Pius XII and the miracle of the sun at the Vatican

On October 30 and 31, 1950, and the following November 1 and 8 , Pope Pius XII (1876-1958) witnessed an impressive phenomenon on four occasions during his walks in the private gardens of the Vatican: surrounded by a luminous halo, the sun began to turn on itself, in a similar way to the miracle of October 13, 1917, at Fatima.

Pope Pius XII in the 1950s / © CC0/wikimedia/Joachim Specht

Reasons to believe:

A document has been unearthed from the private Pacelli archives (Pius XII's surname) that gives a first-hand account of the pope's experience. It is a handwritten note written in pencil on the back of a typewritten sheet, in which Pius XII gives a first-hand account of the vision, in a factual manner, without any embellishments or additions of any kind.

From a moral point of view, it is hard to imagine Pope Pius XII inventing such a scenario, whose "sensational" aspect seems to contradict the theological prudence he repeatedly showed towards mystical phenomena.

Pius XII remained very discreet about this miracle: at first he kept it to himself and in the end confided in very few people. Moreover, he never referred to what he had seen as a divine "revelation", but as a visual experience, the meaning and scope of which he prudently wished not to interpret. This humble and prudent attitude proves that he was not seeking attention or any personal gain whatsoever.

In 1950, Pius XII was in good health, of sound mind and body: he had never experienced a hallucinatory or delirious episode, was not undergoing any medical treatment, was not taking any sedatives or antidepressants, and did not consume any alcoholic beverages.

Throughout the duration of the phenomenon, both before and after, Pius XII was awake, sober, and fully alert: he was aware of what was happening and had no difficulty measuring the duration of the phenomenon or its location in space.

The date of the phenomenon is not insignificant: the Dance of the Sun repeated in the Vatican gardens took place on the eve of the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (on November 1, 1950, with 800 bishops from all over the world in attendance).

The description of the phenomenon is reminiscent of the miracle of the sun at Fatima (October 13, 1917). Pius XII's connections with this miracle are many: He was ordained a bishop on 13 May 1917, the day of the first apparition at Fatima; he then closely followed Sister Lucia, one of the three visionaries of Fatima, and agreed several times, at her request, to consecrate Russia to the Virgin Mary: on October 31, December 8, 1942, July 7, 1952, and October 11, 1954 (encyclical Ad caeli Regina).

At the time of the four vision at the Vatican,thepilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima was in the vicinity of Rome.

Aside from Pius XII, all the people who have commented on the phenomenon are absolutely trustworthy. Cardinal Federico Tedeschini, for example, the first to be informed of the events, was not the first to come forward: a personal collaborator of Pope Benedict XV, apostolic nuncio to Spain and then to Peru, he was a man honoured by the trust of two successive popes.

Summary:

On October 30, 1950, at around 4pm, Pope Pius XII was walking by himself in the private gardens of the Vatican, where he usually went to pray and reflect. It was a sunny day. As he walked, he read some official letters.

When he reached the Lourdes grotto, he headed for the top of the hill. Shortly afterwards, having just entered an alley on the right that runs along the city wall, he looked up at the sun. This is how he described what happened next: "I was struck by a never-seen-before phenomenon. The sun, which was still quite high up, had the appearance of a yellow globe, surrounded by a halo of light which prevented me from staring at it naturally, but without feeling the slightest discomfort. In front of it was a small cloud, a very light cloud. The opaque globe moved slowly, either turning on itself or moving from left to right and vice versa. Inside the globe, very strong convulsions were clearly and continuously visible." He added, certain that he had not been the victim of an optical illusion, and even less the victim of a hallucination: "This is, in brief and sincere terms, the pure truth."

The pope did not rush to recount what he had just experienced. As usual, he ended his day in his office, where he had a series of meetings and readings. Other engagements awaited him: the following day, he was to publicly proclaim the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

On October 31, he took the same route he had taken on his afternoon walk the day before. The miracle of the sun repeated itself identically: same duration, same intensity. The pope maintained absolute silence.

He saw the sun change its appearance twice more: on November 1, and then one last time the following week, on November 8, still in the Vatican gardens. "After that, nothing."

On the following days, at around 4 p.m., Pius XII tried "several times [...] to look at the sun to see if the same phenomenon was appearing, but in vain; I couldn't look at it, not even for a moment; my eyes were immediately dazzled".

The first mention of these events was made by Cardinal Federico Tedeschini during a homily in October 1951 in Fatima, on the occasion of the closing of the Holy Year celebrations. Pius XII confided in him at a date still unknown, perhaps in the spring of 1951, or even earlier, according to some: the pope probably shared about his visions with a handful of cardinals, including Tedeschini. Tedeschini was a trusted confidant of the pope (and of his predecessors, Benedict XV and Pius XI), a seasoned canonist who was fully aware of the Church's tradition with regard to private revelations.

Another person in the pope's private household, Sister Pascalina Lehnert, his housekeeper and secretary, also testified: "Pius XII was very convinced of the reality of the extraordinary phenomenon, which he had witnessed on four occasions."

Patrick Sbalchiero