Page "Pope Pius XII" Paragraph 72

Pius XII issued 41 encyclicals during his pontificate – more than all his successors in the past 50 years taken together – along with many other writings and speeches.

The pontificate of Pius XII was the first in Vatican history, which published papal speeches and addresses in vernacular language on a systematic basis.

Until then, papal documents were issued mainly in Latin in Acta Apostolicae Sedis since 1909.

Because of the novelty of it all, and a feared occupation of the Vatican by the German Wehrmacht, not all documents exist today.

In 1944, a number of papal documents were burned or " walled in ", to avoid detection by the advancing German army.

Insisting that all publications must be reviewed by him on a prior basis to avoid any misunderstanding, several speeches by Pius XII, who did not find sufficient time, were never published or appeared only once issued in the Vatican daily, Osservatore Romano.