Pope Benedict XV

Pope Benedict XV, born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, led the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His time as pope was dominated by World War I and its effects on Europe. He called the conflict "the suicide of civilized Europe" and quickly declared the Holy See neutral. He tried to broker peace in 1916 and 1917, but both warring sides turned down his efforts. German Protestants saw any "Papal Peace" as an insult, and French leader Georges Clemenceau viewed the Vatican’s move as anti-French. After his diplomatic attempts failed, Benedict focused on humanitarian work: aiding prisoners of war, arranging exchanges of wounded soldiers, and sending food to needy populations across Europe. After the war, he mended strained ties with France, which restored relations with the Vatican in 1921. Relations with Italy also improved, as Benedict allowed Catholic politicians led by Don Luigi Sturzo to take part in Italian national politics.

In 1917, Benedict issued a new Code of Canon Law, prepared with Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) and Pietro Gasparri during the previous pontificate. This code is thought to have boosted religious life and activity throughout the Church. He appointed Gasparri as his Cardinal Secretary of State and personally consecrated Pacelli as an archbishop on 13 May 1917. World War I badly damaged Catholic missions worldwide. Benedict revived them, urging Catholics everywhere to get involved in his letter *Maximum illud*, which earned him the nickname "Pope of Missions." His final concern was the growing persecution of the Church in Soviet Russia and the famine there after the revolution. Devoted to the Virgin Mary, he authorized the Feast of Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces.

Benedict XV died on 22 January 1922 after battling pneumonia since the start of the month, having served as pope for seven years. He was buried in the grottoes of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Giacomo della Chiesa was born prematurely in Pegli, a suburb of Genoa, Italy, the third son and sixth child of Marquess Giuseppe della Chiesa and his wife Marchioness Giovanna Filippa Vittoria Maria Migliorati. His father’s side included Pope Callixtus II and claimed descent from Berengar II of Italy; his mother’s family produced Pope Innocent VII. He was also a descendant of Blessed Antonio della Chiesa. His sister Giulia married Faustino Persico in 1876, and his brother Giovanni Antonio, an admiral in the Italian navy, married Eugenia Jacobini, niece of Cardinal Angelo Jacobini, and had children. Because he was born early, Giacomo had a limp and did much of his early schooling at home. His father initially refused his wish to become a priest, insisting on a legal career. At age 21, on 2 August 1875, he earned a doctorate in law from the University of Genoa, which at the time was largely anti-Catholic and anti-clerical. With his degree in hand, he again asked for permission to study for the priesthood; his father reluctantly agreed but insisted he study in Rome, not Genoa, so he would not end up a village priest or provincial monsignor.

Della Chiesa entered the Almo Collegio Capranica in Rome. In 1878, Pope Pius IX died and was succeeded by Pope Leo XIII, who received the Capranica students in a private audience shortly after his coronation. Della Chiesa was ordained a priest by Cardinal Raffaele Monaco La Valletta on 21 December 1878 at the Lateran basilica. From 1878 to 1883, he studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome, where students defended research papers each Thursday before cardinals and high Curia members. Mariano Rampolla, then Secretary for Oriental Affairs of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, noticed him and helped him enter Vatican diplomatic service in 1882. Della Chiesa worked as Rampolla’s secretary and accompanied him to Madrid as nuncio in January 1883. After Leo XIII’s death in 1903, Rampolla tried to make della Chiesa secretary of the conclave, but the Sacred College elected Rafael Merry del Val, a conservative, signaling that Rampolla would not become pope. When Rampolla left his post under Pope Pius X and was replaced by Merry del Val, della Chiesa kept his job.

Della Chiesa’s close ties to Rampolla, the architect of Leo XIII’s foreign policy, made his position in the Secretariat of State under the new pope uncomfortable. In April 1907, Italian newspapers reported that he was to be made Archbishop of Bologna.