Humani generis unitas (Latin; English translation: On the Unity of the Human Race) was a draft for an encyclical planned by Pope Pius XI before his death on February 10, 1939.
In June 1938, Pius XI assigned American Jesuit John LaFarge to prepare a draft of Humani generis unitas.
[1] Some secondary sources, including Cardinal Tisserant,[5] claim that the draft was on Pius XI's desk when he died of a heart attack on February 10, 1939.
Critics of Pius XII (notably John Cornwell in his controversial work Hitler's Pope) cited this decision as evidence of his alleged silence toward anti-Semitism and The Holocaust.
He utilized parts of it in his own inaugural encyclical Summi Pontificatus on the unity of human society, in October 1939, the month after the outbreak of World War II,[1][2] and analysis of the draft figures prominently in most comparisons of the policies of Pius XII and his predecessor.
[8] Humani generis unitas clearly condemns American racial segregation and racism and Nazi German anti-Semitism, though without explicitly naming these countries.
'"[21] This divine law of solidarity and charity assures that all men are truly brethren, without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures, and societies.