the proclamation of the dogma of Mary's Assumption has been under intensive consideration by the Roman Catholic hierarchy since 1946, when Pius XII sent a circular letter to his bishops asking their advice. (The reply was overwhelmingly in favor of a papal pronouncement -TIME, Nov. 22, 1948.) And though there is no reference to the belief in the canonical Scriptures, the Assumption has been celebrated as a regular feast day since as early as the 7th Century. The new dogma would make only one difference. For Roman Catholics to doubt the truth of the doctrine today would...