The Pope I admire the most is Pius XII. It is he who changed my priestly fate.

Pius XI died on Feb. 10, 1939, and Pius XII was elected on March 2, 1939. I was 12 years of age and in a clandestine seminary in Mexico.

We were seven seminarians, preparing for our departure to Spain, a country going through civil war at that time. I was aware that many of my family’s friends warned my mother not to let me go to Europe because it was so dangerous and I could come to serious harm.

However, nobody could extinguish our enthusiasm to begin our priestly studies. On Aug. 2, 1939, together with our gentle prefect, Father Louis Ruiz, the seven of us went to the main railway station to take the train to New York, where we would embark on the transatlantic Italian ship Saturnia for the voyage to Spain.

The journey was very long – five days by train, and 10 days at sea till we reached the port of Vigo in Spain, where we celebrated our thanksgiving on Aug. 15 for our safe passage. The seminary was in Burgos, and we still had far to travel to reach there. This was the only opportunity to fulfill my desire to become a priest.

The whole world was in turmoil. 

The whole world was in turmoil. Mexico was under religious persecution, Spain was almost destroyed by the bloody civil war led by General Francisco Franco, and the whole of Europe was on the verge of the Second World War which exploded only a few weeks later with the invasion of Poland by the Nazis.

Amidst the grim predictions, I remembered the words of the recently elected pontiff, Eugenio Pacelli, who appealed to the world on Aug. 24: “Nothing is lost by peace, everything is lost by war.”

Pius XII relayed messages between the German resistance movement and the Allies. On Sept. 1, 1939, at 5:25 a.m. Germany invaded Poland and the Pope was informed by his secretary of state, Cardinal Maglione, of the terrible event. The Pope wept and declared he would leave nothing undone to end the war.

He increased his efforts to keep Italy out of the war and had personal meetings with King Victor Emmanuel III and Mussolini. With Italy’s entry into the war on June 10, 1940, Pius XII intervened to save Rome. He wanted it declared an open city, recognized as such by the warring nations, and kept free of troops and commandos. This goal was realized in good part, although not perfectly.

Pius XII was determined not to leave his diocese.

Although many chiefs of nations and Church leaders proposed the Pope leave Rome, Pius XII was determined not to leave his diocese and, contrary to rumours, he remained there during the entire war.

Things worsened on July 19, 1943, when Rome was bombarded by Anglo-American airplanes between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. After 4 o’clock the Pope left the Vatican in his limousine and asked his driver to take him to the district of San Lorenzo which was worst hit. Everyone, including cardinals, prelates and his housekeeper, Sister Pasqualina, was convinced that he was risking his life. Instead, the Pope issued an order to help the wounded and to give shelter at the Vatican to the homeless. Aid was extended without discrimination to all those who suffered in the war – prisoners of war, deportees, refugees, the hungry and homeless, and the politically and racially persecuted.

When the peace treaties were signed in 1947, Europe was practically destroyed but was given financial aid by the Marshall Plan to be able to rebuild its economies.

The year 1950 was declared a Holy Year by the Pope. I finished my studies in the seminary and returned to Mexico to be ordained a priest. I was only 23, and canon law required one to be 25 to be received into the priesthood. My bishop decided that I should take a year to discern my vocation and he asked the Holy See for a dispensation for me to be ordained at age 24.

I must confess I was not ready to suddenly confront the ways of lay people. On the ship back to America, my first contact with scantily clothed girls in the swimming pool was shocking. I saw their legs for the first time. My remedy was to meet with the chaplain of the boat and he told me not to pay attention to them but to swim till I was exhausted and then return to my cabin.

Finally I was home again, enjoying the peace of a comfortable and loving family. On Dec. 21, 1951, I was ordained in the presence of my parents, siblings, and friends. I was appointed assistant pastor of a big parish for a year, after which, my bishop told me I would go to Rome to get a doctorate in moral theology, because he wanted to open a seminary when the religious persecution was over.

In my next article, I will explain how much Pius XII suffered trying to stop the Holocaust and the mass murder of the Jews under the Nazi regime.