Pegli ( Ligurian : Pêgi ) is a neighbourhood in the west of Genoa , Italy. With other eighteen autonomous municipalities, in 1926 it ceased being independent and was merged into the municipality of Genoa .
108-535: With a mild climate and a promenade, Pegli is mainly a residential area with four public parks and several villas and mansions. It is also known as a tourist resort with some hotels, camping and bathing establishments. Many restaurants and shops characterize the town, which is connected to central Genoa by railway, water bus and bus. According to an oral tradition, on November 21, 1854, Giacomo Della Chiesa, later to become Pope Benedict XV , would have been born in Pegli, in
216-474: A Cardinal-Secretary to run these bodies on a day-to-day basis. Due to the enduring Roman Question , after the announcement of his election to the papacy by the Cardinal Protodeacon , Benedict XV, following in the footsteps of his two most recent predecessors, did not appear on the balcony of St. Peter's basilica overlooking St. Peter's Square to grant the urbi et orbi blessing. Benedict XV
324-690: A Frenchman. The Belgian Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier , known as a brave patriot during German occupation but also famous for his anti-German propaganda, was said to have been favored by Benedict XV for his enmity to the German cause. After the war, Benedict also allegedly praised the Treaty of Versailles , which humiliated the Germans. These allegations were rejected by the Vatican's Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri , who wrote on 4 March 1916 that
432-673: A day, while the International Save the Children Union fed up to 375,000. The operation was hazardous since several workers died of cholera, and it was not without its critics, including the London Daily Express , which first denied the severity of the famine and then argued that the money would better be spent in the United Kingdom. Throughout 1922 and 1923, as famine was still widespread and
540-459: A delegation from Bologna visited him to ask for della Chiesa's promotion to the College of Cardinals, he jokingly replied by making fun of his own family name, Sarto (meaning "tailor"), for he said, "Sorry, but a Sarto has not been found yet to make the cardinal's robe." Cardinal Rampolla died on 16 December 1913. On 25 May 1914, della Chiesa was created a cardinal , becoming Cardinal-Priest of
648-419: A diet of clay and leather scrapings, responded quite rapidly." According to Dr. Beeuwkes, everything was in short supply, including beds, blankets, sheets, and most medical tools and medicines. Operations were performed in unheated operating rooms without anesthetics and often with bare hands. Wounds were dressed with newspapers or rags. Water supplies were polluted, with much of the plumbing unusable. To help
756-747: A full year. Other bodies such as the American Friends Service Committee , the British Friends' War Victims Relief Committee and the International Save the Children Union , with the British Save the Children Fund as the major contributor, also later took part. As the historian Douglas Smith writes, the food relief would probably help "save communist Russia from ruin." The United States
864-637: A gold tassel sash". Benedict XV's pontificate was dominated by World War I , which he termed, along with its turbulent aftermath, "the suicide of Europe." Benedict's first encyclical extended a heartfelt plea for an end to hostilities. His early call for a general Christmas truce in 1914 was ignored, although informal truces were organized. Late in the war, in May–October 1917, the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima occurred in Fatima, Portugal , apparitions that would be declared "worthy of belief" in 1930 during
972-598: A letter to the President imploring him to visit the pope after learning that Wilson was to go to Europe. Not long after, Wilson confirmed the visit and went to meet the pope accompanied by the Pontifical North American College rector Charles O'Hearn. Benedict XV took Wilson by the hand and led him into the study for their meeting, with the pope later presenting Wilson with a gift: a mosaic of Saint Peter . The interpreter had to be present for
1080-523: A nearby village stated: "There are several cafeterias in the village — and all of them serve up young children." This was no exception – Figes estimates "that a considerable proportion of the meat in Soviet factories in the Volga area ... was human flesh." Various gangs specialized in "capturing children, murdering them and selling the human flesh as horse meat or beef", with the buyers happy to have found
1188-799: A part of the Jesuit's Gregorian Consortium in Rome (along with the Gregorian University and the Biblicum ). In 1921, France re-established diplomatic relations with the Vatican. The end of the war caused the revolutionary development, which Benedict XV had foreseen in his first encyclical. With the Russian Revolution , the Vatican was faced with a new, so far unknown, situation. The relations with Russia changed drastically for
