The Pope and the Unconscious: Pius XII’s Speech on Psychotherapy in 1953 and Its Interpretation by Agostino Gemelli

In 1953, Pius XII gave a public speech in which he touched on the subject of psychotherapy, and which exerted a profound influence on the attitude of the Catholic world towards this issue. It was read at a congress of Catholic psychotherapists held in Rome. The impression made by this speech outside Italy was one of greater openness toward psychoanalysis, as several historians have noted. Desmazieres (2011) considered the speech nothing less than the definitive acceptation of psychoanalysis in the Catholic world. Herzog (2016) pointed out that much of the press of the time, especially in the United States, considered the Pope’s words as a kind of authorization to use psychoanalysts, even for Catholics. In Italy, however, the reception was different. The real opening towards psychoanalysis occurred only under the papacy of Paul VI (Foschi, Innamorati & Taradel, 2018). In fact, it was Agostino Gemelli’s interpretation of Pius XII’s speech that directly influenced the Italian Catholic world. This paper illustrates that interpretation and also explains how its meaning in no way distorted what the Pope asserted. Gemelli, however, would have preferred the psychotherapy congress not to have been held. This fact, previously hypothesized by Desmazieres (2011), is demonstrated by hitherto unpublished letters, quoted in the course of the paper.