No, it’s not a question of going back in time, of retreating to forms of life and action from bygone ages, but rather, in taking and following the best of the past; it is a question of walking into the future with the vigor of unchanged youth.

Pius XII (1876-1958)
Eugenio Pacelli, Pope from 1939 to 1958

“A final word, dear sons. Let truth, known and possessed, become your rule of life and action. Make yourselves free from passions and prejudices. Grow in Christ through truth. Veritatem facientes in caritate, crescamus in illo per omnia qui est caput Christus (Eph. 4:15). The world hears a voice of rebirth, a cry of awakening: it will be the Christian awakening. As we said at the beginning, you want to build something new on the ruins accumulated by those who preferred error to truth. The world must be rebuilt in Jesus. Let those who dream of a non-existent decadence and foresee impossible declines for the Church look back in history; let them reflect on the present and imagine – for it is not impossible – the future. Let them remember what happened to those who tried to destroy the Bride of Christ; let them look at what happens to those who persist in this foolish design. He who rises up against the Church will be broken against the stone on which Christ, her divine Founder, wished to build her. Young people! Do you want to cooperate in this gigantic undertaking of reconstruction? Victory will belong to Christ: do you want to fight with Him? suffer with Him? Then do not be a young generation that is soft, spineless. Rather, be a fiery generation, an ardent young generation. Ignite and spread the fire that Jesus came to bring into the world.”

Pius XII (1876-1958)
Eugenio Pacelli, Pope from 1939 to 1958