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#17327761498931296-571: A personal letter to Sultan Mehmed V , who was also Caliph of Islam. It had no success "as over a million Armenians died, either killed outright by the Turks or from maltreatment or starvation". At the time, the anti-Vatican resentment, combined with Italian diplomatic moves to isolate the Vatican in light of the unresolved Roman Question, contributed to the exclusion of the Vatican from the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 (although it
1404-531: A proclamation of a secular republic. In Bologna itself, citizens and the Catholic Church opposed such developments successfully. The Socialists overwhelmingly won the following regional elections with great majorities. As World War I approached, the question was hotly discussed in Italy as to which side to be on. Officially, Italy was still in an alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary . However, in
1512-654: A public letter to Archbishop Aleksander Kakowski of Warsaw , he remembered their loyalty and the many efforts of the Holy See to assist them. He expressed his hopes that Poland would again take its place in the family of nations and continue its history as an educated Christian nation. In March 1919, he nominated 10 new bishops and, soon after, Achille Ratti , who was already in Warsaw as his representative, as papal nuncio . He repeatedly cautioned Polish authorities against persecuting Lithuanian and Ruthenian clergy. During
1620-479: A second reason. The Baltic states and Poland gained their independence from Russia after World War I , thus enabling a relatively free Church life in those former Russia-controlled countries. Estonia was the first country to look for Vatican ties. On 11 April 1919, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri informed the Estonian authorities that the Vatican would agree to have diplomatic relations. A concordat
1728-426: A source of meat in a situation of extreme shortage and often willing not to "ask too many questions". In the summer of 1921, during one of the worst famines in history, Vladimir Lenin, the head of the new Soviet government, along with Maxim Gorky , appealed in an open letter to "all honest European and American people" to "give bread and medicine". In an open letter to all nations, dated 13 July 1921, Gorky described
1836-596: A surgence of the Italian People's Party under Luigi Sturzo . Anti-Catholic politicians were gradually replaced by persons who were neutral or even sympathetic to the Catholic Church. King Victor Emmanuel III himself gave signals of his desire for better relations, when, for example, he sent personal condolences to the Pontiff on the death of his brother. Benedict XV, along with most traditional Catholics of his time, opposed voting rights for women in principle, on
1944-511: A value of over $ 98 million. To transport and distribute the food after it was collected in the U.S., the ARA used 237 ships, under the direction of 200 Americans and with the help of 125,000 Russians on location for unloading, warehousing, hauling, weighing, cooking and serving the food in more than 21,000 new kitchens. Even after the food had reached the people in need, Colonel Haskell informed Hoover of an unexpected new danger. He explained that fuel
2052-554: A village priest or provincial monsignore . Della Chiesa entered the Almo Collegio Capranica and was there in Rome when, in 1878, Pope Pius IX died and was followed by Pope Leo XIII . The new pope received the students of the Capranica in private audience only a few days after his coronation. Shortly thereafter, della Chiesa was ordained a priest by Cardinal Raffaele Monaco La Valletta on 21 December 1878 at
2160-653: A year it was feeding more than 10 times that number daily. The ARA insisted on autonomy as to how the food would be distributed and stated its requirement that food would be given without regard to "race, creed or social status", a condition that was stated in Section 25 of the Riga agreement. U.S. spokesmen said that it would also want to have storage facilities built in Russia, wrote the journalist Charles Bartlett , and would expect to have full access to those to assure that food
2268-558: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV ( Latin : Benedictus XV ; Italian : Benedetto XV ), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa ( Italian: [ˈdʒaːkomo ˈpaːolo dʒoˈvanni batˈtista della ˈkjɛːza] ; 21 November 1854 – 22 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His pontificate
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#17327761498932376-474: Is not wholly oriented towards reconciliation. Prophetically, the Pope wrote that "if almost everywhere the war somehow ended and some peace pacts were signed, the germs of ancient grudges still remain. No peace has value if hatred and enmities are not put down together by means of a reconciliation based on mutual charity". The pope was also disturbed by the communist revolution in Russia. He reacted with horror to
