From the bulletin of April 25, 2021
Returning now to our journey through the teachings of recent popes, we come to Pope Benedict XV, who reigned from 1914 until his death in 1922, which was of course during World War I. Pope Benedict XV called the war the “suicide of Europe,” and made a concerted effort to bring peace and understanding. Though prominent in his papacy, the war was not his only focus. But first, a little history of this man who became pope.
Born in 1846, Giacomo Paolo Battista della Chiesa grew up in Genoa, Italy as a member of a noble family. He wanted to be a priest early on, but his father initially prevented him. He got a doctorate in Law and eventually convinced his father to allow him to enter the seminary. His father agreed on the condition that he studied for Rome rather than Genoa. He was ordained a priest in 1878. Not long after, he entered the diplomatic service and became the secretary to the nuncio stationed in Madrid, Spain.
Giacomo was eventually ordained a bishop in 1907 by Pope St. Pius X. Interestingly, Pius X donated his own episcopal ring and crosier to the new bishop. His diocese was Bologna, Italy. As a bishop, he was zealous about visiting his parishes, reforming the education of his seminarians, and organizing pilgrimages to Marian shrines. Traditionally, the Archbishop of Bologna was made a cardinal very quickly, but it took seven years before Giacomo was given thar promotion. A mere three months later, Pius X died and Giacomo was elected the next pope, taking the name Benedict XV. He chose that name because the last one named Benedict had also been Archbishop of Bologna before becoming pope.
With World War I looming large, Benedict XV immediately tried to mediate peace, relying on his diplomatic training and experience. His first encyclical, which we won’t be covering, was focused calling for an end to hostilities. Unfortunately, both sides rejected his efforts. Religious differences before the war and political tensions between Italy and other countries all affected his public image and led to general distrust in this matter.
Nonetheless, the pope did negotiate some smaller successes. He helped ensure that wounded and prisoners of war were exchanged peacefully on a few occasions, especially if those prisoners had children at home. After the war, the Vatican were focused on helping locate missing people and providing for children. Benedict himself issued an encyclical about the children and appealed to people in the U.S. to help feed children in German-occupied Belgium. This is also the time of the Armenian genocide, wherein the Ottoman Empire Christians in their territory. Pope Benedict XV personally sent a letter to the Sultan and tried to get others countries involved in protesting this slaughter. Sadly, this too was unsuccessful and that genocide remains a great tragedy that is not even well known.
Throughout the rest of his pontificate, Benedict XV tried to navigate the new international political system and prepare the Church to serve in the newly established countries. He did consider the punishment of Germany to be too severe after the war and his diplomats warned that it would lead to another war. Theologically, Benedict continued Pius X’s rejection of modernism, fostered Marian devotion, supported international mission work, and reformed Canon Law. We’ll touch on some of these as we look at a few of his more important encyclicals and writings.
In Christ,
-Fr. Albert