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Caesar v. God. Pius XI was "the Pope of Missions." He was also a "Pope of Saints," canonizing during his reign some of the most popular saints of modern times: St. Therese, St. Bernadette of Lourdes, St. Giovanni Bosco (a social service worker who had once been his friend), England's St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, North America's eight Martyrs. Yet the greatness of Pius XI derived less from his spiritual labors for the Kingdom of God than from his long, uncompromising battle against the pretensions of modern Caesars.
Among the 30 encyclicals which Pius XI gave to the world, one of the greatest was Quadragesima Anno, in which he upheld the rights of labor and set forth an ideal Catholic program condemning equally the extremes of unrestrained Capitalism and Communism. Nowhere did the Church attempt to translate this encyclical into political action. And everywhere Pius XI maintained a traditional policy of dealing politically with the States of the world—negotiating concordats wherever possible —upon any terms which recognized the validity of the Church's mission on earth. That policy led the Church into some dilemmas, could very well lead it, under a new Pope, into more. But with all its dangers the Church's policy remained, as wielded with prudence and steadfastness by Pius XI, the one international influence whose weight was on the side of peace and faith in God.
Interregnum. From the moment when Cardinal Pacelli declared the Pope truly dead, a new order, rigidly governed by ancient protocol, was in force in the Vatican. Cardinal Pacelli, now Camerlengo (Chamberlain) of the Holy Roman Church, was given the Ring of the Fisherman from the Pope's finger. Placed in a red silk bag, the ring was later broken, as symbol that there was an interregnum in the affairs of the Church. Aside from Cardinal Penitentiary Lauri, in charge of the Pope's funeral, and Camerlengo Pacelli, administrator of the Church and head of the approaching conclave of Cardinals, all papal offices and appointments technically lapsed after the death of Pius XI. All the Cardinals, even the Penitentiary and the Camerlengo, at once doffed the distinguishing mark of their rank, the short, capelike mantelletta, wearing simply the white mozzetta or small cape, the rest of their attire violet for mourning.
Garbed by the Penitentiaries in white soutane, red cape and hood, the body of Pius XI was raised upon a velvet and gold catafalque, carried in a slow cortege to the Sistine Chapel. There, dwarfed by the surging figures of Michelangelo's vast Last Judgment, the Pope lay in state while dignitaries of the Church, diplomats. Crown Prince Umberto (for the Italian royal family) and Count Galeazzo Ciano (for Mussolini) paid homage. Next day the Pope's body was carried into St. Peter's, where the weeping populace, which had been thronging St. Peter's Square, began filing past his bier. There began the novemdiali, nine days of papal funeral rites, on the fourth day of which the Pope was to be immured in a triple coffin of cypress, lead and elm. His resting place, near the tomb of the Fisherman in the crypt of St. Peter's, Pius XI chose long ago, declaring: ''I also will find sweet repose in this place some day."