2484-473: The titulus Santi Quattro Coronati , which before him was occupied by Pietro Respighi . When the new cardinal tried to return to Bologna after the consistory in Rome, an unrelated socialist, anti-monarchic and anti-Catholic uprising began to take place in Central Italy. This was accompanied by a general strike, the looting and destruction of churches, telephone connections and railway buildings, and
2592-617: The Code of Canon Law , which was released on 27 May, the creation of which he had prepared with Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII ) and Pietro Gasparri during the pontificate of Pope Pius X . The new Code of Canon Law is considered to have stimulated religious life and activities throughout the Church. He named Gasparri to be his Cardinal Secretary of State and personally consecrated Nuncio Pacelli on 13 May 1917 as Archbishop. World War I caused great damage to Catholic missions throughout
2700-578: The Irish Republic that saw to the end of the Irish War of Independence . Negotiations were conducted in London , however, there was a rise in tension during the negotiations over separate telegrams sent to Benedict XV by both King George V and Éamon de Valera . The telegram sent by de Valera took issue with the language that George V used in his message to the pope and responded to simply clarify
2808-799: The Lateran basilica . From 1878 until 1883 he studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. It was there, on every Thursday, that students were required to defend a research paper, to which cardinals and high members of the Roman Curia were invited. Mariano Rampolla , then Secretary for Oriental Affairs of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith , took note of him and furthered his entry in
2916-454: The League of Nations as a secular organization that was not built on Christian values. On the other hand, he also condemned European nationalism that was rampant in the 1920s and asked for "European Unification" in his 1920 encyclical Pacem Dei Munus Pulcherrimum , "peace, a beautiful gift of God". Similarly, Benedict XV extolled the virtues of peace, denouncing the fragility of a peace that
3024-561: The Polish occupation of Vilnius , a city and archiepiscopal seat, which Lithuania claimed as its own. Polish forces had occupied Vilnius and committed acts of brutality in its Catholic seminary there. This generated several protests by Lithuania to the Holy See. Before all other heads of state, Pope Benedict XV in October 1918 congratulated the Polish people on their independence. In
3132-645: The Povolzhye famine (Russian: Голод в Поволжье , ' Volga region famine') was a severe famine in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic that began early in the spring of 1921 and lasted until 1922. The famine resulted from the combined effects of severe drought, the continued effects of World War I , economic disturbance from the Russian Revolution , the Russian Civil War , and failures in
3240-735: The Tambov Rebellion , and the failure of a German general strike to reverse his policy at home and abroad. He decreed the New Economic Policy on 15 March 1921. The famine also helped produce an opening to the West. Lenin now allowed relief organizations to bring aid. War relief was no longer required in Western Europe , and the ARA had an organization set up in Poland that relieved the Polish famine, which had begun in
3348-482: The Tyrol , an integral part of Austria which was mostly German-speaking, the southern part, the province of Trentino , was exclusively Italian-speaking. The clergy of Bologna was not totally free from nationalistic fervor either. Therefore, in his capacity as Archbishop, on the outbreak of World War I , della Chiesa made a speech on the Church's position and duties, emphasizing the need for neutrality , promoting peace and
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3456-616: The University of Genoa , which after the unification of Italy was largely dominated by anti-Catholic and anti-clerical politics. With his doctorate in Law and at legal age, he again asked his father for permission to study for the priesthood, which was now reluctantly granted. He insisted, however, that his son conduct his theological studies in Rome , not in Genoa , so that he would not end up as
3564-656: The 50th anniversary of the apparition. The unexpected death of his friend, supporter and mentor Rampolla on 16 December 1913 was a major blow to della Chiesa, who was one of the beneficiaries of his will. It was a custom that the Archbishop of Bologna would be made a cardinal in one of the coming consistories . In Bologna this was surely expected of della Chiesa as well, since, in previous years, either cardinals were named as archbishops, or archbishops as cardinals soon thereafter. Pius X did not follow this tradition and left della Chiesa waiting for almost seven years. When
3672-450: The ARA was still providing relief supplies, grain was exported by the Soviet government to raise funds for the revival of industry, which seriously endangered Western support for relief. The new Soviet government insisted that if the AYA suspended relief, the ARA was to arrange a foreign loan for them of about $ 10,000,000 1923 dollars; the ARA was unable to do so and continued to ship in food past
