Two Cities Podcast on Pius XI's 'Hidden Encyclical'
Messrs Theo Howard and Will Tucker recently discussed Pope Pius XI's never-published draft encyclical 'Humani Generis Unitas.'
(WM ROUND-UP) – Messrs Theo Howard and Will Tucker () recently discussed Pope Pius XI's never-published draft encyclical Humani Generis Unitas.
The encyclical was prepared in 1938, at the request of Pope Pius XI, by three Jesuits—Gustave Desbuquois (France), Gustav Gundlach (Germany), and John LaFarge (USA).
The title translates as On the Unity of the Human Race, and was intended to denounce Nazi racial theories and anti-semitism.
The draft remained buried in the Vatican archives for decades after Pius XI’s death. It was never formally acknowledged during Pius XII’s reign, though some of its themes appeared in his 1939 encyclical Summi Pontificatus.
The original text only came to light in the 1990s, when Belgian historians Georges Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky uncovered it during archival research. It was published in their 1995 French work, L’Encyclique Cachée de Pie XI, and its 1997 English translation, The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI.
Howard and Tucker’s in-depth discussion lasted over 90 minutes. At a few points, Tucker referred positively to
’s recent articles on whether the Mosaic Covenant has been ‘revoked,’ which was accompanied by another about the nature of the Jewish religion after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.One point to could add to Howard and Tucker's discussion is that LaFarge, former editor of the America, was an influential writer in American Catholic circles. Passelecq and Suchecky claim that LaFarge was asked to work on the encyclical because of his writings on race relations in the USA.
Although LaFarge was not involved in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, he reportedly walked in the March on Washington in 1963 and was behind Martin Luther King Jr. in his ‘I have a Dream’ speech.
The full discussion is available on The Two Cities Podcast. You can find Mr Tucker’s work on YouTube and Substack. The relevant sections of Humani Generis Unitas are available in Passelecq and Suchecky’s book, and online.
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By a figure of speech. But you are right, it is not like it is magisterial but simply lost. It is not magisterial.
If it wasn’t published, how can we attribute it to Pius XI?