For 19 years and 221 days, from March 2, 1939 to October 9, 1958, the Venerable Pius XII It was the high pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. Now, 67 years after his death, the Holy Father born in Rome, Italy, is remembered for having been the Pope during the Second World Warwhich developed between 1940 and 1945.
After the global military conflict, an international controversy broke out between those who defended the performance of the Catholic Church in favor of peace and those who criticized their “lazy participation. ”Regardless of this, the position of the Church was reflected in the beatification of Pius XII, promoted by Benedict XVI in 2005.
In addition to being remembered for his role during World War II, Pius XII is also remembered for his death, specifically for his funeralconsidered “grotesque“In the history of the Catholic Church, because a failed embalmment by doctors caused the Pope’s body “will explode ” In your coffin.
According to information shared by diverse Monsignors over the years, The journalists who covered the event were warned by the authorities in the city of the Vatican: “Do not publish any of this.” However, after the death of the Pope John XXIII In June 1963, the episode acquired more relevance and ended up coming to light.
The “explosion” of Pope Pius XII
According to the Italian journalist Giovanni AnsaldoPius XII doctor, Ricardo Galeazzi, He publicly informed that the pontiff’s body was embalmed in the room where he died, “through a new process invented by a embalador in the Italian city of Naples”, who turned out to be a professor named Oreda Nuzzi.
“Unlike all previous potatoes, Pius XII didn’t want their vital organs They were extracted, and therefore demanded to be preserved in the same condition in which, in his words, God created it. That is why Galeazzi used this new reservoir method, “explained the 74 -year -old Italian journalist in September 1969.
As stated by Giovanni Ansaldo 56 years ago, doctor Ricardo Galeazzi described “in detail” the Italian media this new reservoir process, and indicated that he had used “the same system of oils and resins” with which the body of Jesus Christ was allegedly anointed in the city of Jerusalem.
Galeazzi said that this new method could “preserve the body indefinitely In his natural state. ”However, Ansaldo subsequently indicated that the process failed to effectively conserve the body of the late pontiff, due to the“ intense heat that hit the Italian town of Castel Gandolfo“During embalming.
Until his death, the Italian journalist said he had talked with various monsignors who attended the funeral of Pope Pius XII, who told him that “doctors did not know what to do and the Fans They only moved the smell ”of the body, which there was”exploited” in front of the hundreds of people present at the Vatican ceremony.
“Pope’s face is deformed and they had to close the coffin because the stench was unbearable. They say some attendees They vomited And others are They fainted. What is known is that, despite all attempts to reconstitute the face, the situation required resorting to the application of a Wax mask“Giovanni Ansaldo concluded.
It is speculated that, after this scandalthe authorities of the city of the Vatican decided to return to the methods traditional of embalming. However, Pius XII was buried in the Vatican Grutas, where there were no public honors or images were shared for the greater congregation of Romans recorded until that date.