3780-557: The American Relief Administration, through your person, for the substantial support which they are offering to the calamity stricken population of the Volga area. By the summer of 1923, it was estimated that the U.S. relief that was given to Russia amounted to over twice the total of relief given it by all other foreign organizations combined. European agencies co-ordinated by the ICRR also fed two million people
3888-531: The American relief kitchens. Haskell cabled Hoover that at least one million children were in extreme need of clothes. Hoover quickly initiated a plan for collecting and sending clothing packages to Russia, which would come from donations by individuals, businesses and banks. Medical needs were also paramount. As noted by Dr. Henry Beeuwkes, the chief of the Medical Division in Russia, American relief
3996-637: The Bolshevik advance against Warsaw during the Polish–Soviet War , he asked for worldwide public prayers for Poland. Nuncio Ratti was the only foreign diplomat to stay in the Polish capital. On 11 June 1921, he wrote to the Polish episcopate, warning against political misuses of spiritual power, urging again for peaceful coexistence with neighbouring peoples, stating that "love of country has its limits in justice and obligations". He sent nuncio Ratti to Silesia to act against potential political agitations of
4104-656: The Catholic Pope was neutral on paper only, strongly favoring the allies instead. Benedict was said to have prompted Austria-Hungary to go to war in order to weaken the German war machine. Also, allegedly, the Papal Nuncio in Paris explained in a meeting of the Institut Catholique , "to fight against France is to fight against God", and the Pope was said to have exclaimed that he was sorry not to be
4212-641: The Catholic clergy. Ratti, a scholar, intended to work for Poland and build bridges to the Soviet Union , hoping even to shed his blood for Russia. Pope Benedict XV needed him as a diplomat and not as a martyr and forbade any trip into the USSR even though he was the official papal delegate to Russia. However, he continued his contacts with Russia. This did not generate much sympathy for him within Poland at
4320-710: The Germans invaded Belgium in 1914, Hoover set up the Belgian Relief Committee to alleviate the devastation and starvation that followed. As World War I expanded, the ARA grew, and it next entered northern France and assisted France and Germany from 1914 to 1919. In 1920 and 1921, it provided one meal a day to 3.2 million children in Finland, Estonia, various Russian regions, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, and Armenia. When it began its emergency feeding operation in Russia, it planned to feed about one million Russian children for
4428-469: The Holy Office, and his alignment with the policies of Pius X, other cardinals such as Andrea Carlo Ferrari and Désiré-Joseph Mercier believed that the new pope needed to focus not on Modernism and doctrinal debates, but rather, a softer focus after the somewhat harsh reign of Pius X. To that end, those cardinals turned towards electing the liberal Archbishop of Pisa Pietro Maffi . Della Chiesa, on
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4536-538: The Holy See in 1933, is the allegation that Benedict XV, in a private interview with Count George Noble Plunkett in mid-April 1916, imparted an Apostolic blessing to the Irish Republic just two weeks before the Easter Rising . The fact that the Pope is purported to have done so was widely accepted by Republicans , though categorically denied later by L'Osservatore Romano in 1933. Additionally, it
4644-435: The Holy See is completely impartial and does not favor the allied side. This was even more important, so Gasparri noted, after the diplomatic representatives of Germany and Austria-Hungary to the Vatican were expelled from Rome by Italian authorities. However, considering all this, German Protestants rejected any "Papal Peace", calling it insulting. French politician Georges Clemenceau , a fierce anti-clerical, claimed to regard
4752-551: The Moscow Soviet and deputy chairman of all Russian famine relief committees, wrote a letter to Haskell that thanked him and the ARA for its help and also paid tribute to the American people The government of the Russian nation will never forget the generous help that was afforded them in the terrible calamity and dangers visited upon them.... I wish to express, on behalf of the Soviet government, my satisfaction and thanks to
4860-585: The Politburo, he explains that the famine provides an opportunity against the church. Richard Pipes argued that the famine was used politically as an excuse for the Bolshevik leadership to persecute the Orthodox Church, which held significant sway over much of the peasantry. Russian anti-Bolshevik white émigrés in London, Paris, and elsewhere also used the famine as a media opportunity to highlight
