Editing Pope Pius XI (section)

=== ''Humani generis unitas'' ===
Pius XI planned an encyclical ''[[Humani generis unitas]]'' (The Unity of the Human Race) to denounce racism in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, as well as antisemitism, colonialism and violent German nationalism. He died without issuing it.<ref>The draft text was published in 1995 by Georges Passelecq and Berard Suchecky as ''L'Encyclique Cachée De Pie XI''. La Découverte, Paris 1995.</ref> Pius XI's successor, Pius XII, who was not aware of the draft encyclical,<ref>Letter of Father Maher to Father La Farge, 16 March 1939.</ref> chose not to publish it. However, Pius XII's first encyclical ''[[Summi Pontificatus]]'' ("On the Supreme Pontificate", 12 October 1939), published after the beginning of World War II, bore the subtitle ''On the Unity of Human Society'' and used many of the arguments of the document drafted for Pius XI, while avoiding its negative characterizations of the Jewish people.

To denounce racism and anti-Semitism, Pius XI sought out the American journalist priest [[John LaFarge Jr.|John LaFarge]] {{Post-nominals|list=[[Society of Jesus|SJ]]}} and summoned him to Castel Gandolfo on 25 June 1938. The pope told the Jesuit that he planned to write an encyclical denouncing racism, and asked LaFarge to help write it while swearing him to strict silence. LaFarge took up this task in secret in [[Paris]], but the Jesuit Superior-General [[Wlodimir Ledóchowski]] {{Post-nominals|list=[[Society of Jesus|SJ]]}} promised the pope and LaFarge that he would facilitate the encyclical's production. This proved to be a hindrance since Ledóchowski was privately an anti-Semite and conspired to block LaFarge's efforts whenever and wherever possible. In late September 1938, the Jesuit had finished his work and returned to Rome, where Ledóchowski welcomed him and promised to deliver the work to the pope immediately. LaFarge was directed to return to the United States, while Ledóchowski concealed the draft from the pope, who remained wholly unaware of what had transpired.<ref name="Last">{{Cite news |last=Peter Eisner |date=15 April 2013 |title=Pope Pius XI's Last Crusade |work=[[Huffington Post]] |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-eisner/popes-last-crusade_b_3071556.html |access-date=22 May 2018}}</ref>

But in the fall of 1938, LaFarge had realized the Pope still had not received the draft and sent a letter to Pius XI where he implied that Ledóchowski had the document in his possession. Pius XI demanded that the draft be delivered to him, but did not receive it until 21 January 1939 with a note from Ledóchowski, who warned that the draft's language was excessive and advised caution. Pius XI planned to issue the encyclical following his meeting with bishops on 11 February, but died before both the meeting and encyclical's promulgation could take place.<ref name="Last" />