Pius XII, Sister Pascalina and Cardinal Tien Ken-sin

By Robert de Mattei   |   23 October 2024

On 8 December, the Catholic Church will have 21 new cardinals. The Sacred College will therefore number 256 members, 141 of them with the right to vote in the next conclave. The announcement of the creation of the new cardinals was made on 6 October by Pope Francis, who, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, will endow them with the scarlet biretta, a sign of their willingness to shed their blood, pronouncing the solemn formula: 

“To the praise of God Almighty and the honour of the Apostolic See, receive the red biretta as a sign of the dignity of the cardinalate, to signify that you must be ready to conduct yourselves with fortitude, even to the shedding of blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for the peace and tranquillity of the people of God and for the freedom and expansion of the Holy Roman Church.”

This solemn formula is not just a figure of speech: it indicates the responsibility of the cardinals, who are the pope’s most direct coworkers and advisors and form a sort of Senate of the Church. This lofty mission of the cardinals is illuminated by an episode from a beautiful book by Fr Charles T Murr, L’anima segreta del Vaticano. Il profondo legame tra Pio XII e suor Pascalina (The secret soul of the Vatican: the deep bond between Pius XII and Sister Pascalina), published in 2024 by the Verona-based publisher Fede e Cultura (pp 84–88).

The story goes like this. In 1946, Pope Pius XII elevated the Archbishop of Peking, Thomas Tien Ken-sin (1880–1967), to the dignity of the scarlet, giving the Catholic Church its first Chinese cardinal.

In 1949, China fell under the control of the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary Mao Zedong, one of the most ferocious communist dictators, who held power until his death in 1976. In keeping with the principles of Marxist-Leninism, Mao intended to eliminate any presence of religion from the new People’s Republic of China. Of all the religions not welcome in China, Roman Catholicism was particularly hated by Mao, who not only detested the Church’s doctrine but feared its organisation at the national and international level. All Chinese bishops and priests were called on to renounce their faith in order to contribute to the building of the socialist state. Death, prison, re-education in labour camps awaited those who wished to remain faithful to the Church of Rome.

When Cardinal Tien Ken-sin, Archbishop of Peking, learned that Chairman Mao intended to accuse him of treason and have him arrested, he managed to make a night-time escape and reach the city of Rome.

One morning, the cardinal presented himself at the bronze gate of Vatican City in the cardinal’s regalia, dressed in red from head to toe. He may have been expecting a warm welcome from the pope, but that was not to be.

This brings in the testimony of Sister Pascalina, a very loyal associate of Pope Pius XII, who in the 1970s told the young Fr Murr, “The Holy Father called me into his office that morning and told me that there was an exceptional visitor at the gate.” Since Monsignor Tardini had previously informed His Holiness that Cardinal Tien had fled China to save his life, the arrival of the cardinal at the Holy Father’s doorstep had not been a complete surprise. “In any case,” Sister Pascalina continues, “the Holy Father was not at all happy,” and he gave the nun precise instructions to convey a message to the illustrious Chinese cardinal. “Related by a woman,” the pope added, “it will be clearer, and our anger will be less evident.”

A somewhat nervous Sister Pascalina introduced herself to Cardinal Tien, who was waiting for news in the secretariat of state, and, overcoming her reluctance, she said to him: “Your Eminence, the Holy Father cannot receive you today, nor on any day in the near future”.

“But I must speak to His Holiness personally,” the cardinal protested. “I am afraid that will not be possible,” the nun replied. “Whatever you wish to say to the Holy Father, you can say to Monsignor Tardini as soon as he returns. But the Holy Father has asked me to put a question to you that has left him puzzled. The Holy Father wishes to know what you thought when you accepted the red biretta. He would also like to ask what you think is the reason why the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church wear red. If you thought that it meant something other than the willingness to shed one’s blood for Christ and his Church, then what was the meaning of that colour for you?”

The cardinal did not answer and closed his eyes, remaining in silence. Sister Pascalina, before leaving the room, gave the cardinal one last piece of advice. She told him that the Holy Father was extremely saddened that he had abandoned his flock at the time when his people needed him most. He should have remained at the post assigned to him. If that meant prison or death, then he should return to China, running such risks, instead of sitting around in Vatican City dressed in red. “If you decide not to go back to China”, she added, “I think you should submit your resignation to the Holy Father and leave the cassock to someone who knows why it is red.”

The cardinal did not resign, and withdrew to Chicago. One can imagine how severe Pius XII’s judgement was towards him. But what would Pius XII have said, knowing that today the Vatican openly collaborates with the heirs of the communist persecutors of the time — heirs who do not deny but rather claim with pride the legacy of Mao Zedong and the communist ideology of their country?

In the meantime, I highly recommend the book by Fr Charles Murr, an American priest who, between 1971 and 1979, spent his life in Rome. In 2023, Fr Murr published, also with Fede e Cultura, an important book dedicated to Vatican Freemasonry: Murder in the 33rd Degree: the Gagnon Investigation into Vatican Freemasonry.

The new book is full of many other episodes and anecdotes that help us read the history of the Church from the inside. The merit of the two works of Fr Murr is that they are written with brilliance of style, historical seriousness and above all true love for the Church.