4968-421: The U.S. set up its first kitchen in Petrograd , where 1.6 million people had already starved to death. For almost two years now a scant two hundred Americans, on a battle line far longer than the western front, have been fighting a foe more pitiless than any the allied armies faced. From the Baltic to the Caspian Sea, from the Crimea to the Urals, they have conquered the famine, saved more lives than were lost in
5076-426: The Vatican initiative as anti-French. Benedict made many unsuccessful attempts to negotiate peace, but these pleas for a negotiated peace made him unpopular, even in Catholic countries like Italy, among many supporters of the war who were determined to accept nothing less than total victory. On 1 August 1917, Benedict issued a seven-point peace plan stating that: Great Britain reacted favorably though popular opinion
5184-432: The Vatican. Almost a third of it concerned missing persons. Some 40,000 people had asked for help in the repatriation of sick POWs and 50,000 letters were sent from families to their loved ones who were POWs. Both during and after the war, Benedict was primarily concerned about the fate of the children, on whose behalf he issued an encyclical. In 1916 he appealed to the people and clergy of the United States to help him feed
5292-448: The World War, healed a sorely-suffering people of the diseases which threatened to sweep the whole of Europe, won the benedictions of a great, but stricken, nation, achieved the world's greatest adventure in humanity! W. Howard Ramsey, newspaper editor Over 10 million people were fed daily, with the bulk of food coming from the ARA, which had provided more than 768 million tons of flour, grain, rice, beans, pork, milk, and sugar, with
5400-417: The anti-clerical Republican government of France, and canonized the French national heroine Saint Joan of Arc . In the mission territories of the Third World , he emphasized the necessity of training native priests to quickly replace the European missionaries, and founded the Pontifical Oriental Institute and the Coptic College in the Vatican. Pius XI would entrust the "Orientale" to the Jesuits and make it
5508-534: The ascent of the Bolsheviks. Before the famine, all sides in the Russian Civil Wars of 1918–1921 (the Bolsheviks , the Whites , the Anarchists , and the seceding nationalities) had provisioned themselves by seizing food from those who grew it, giving it to their armies and supporters, and denying it to their enemies. The Bolshevik government had requisitioned supplies from the peasantry for little or nothing in exchange, which led peasants to drastically reduce their crop production. Aid from outside Soviet Russia
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#17327761498935616-403: The cardinals, hence, deep suspicion in many cardinals of their European colleagues. During the conclave, Cardinal Domenico Serafini and his faction had enough votes to ensure that della Chiesa was not elected, particularly since the eighth ballot had della Chiesa with a majority, though below the two-thirds needed for election. While Serafini was considered " papabile " due to his position at
5724-462: The crop failure which had brought his country to the brink of starvation. Herbert Hoover , who would later become the U.S. President , responded immediately, and negotiations with Russia took place at the Latvian capital, Riga . A European effort was led by the famous Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen through the International Committee for Russian Relief (ICRR). Hoover's ARA had already been distributing food aid throughout Europe since 1914. After
5832-432: The demise of Imperial Russia , Austria-Hungary, and Germany. Large food shipments, and information about and contacts with POWs, were to be the first steps for a better understanding of the papacy in Europe. Regarding the Versailles Peace Conference , the Vatican believed that the economic conditions imposed on Germany were too harsh and threatened the European economic stability as a whole. Cardinal Gasparri believed that
5940-457: The diplomatic service of the Vatican in 1882, where he was employed by Rampolla as a secretary and in January 1883 accompanied nuncio Rampolla to Madrid . Just after Leo XIII 's death in 1903, Rampolla tried to make della Chiesa the secretary of the conclave, but the Sacred College elected Rafael Merry del Val , a conservative young prelate, the first sign that Rampolla would not be the next Pope. When Cardinal Rampolla had to leave his post with
6048-473: The early 1920s and a total population of approximately 90 million people. The film was directed by Tatyana Sorokina with Aleksandr Arkhangelsky writing the script and Maxim Kournikov providing the inspiration behind the creation of the film. On October 30, 2022, Famine was first shown at a public theater in Yekaterinburg . In November 2022, the Russian Ministry of Culture banned the distribution of Голод in Russia. In December 2022, Famine received
