Otto von Habsburg and his family were in close contact with the heads of the Catholic Church from his birth until his death. Pope Pius XI sent his blessing and condolences on the death of Charles IV. During the life of the former heir to the throne, who lived for 99 years, nine popes succeeded each other on the throne of St Peter.
In many cases, Otto von Habsburg had a personal relationship with the heads of the Roman Catholic Church. At the age of eleven, on August 24, 1923, he had his confirmation in Lequeito, Spain, his godparent being His Holiness Pope Pius XI, represented by the Archbishop of Toledo. In 1951, Pope Pius XII sent a canonical blessing for his wedding in Nancy, France, and later received the newlyweds in person at the Vatican. His successor, Pope John XXIII, also granted an audience to Otto von Habsburg and his wife, Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen, in Rome. In the post-World War II period, the former heir to the throne relied mainly on the prelate Gyula Magyary to deliver his messages and letters to the Pope.
Pope Pius XII
Pope John XXIII
Pope Saint John Paul II
Among the successors of Saint Peter, he developed the closest relationship with Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. The former Archbishop of Krakow, who was elected head of the Roman Catholic Church in 1978, was particularly close to Otto Habsburg, as the father of the Polish prelate was named Karol, or Charles, in honour of King Charles IV. For the former heir to the throne, the beatification of Charles IV by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2004 was of particular importance. The collection of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation contains a wealth of letters, articles and pictures that provide a valuable record of this close relationship. Among the documents there is, for example, a letter of greetings from Otto to Archbishop István Seregély of Eger, written in 1991 after Pope Saint John Paul II’s visit to Hungary. Of the legacy preserved in our collection, we have so far only presented in depth his relationship with Pope Benedict XVI, but as the organisation of our collection progresses, it will certainly be possible to go into further details of other connections.
