October 27, 1936.
Wearing his ferraiolone. Preaching in English.
5 years later this was his radio message to Minnesota, just months before Pearl Harbor:
"Our thoughts have taken frequent flight to your Twin Cities on the upper reaches of the Mississippi River, father of streams, where We had once the pleasure of visiting our venerable brother, your devoted Archbishop - We seemed to see in vision thousands, yes tens of thousands , of Our dear children reverently, frequently receiving from the consecrated hands of God's priests the body and blood of their Lord and Master, their God and Redeemer. The nations of the world are there: there is no people of Europe but has children of its own blood among you, Asia, Africa, Australia; and We see Our dear Negro children; and Our dear Indians are there; all partaking of the one victim of Golgotha, all entering into union with the Godhead through Christ Jesus, who then abides in them through His Holy Spirit. 'O Sacrament of tender love! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!' exclaimed St. Augustine, and the zealous Apostle of the Gentiles, whose honored name your city has borne for just one hundred years, has taught a divinely inspired truth in these words: 'For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread' (I Corinthians 10:17 [...] Yes, the Sacrament of our altars is a source of union which transcends all the accidents of history, all. the diversifying traits and peculiarities which have divided our scattered human family into different groups. It reconsecrates, it elevates, it sanctifies that union which our common nature and our universal destiny proclaim. It purifies that love which every human heart should cherish for all its fellow-men - that love which quickens our zeal to come to the defense of spiritual and moral rights of our fellow man [Jews] - it deepens that love and steadies it, so that no withering blast may make it droop and die [...] Early explorers record in their relations their utter amazement at the mighty current that sweeps down the Mississippi River. There is a stronger current of black paganism sweeping over peoples today, carrying along in its onward rush newspapers, magazines, moving pictures, breaking the barriers of self-respect and decency, undermining the foundations of Christian culture and education."
-Address of His Holiness, Pope Pius XII over Vatican City radio station HVJ on Thursday, June 26, 1941.
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