6156-415: The easing of suffering. Following the death of Pius X , the resulting conclave opened at the end of August 1914. The war would clearly be the dominant issue of the new pontificate, so the cardinals' priority was to choose a man with great diplomatic experience. Thus on 3 September 1914, della Chiesa, despite having been a cardinal only three months, was elected pope, taking the name of Benedict XV. He chose
6264-508: The election of his opponent Pope Pius X , and was succeeded by Merry del Val, della Chiesa was retained in his post. Della Chiesa's association with Rampolla, the architect of Pope Leo XIII 's (1878–1903) foreign policy, made his position in the Secretariat of State under the new pontificate somewhat uncomfortable. Italian papers announced that on 15 April 1907 the papal nuncio Aristide Rinaldini in Madrid would be replaced by della Chiesa, who had worked there before. Pius X , chuckling over
6372-452: The episcopal consecration from Pope Pius X himself. The Pope donated his own episcopal ring and crosier to the new bishop and spent much time with the della Chiesa family on the following day. On 23 February 1908, della Chiesa took possession of his new diocese, which included 700,000 persons, 750 priests, as well as 19 male and 78 female religious institutes . In the episcopal seminary, some 25 teachers educated 120 students preparing for
6480-530: The events, and most of them have been accused by their enemies of having contributed to or even bearing sole responsibility for the famine. The Bolsheviks started a campaign of seizing church property in 1922. That year, over 4.5 million golden roubles of property were seized. Of those, one million gold roubles were spent for famine relief. In a secret March 19, 1922 letter to the Politburo, Lenin expressed an intention to seize several hundred million golden roubles for famine relief. In Lenin's secret letter to
6588-520: The existence and freedom of the Church. To deal with these and related issues, Benedict engaged in what he knew best, a large scale diplomatic offensive to secure the rights of the faithful in all countries. Leo XIII already had agreed to the participation of Catholics in local but not national politics. Relations with Italy improved as well under Benedict XV, who de facto reversed the stiff anti-Italian policy of his predecessors by allowing Catholics to participate in national elections as well. This led to
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#17327761498936696-415: The famine began, Russia had suffered three-and-a-half years of World War I and additionally the Russian Civil War of 1918–1920, many of the conflicts being fought inside Russia. There were 7–12 million casualties during the Russian Civil War , mostly civilians. Historians have noted that both Tsarist Russia government councils and other opposition parties had advocated for food requisitioning prior to
6804-532: The field of international diplomacy Pope Benedict also tried to bring about peace through Christian faith, as he published a special prayer in 1915 to be spoken by Catholics throughout the world. Almost from the beginning of the war, November 1914, Benedict negotiated with the warring parties about an exchange of wounded and other prisoners of war who were unable to continue fighting. Tens of thousands of such prisoners were exchanged through his intervention. On 15 January 1915, he proposed an exchange of civilians from
6912-440: The government policy of war communism (especially prodrazvyorstka ). It was exacerbated by rail systems that could not distribute food efficiently. The famine killed an estimated five million people and primarily affected the Volga and Ural River regions. Many of the starving resorted to cannibalism . The outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhus were also contributing factors to famine casualties. Before
7020-443: The grain being sold abroad. As with other large-scale famines, the range of estimates is considerable. An official Soviet publication of the early 1920s concluded that about five million deaths occurred in 1921 from famine and related disease, the number that is usually quoted in textbooks. More conservative figures counted not more than a million, and another assessment, based on the ARA's medical division, spoke of two million. On
7128-440: The grounds that it would take them out of their "natural sphere". However, he was pragmatic and recognized female suffrage could be a "social necessity in some countries...in order to counter the generally subversive views of the socialists with the supposedly conservative votes of women", believing that women would help support traditional Catholic positions if granted suffrage. Benedict XV also attempted to improve relations with
7236-531: The holiday palace of the Marquises Della Chiesa. In front of the palace, where he often stayed as a child and sometimes as an adult before his election to the papal throne, there is a small monument, whose inscription claims the birth of the future pope. However more reliable sources say he was born in the main family palace, in via di Santa Caterina, in the center of Genoa. 44°25′31″N 8°48′52″E / 44.42528°N 8.81444°E / 44.42528; 8.81444 This Liguria location article
