Untitled Document
Vatican City, Pius XII. Gold 100 Lire Coin
Mint Year: 1950 Mint Place: Rome Reference: KM-44, KM-45, KM-46, KM-47, KM-48. Denominations: 100 LireMaterial: Gold (.900) Diameter: 21mm Weight: 5.19gm
Obverse: Bust of Pope Pius XII left. Legend: PIVS . XII . P . MAX . A . IVB . MCML .
Reverse: The Pope in front of clergy and congregation, breaking the Holy Door open with a ceremonial hammer. Legend: STATO DELLA CITTA' DEL VATICANO . Exergue: L.100
A Holy Door (Latin: Porta Sancta) is traditionally an entrance portal located within the Papal major basilicas in Rome. The doors are normally sealed by mortar and cement from the inside so that they cannot be opened. They are ceremoniously opened during Jubilee years designated by the Pope, for pilgrims who enter through those doors may piously gain the plenary indulgences attached with the Jubilee year celebrations.
In October 2015, Pope Francis expanded the tradition by having each Roman Catholic diocese throughout the world designate one or more local Holy Doors during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, so that Catholics could gain the plenary indulgences granted during the Jubilee year without having to travel to Rome.
The Venerable Pope Pius XII (Latin: Pius PP. XII; Italian: Pio XII), born Eugenio Marìa Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958), reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958.
Before election to the papacy, Pacelli served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio to Germany (1917–1929), and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with European and Latin American nations, most notably the Reichskonkordat with Nazi Germany. The concordat of 1933, with which the Vatican sought to protect the Church in Germany, and Hitler sought the destruction of ‘political Catholicism’, and Pius' leadership of the Catholic Church during World War II, including his “decision to stay silent in public about the fate of the Jews”, remain the subject of controversy.
After the war Pius XII advocated peace and reconciliation, including lenient policies towards Axis and Axis-satellite nations. The Church experienced severe persecution and mass deportations of Catholic clergy in the Eastern Bloc. In light of his overt involvement in Italian politics – anyone who voted for a Communist candidate in the 1948 elections was threatened with automatic excommunication – Pius XII became known as a staunch opponent of the Italian Communist Party. Pius XII explicitly invoked ex cathedra papal infallibility with the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in his 1950 Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus. His magisterium includes almost 1,000 addresses and radio broadcasts. His forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis, the Church as the Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; and Humani generis on the Church’s positions on theology and evolution. He eliminated the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals in 1946.