ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY Saints celebrated on the 10th of February WELCOME! PIUS XI., POPE ⬅️ Saintly Popes - Index Pius XI was born May 31, 1857 in Desio, became pope in 1922 and he died on February 10, 1939. Pope Pius’s pontificate witnessed the rise to power of Benito Mussolini, who signed with him the Lateran Treaty that allowed the existence of the independent Vatican City state, over which the pope ruled. The papacy, in turn, recognised the establishment of the kingdom of Italy and announced permanent neutrality in military and diplomatic conflicts of the world. Pius further agreed that a pope would intervene in foreign affairs not as head of a sovereign state but as head of the church. Concurrently, a concordat established the validity of church marriage in Italy, provided compulsory religious instruction for Catholic schoolchildren, and declared Roman Catholicism to be Italy’s only religion of state. Pius’s role in these negotiations was considerable...