7344-488: The impacts of the war, such as attending prisoners of war, the exchange of wounded soldiers and food deliveries to needy populations in Europe. After the war, he repaired the difficult relations with France , which re-established relations with the Vatican in 1921. During his pontificate, relations with Italy improved as well, as Benedict XV now permitted Catholic politicians led by Don Luigi Sturzo to participate in national Italian politics. In 1917, Benedict XV promulgated
7452-446: The iniquities of the Soviet regime to prevent trade with and official recognition of the Bolshevik government. On September 24, 2022, at the Oktyabr cinema in Moscow, the Russian documentary film Hunger or Famine ( Russian : Голод ) premiered which depicts the mass famine in the Volga region, Ukraine, the Urals, Bashkiria, Samara and Chelyabinsk regions, Kazakhstan and Western Siberia affecting over 35 oblasts of Soviet Russia in
7560-421: The journalist's knowledge, commented, "Unfortunately, the paper forgot to mention whom I nominated as the next Archbishop of Bologna ." The Vatican had supposedly "gone so far as to make out the papers naming him the papal nuncio, but [della Chiesa] refused to accept them". On 18 December 1907, in the presence of his family, the diplomatic corps, numerous bishops and cardinals, and his friend Rampolla, he received
7668-417: The meeting, since the pope was speaking in French, and Wilson only spoke English. The presidential party was presented to the pope, and after presenting his personal physician Admiral Grayson (telling the pope that he "is the man who keeps me well"), the pope said: "Apparently, he has done a splendid job", before offering words to Grayson. The pope blessed the entourage, despite Wilson's slight confusion, after
7776-776: The name because of his devotion to St. Benedict of Nursia , perhaps also in honour of Pope Benedict XIV , who had been an archbishop from Bologna. Upon being elected pope, he was also formally the Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, prefect of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office and prefect of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation . There was, however,
7884-543: The nature between both parties and the reasons that there had been tension between the two. In his letter to George V, the Pope praised the ongoing efforts for peace, saying that "We rejoice at the resumption of the Anglo-Irish negotiations" and that the negotiations would "end the age-long dissention" between both sides. Benedict XV further declared himself "overjoyed with the agreement happily reached in regard to Ireland". A source of contention, despite firm denials by
7992-477: The new international system that had emerged. The papacy was faced with the emergence of numerous new states such as Poland , Lithuania , Estonia , Yugoslavia , Czechoslovakia , Finland, and others. Germany , France , Italy, and Austria were impoverished from the war. In addition, the traditional social and cultural European order was threatened by right-wing nationalism and fascism as well as left-wing socialism and communism, all of which potentially threatened
8100-521: The occupied zones, which resulted in 20,000 persons being sent to unoccupied Southern France in one month. In 1916, Benedict managed to hammer out an agreement between both sides by which 29,000 prisoners with lung disease from the gas attacks could be sent into Switzerland. In May 1918, he also negotiated an agreement whereby prisoners on both sides with at least 18 months of captivity and four children at home would also be sent to neutral Switzerland. He succeeded in 1915 in reaching an agreement by which
8208-556: The other and was unwilling to accept the terms he proposed. Still, although unsuccessful, his diplomatic efforts during the war are credited with an increase of papal prestige and served as a model in the 20th century for the peace efforts of Pius XII before and during World War II , the policies of Paul VI during the Vietnam War , and the position of John Paul II before and during the Iraq War . In addition to his efforts in
8316-486: The other hand, was wedged between Maffi and Serafini as representing the best and worst of both factions, hence his contention in the balloting. While della Chiesa seemed to secure support from some conservative cardinals, Maffi lagged considerably and hence Serafini was positioned as della Chiesa's main rival. Since Maffi had lagged in the balloting, his supporters decided to counter Serafini and threw their support for della Chiesa, securing his election by only one vote in what
8424-520: The other side of the scale, some sources spoke of ten million dead. According to Bertrand M. Patenaude, "such a number hardly seems extravagant after the many tens of millions of victims of war, famine, and terror in the twentieth century." The famine came at the end of six-and-a-half years of unrest and violence (World War I, the two Russian Revolutions of 1917, and the Russian Civil War). Many political and military factions were involved in
8532-411: The papacy of his successor, