Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV reigned throughout the First World War and was distrusted by both sides for refusing to take one. Born Giacomo della Chiesa in Genoa in 1854 into a noble family, he trained in law at his father's insistence before entering the church, served for years in the Secretariat of State under Rampolla, and was made Archbishop of Bologna in 1907 and a cardinal only in May 1914. He was elected that September, weeks after the war began. He declared the Holy See neutral and held to it absolutely, on the reasoning that Catholics were fighting on both sides and that any partiality would destroy the papacy's capacity to mediate. He called the conflict the suicide of civilised Europe and a useless slaughter, phrases that offended governments committed to victory. He proposed a peace plan in August 1917 — a return to prewar borders, disarmament, freedom of the seas, arbitration of disputes, and the renunciation of indemnities. Every belligerent rejected it. The Allies suspected him of favouring Austria; Germany dismissed it. He was excluded by the secret Treaty of London of 1915, in which Italy stipulated that the Holy See be kept out of any peace conference. His humanitarian work was substantial and is what he is remembered for. The Vatican ran a bureau tracing missing soldiers and prisoners, handling hundreds of thousands of enquiries, arranged exchanges of the seriously wounded through Switzerland, and spent the papacy close to bankruptcy on relief. He condemned the Armenian massacres directly to the sultan. He promulgated the first Code of Canon Law in 1917, and died in 1922.
- Lived: 1854 CE – 1922 CE
- Nationality: Italian
- Roles: pope, cleric
