Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

Pius XI

American  

noun

  1. Achille Ratti, 1857–1939, Italian ecclesiastic: pope 1922–39.


Pius XI British  

noun

  1. original name Achille Ratti. 1857–1939, Italian ecclesiastic; pope (1922–39). He signed the Lateran Treaty (1929), by which the Vatican City was recognized as an independent state. His encyclicals condemned Nazism and Communism

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Forty years later, Pope Pius XI, in “Quadragesimo Anno,” criticized concentrations of capital amid the widespread destitution during the Great Depression, but he also criticized the totalitarian responses sweeping Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 12, 2026

In 1931, Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical “Quadragesimo Anno,” or “40th Anniversary,” commemorating Rerum Novarum’s release with expanded teachings on labor and how “the worker’s human dignity in it must be recognized.”

From Los Angeles Times May 8, 2025

Built on land donated by Pope Pius XI to the theologian and physician Agostino Gemelli in 1934, it has become known as the "Pope's Hospital."

From BBC Feb. 21, 2025

According to the telegrams, the Vatican embassy sent what U.S. churches had collected from the American faithful, down to the cents: $210,400.09, allowing the vote that eventually elected Pope Pius XI.

From Seattle Times Feb. 19, 2024

“Among historians, my piece I think will be fairly explosive,” said Dr. Kertzer, whose book “The Pope and Mussolini,” about Pius’s predecessor, Pius XI, won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2015.

From New York Times Aug. 28, 2020

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training