Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi

Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi (26 July 1891 – 29 November 1968) was an Italian medical doctor who served as Pope Pius XII's personal physician from 1939 until his dismissal in 1958. 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. He managed to be present at the 1958 death of Pius XII and created a scandal in this context with his attempt to publish pictures and stories about the dying pontiff. He was also a member of the International Society for the History of Medicine.

Personal life Born in Rome, Galeazzi-Lisi was the half-brother of the influential architect and banker Count Enrico Galeazzi-Lisi, who was instrumental in the excavations under St. Peter's Basilica. 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 that it be kept "in the same condition in which God created it". Despite Galeazzi-Lisi's efforts, decomposition was unstoppable: the Pope's body reportedly turned into an "emerald green" (or black, depending on the source) colour. The stench was so acrid that some Swiss Guards fainted,

Dismissal and censure On 20 October 1958, the cardinals, before their conclave (not Pope John XXIII, as some claimed, since there was no pope that day) dismissed him. At the request of the assembled cardinals, he had to resign that day, 20 October 1958.

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).