Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi

Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi (1891 - 1968) was an Italian medical doctor who served as Pope Pius XII's personal physician from 1939 until his dismissal in 1956. He managed to be present at the death of Pius XII 1958 and created a scandal in this context with his attempt to publish pictures and stories about the dying pontiff. [Corrado Pallenberg, Inside the Vatican, Hawthorn Books, New York, 1960] During his service in the Vatican he was officially titled "Archiatra Pontificio". The pope also made him an honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Riccardo Galeazzi Lisi was the half brother of the influential architect and banker Enrico Galeazzi Lisi, who was instrumental in the excavations under Saint Peter. [Pallenberg] Late in 1953, Pope Pius XII became sick. A strong hiccup developed and his Swiss doctor asked him to rest. He refused with the consequence that soon after he had to rest for five weeks. In a race with death, his gastritis prohibited food-intake and the hiccup accelerated. He was ready to resign the Papacy. [Leiber,47] "Our time needs a fully capable active Pope", he told his assistant Robert Leiber. But the doctors assured him, that with time he would recuperate. Blood transfusions kept the Pope alive and, after months, he could resume his full duties. Like all Popes before and after him, a group of physicians watched constantly over him including Professors Gasbarini and Paul Niehans [Pascalina Lehnert, Ich durfte ihm dienen, p.191] During his long illness in 1954, American doctors were consulted by intervention of Francis Cardinal Spellman. [Lehnert 178] Niehans and the American doctors concluded that the origin of the illness was incurable in Hypothalamus of the Brain. [Lehnert 178] Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi kept the title "Archiatra Pontificio" until 1956, when he was succeeded by Professor Gasperini, who already was a member of the team.

Pius died on October 9, 1958 in Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence.His doctor Gaspanini said afterwards: "The Holy Father did not die because of any specific illness. He was completely exhausted. He was overworked beyond limit. His heart was healthy, his lungs were good. He could have lived another 20 years, had he spared himself." [Pascalina Lehnert, p.191] His funeral procession into Rome was the largest congregation of Romans as of that date. Cardinal Angelo Roncalli (John XXIII) wrote is his diary on October 11, that probably no Roman emperor had enjoyed such a triumph, which he viewed as a reflection of the spiritual majesty and religious dignity of Pius XII. [Peter Hebblethwaite, John XXIII, Pope of the Council, Revised edition, Harper Collins, Glasgow,1994] After the death of Pius XII, Galeazzi-Lisi gave an article and photographs of the dead Pope to a French magazine, Paris Match, and to an Italian magazine. He also tried to publish a diary which he had composed of the last four days of Pius XII. In a controversial press conference, Galeazzi-Lisi described in great detail the embalming the body of the late Pontiff. He claimed to have used the same system of oils ans resins, with which the body of Jesus Christ was preserved. [Pope's Body Embalmed with Special Process, Associated Press (AP), Rome, October 11, 1958 ] However, heat in the halls, where the body of the late Pope lay in state, caused chemical reactions, according to Galeazzi-Lisi, which required it to be treated twice after the original preparation. Unlike all popes before him, Pope Pius XII did not want the vital organs removed from his body, demanding instead, that it be kept in the same condition, in which God created it. [Associated Press, October 11, 1958 ] This novelty according to Galeazzi Lizi, was the reason, why he and Professor Oreste Nuzzi, an embalmer from Naples, used a different embalming approach, which was complicated by the intense heat in Castel Gandolfo during the embalming preparations. [Associated Press, October 11, 1958 ] He predicted in the press conference, that the embalming system will work to its full extend once the body has been closed in the coffin. He said, that he and Professor Nuzzi treated the body of the Pontiff three times altogether [Associated Press, October 11, 1958 ]

On October 20, "the cardinals," before their conclave, - "not" Pope John as some claimed, since there existed no pope that day, - dismissed him. [Hebblethwaite 271] At the request of the assembled Cardinals he had to resign that day, October 20, 1958. [Hebblethwaite 271] He was censured by the Italian Medical council for unethical behaviour, a decision which he managed to revert on procedural grounds. [Pallenberg, 39] He was also held responsible for the premature wires news of the death of Pope Pius. Allegedly he had told waiting journalists, he would open the window of the Papal bedroom as soon as the pope died. The window was later opened by a unsuspecting nun, who thus triggered the news of the death of Pope Pius, while he was still fighting for his life. Observers at the time did not blame Galeazzi alone. For the first time in Church history, modern news media such as TV were fully present and many traditional positions in the Papal residence Castel Gandolfo were vacant or understaffed in October 1958. The televisionchallenge was in collision with an unprepared, understaffed Papal summer redidence. [Pallenberg, 39]

Galeazzi-Lisi was never officially blamed for his embalming services, nor was he ever blamed by the Vatican for the medical condition of the Pope, which, as with all Popes, was in the hand of a committee of doctors. He was punished for his indiscretion with the media and his misuse of his medical privileges. [ see Pallenberg] and banned from Vatican City for life. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1459496,00.html Guide to Age] . Alexander Chancellor. "The Guardian". April 16 2005.]

In the view of some he continues to be seen as a quack, and possibly responsible for worsening the pontiff's medical problems and hastening his death, although he was not in charge, and although a team of five doctors attended to the Pontiff. In 1960 Galeazzi-Lisi attempted to dispel accusations made against him, in his book "Dans l'Ombre et la Lumière de Pie XII" ("In the Shadow and the Light of Pius XII") [ASIN B0007IXPV6.]

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