Birth of Pius XI

Pius XI was born on 31 May 1857 in Desio. Born Achille Ratti, he was a scholar and librarian who headed the Ambrosian and Vatican libraries before becoming pope. His pontificate saw the signing of the Lateran Treaty with Mussolini's Italy in 1929, which created the independent Vatican City State and settled a long dispute with the Italian government. He also negotiated a concordat with Germany in 1933 and later criticized Nazism and Fascism, notably in the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge, issued in German in 1937. He promoted missionary work, Catholic Action and the use of radio, and he founded Vatican Radio. He died in 1939 just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

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