As Pope Francis eases back into visits, meetings and some public liturgical appearances, he has made a point on numerous occasions to pray at the tomb of Saint Pius X. Many people have tried to read the ecclesial tea leaves as to why that is the case, much as they did in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI, without prior announcement, left his pallium on the tomb of Pope Celestine V, the last pope to have resigned the office.
Speculation has been swirling about why Pope Francis has seemingly suddenly and spontaneously started visiting this specific predecessor, in addition to his normal veneration of Mary under the title Salus Populi Romani (Health and Protectress of the Roman People) in Saint Maria Maggiore, a site he has visited more than 100 times and where he’s asked to be buried.
Pope Pius X was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto in 1835. He served as pope from 1903 to 1914, and was canonized in 1954. He was ordained a priest by the Northern Italian native Giovanni Antonio Farina, a prelate known as the “Bishop of the Poor,” who was himself canonized by Pope Francis in 2014.
Pope Pius X is most associated with three things, perhaps all of which touch on Pope Francis’ devotion to him – which is not, as many think, a recent development. The pontiff has been talking about this figure for years; he even authored the foreword for a new biography on Saint Pius X.
First, Pope Pius X is probably most famous for his Eucharistic devotion. In addition to advocating for more frequent reception of the sacrament, his “Quam Singulari” decree lowered the age at which First Holy Communion could be received from 12 to 7, what is sometimes called the age of reason. Pope Francis has echoed this framing of what was once called “the source and summit” of the entire Christian life, and its wider availability: “In the Eucharist, we encounter the One Who gave everything for us, Who sacrificed himself in order to give us life, Who loved us to the end. We become credible witnesses to the joy and transforming beauty of the Gospel only when we recognize that the love we celebrate in this sacrament cannot be kept to ourselves, but demands to be shared with all.” (Meeting with the Committee Planning the National Eucharistic Congress in the USA, 2023)
Second, the pope is known for his commitment to catechesis. It’s undoubtedly true that certain elements of his crusade against Modernism contained strands of anti-intellectual thought. The historically astute Angelo Roncalli, the future Saint John XXIII, was, as an example, viewed with some suspicion during his pontificate. But Pope Pius’ dedication to forming youth in the faith and fostering religious instruction led to the proliferation of CCD around the world. Pope Francis had long used the saint’s feast day of August 21 (coincidentally also this author’s birthday) to meet with catechists on their unofficial patron’s memorial. He even published a letter to them in 2012 on this date, which read in part: “Catechesis would be seriously compromised if our experience of faith were to leave us confined in and anchored to our familiar world or in the structures and spaces that we have been creating over the years. To believe in the Lord is always to enter anew through the door of faith that makes us go out, to set out on a journey, to leave our comfort zone.” (Card, Bergoglio’s Letter to Catechists, 21 August, 2012, trans. by Catechetical Review)
Third, Pope Pius was a tireless advocate for peace. It is often supposed that his death in 1914 was brought about by his emotional response to the outbreak of World War I. An obituary in an American newspaper, the Salida Mail, not only pointed out that “grief over state of war [is] thought to have hastened his death,” but also that his sister died of shock when informed of his passing.
Pope Francis has, too, widely been reported to have experienced ongoing anguish over the state of the globe, saying that he “suffers” to see the dead continue to increase. In nearly every public prayer setting, he gives voice to the pain he undergoes while appealing for cooler heads and reconciliation to prevail over violence and bloodshed. War is, as he has put it, “always a defeat for humanity.” (Vigil for Prayer for Peace, Sept. 7, 2013)
It is perhaps this last reality, which more than any other, calls the pope to physically venerate his predecessor of late. His own frailty and recent health struggles undoubtedly have drawn his mind to human mortality and the ongoing “passion-tide” of so many on our planet. My own supposition is that many of these wordless pleas at the Chapel of the Presentation where Saint Pius is buried emphatically implore God in this holiest of seasons to thaw the world’s spiritual permafrost, that we all may emulate the incarnational and selfless love that leads to authentic and lasting peace.
It will be interesting to see if more connections emerge between this new stage of the current pontificate and a focus on one that closed on the cusp of the period that would come to define so much of the last 100 years.
An alumnus of Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill, Michael M. Canaris, Ph.D., teaches at Loyola University, Chicago.
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