Luigi Cardinal Maglione
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Luigi Cardinal Maglione (Casoria, province of Naples, March 2, 1877 – August 23, 1944) was the Cardinal Secretary of State in the Roman Curia from 1939 until 1944.
On September 1, 1920 he was appointed as titular Archbishop of Caesarea, Palestine and apostolic nuncio to Switzerland. In 1926, he was appointed nuncio to France, and was made a Cardinal Priest in the consistory of 1935.
In March 1939 Maglione was appointed by Pope Pius XII few days after his election as Cardinal Secretary of State.
As one of Pope Pius XII's top advisors during World War II, he was involved in the Vatican's efforts to prevent Jews from falling in the hands of the Nazis. The 11 volumes of the Vatican's wartime documents, 'Actes et documents du Saint Siege relatifs a la Seconde Guerre Mondiale' establish that he frequently sent orders to the Vatican's diplomatic representatives in many nations instructing them to intervene on behalf of Jews who were being persecuted or threatened with deportation.
Relations between Pius XII and Maglione were distant. When Pius XII agreed to approach the British government on behalf of a group of German generals who wanted to overthrow the Nazis regime, he kept Maglione in the dark about the plot.
Maglione died before the end of the World War II on the 23th August 1944. After his death no Cardinal Secretary of State was appointed until the election, in october 1958, of the new Pope John XXIII.
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| Preceded by: Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli |
Cardinal Secretary of State 1939–1944 |
Succeeded by: Vacant (1944-1958), Domenico Cardinal Tardini (1958) |
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