Editing Pope Pius XII (section)

===Social teachings===
{{Main|Social teachings of Pope Pius XII}}
[[File:PiusXIISaluspopuli.jpg|left|thumb|Coronation of the [[Salus Populi Romani]] by Pope Pius XII in 1954]]

====Medical theology====
Pius XII delivered numerous speeches to medical professionals and researchers.<ref>Pio XII, ''Discorsi Ai Medici'' compiles 700 pages of specific addresses.</ref> He addressed doctors, nurses, midwives, to detail all aspects of rights and dignity of patients, medical responsibilities, moral implications of psychological illnesses and the uses of psycho pharmaca. He also took on issues like the uses of medicine in [[terminally ill]] persons, medical lies in face of grave illness, and the rights of family members to make decisions against expert medical advice. Pope Pius XII often reconsidered previously accepted truth, thus he was first to determine that the use of pain medicine in terminally ill patients is justified, even if this may shorten the life of the patient, as long as life shortening is not the objective itself.<ref>[http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12PSYCH.HTM Pope Pius XII, The Moral Limits of Medical Research and Treatment] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821200244/http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12PSYCH.HTM |date=21 August 2010 }}.</ref>

====Family and sexuality====
Pope Pius XII developed an extensive theology of the family, taking issue with family roles, sharing of household duties, education of children, conflict resolution, financial dilemmas, psychological problems, illness, taking care of older generations, unemployment, marital holiness and virtue, common prayer, religious discussions and more. He accepted the [[calendar-based contraceptive methods|rhythm method]] as a moral form of [[family planning]], although only in limited circumstances, within the context of family.<ref name="midwives">Two speeches on 29 October 1951, and 26 November 1951: ''Moral Questions Affecting Married Life'': Addresses given to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives 29 October 1951, and 26 November 1951 to the National Congress of the Family Front and the Association of Large Families, National Catholic Welfare Conference, Washington, D.C.. Text of the speeches available from [http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P511029.HTM EWTN] or [http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=3462 CatholicCulture.org]</ref>

====Theology and science====
To Pius XII, science and religion were heavenly sisters, different manifestations of divine exactness, who could not possibly contradict each other over the long term.<ref>Discorsi E Radiomessaggi di sua Santita Pio XII, Vatican City, 1940, p. 407; Discorsi E Radiomessaggi di sua Santita Pio XII, Vatican City, 1942, p. 52; Discorsi E Radiomessaggi di sua Santita Pio XII, Vatican City, 1946, p. 89 Discorsi E Radiomessaggi di sua Santita Pio XII, Vatican City, 1951, pp. 28, 221, 413, 574</ref> Regarding their relation, his advisor Professor Robert Leiber wrote: "Pius XII was very careful not to close any doors prematurely. He was energetic on this point and regretted that in the case of [[Galileo]]."<ref>Leiber, p. 411</ref>

====Evolution of the human body====
{{Main|Humani generis}}
In 1950, Pius XII promulgated ''Humani generis'', which acknowledged that [[evolution]] might accurately describe the biological origins of the human form, but at the same time criticized those who "imprudently and indiscreetly hold that evolution&nbsp;... explains the origin of all things". Catholics must believe that the human soul was created immediately by God. Since the soul is a spiritual substance, it is not brought into being through transformation of matter, but directly by God, whence the special uniqueness of each person.<ref>Pius XII, Enc. ''Humani generis'', 36</ref> Fifty years later, [[Pope John Paul II]], stating that scientific evidence now seemed to favour the evolutionary theory, upheld the distinction of Pius XII regarding the human soul. "Even if the human body originates from pre-existent living matter, the spiritual soul is spontaneously created by God."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blessed-sacrament.org/evolution.doc|title=Finding God in human evolution|access-date=17 December 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224184314/http://www.blessed-sacrament.org/evolution.doc|archive-date=24 February 2012}}</ref>

====Capital punishment====
In an address given on 14 September 1952, Pope Pius XII said that the church does not regard the execution of criminals as a violation by the State of the universal right to life:

<blockquote>When it is a question of the execution of a condemned man, the State does not dispose of the individual's right to life. In this case it is reserved to the public power to deprive the condemned person of the enjoyment of life in expiation of his crime when, by his crime, he has already disposed himself of his right to live.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P12PSYCH.HTM|last=His Holiness Pope Pius XII|title=The Moral Limits of Medical Research Treatment: Address to the First International Congress on the Histopathology of the Nervous System|date=14 September 1952|website=Eternal World Television Network|access-date=27 April 2016}}</ref></blockquote>

The Church regards criminal penalties as both "medicinal", preventing the criminal from re-offending, and "vindictive", providing retribution for the offence committed. Pius defended the authority of the State to carry out punishment, up to and including the death penalty.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Library : The Legitimacy of Capital Punishment |url=https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6871 |access-date=7 September 2022 |website=catholicculture.org}}</ref>

====Democracy and monarchy====
Pius XII taught that the masses were a threat to true democracy. In such a democracy, liberty is the individual's moral duty and equality is the right of all people to honorably live in the place and station that God has assigned them.<ref name=Pius1944/>

On 1 June 1946, one day before the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum]] on whether to abolish or keep the Italian monarchy, Pius XII delivered a sermon on [[St. Peter's Square]]. While he did not directly mention monarchy or republicanism, given the context, his speech was nonetheless widely seen as endorsing [[Umberto II]] in the referendum, with it being difficult to misunderstand his plea.<ref>{{cite book|author=White, Steven F.|title=Modern Italy's Founding Fathers: The Making of a Postwar Republic|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2020|pages=108–109}}</ref>

Pius stated:

<blockquote>The problem is whether one or the other of those nations, of those two Latin sisters [elections were taking place in France on the same day] with several thousands of years of civilization will continue to learn against the solid rock of Christianity,...or on the contrary do they want to hand over the fate of their future to the impossible omnipotence of a material state without extraterrestrial ideals, without religion, and without God. One of these two alternatives shall occur according to whether the names of the champions or the destroyers of Christian civilization emerge victorious from the urns.<ref name="Giuseppe Mammarealla p. 114">Giuseppe Mammarealla ''Italy After Fascism A Political History 1943–1965'', Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966 p. 114</ref></blockquote>

After the referendum was successful and the Italian monarchy was abolished, Pius privately agreed with his envoy [[Myron Taylor]] "...that it would have been far preferable for Italy to remain a monarchy, but he also noted that what was done was done".<ref>{{cite book|author=Bracaglia, Giorgio|title=The Italian Monarchy, The State, The Church and the Holy Shroud|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350061222}}</ref>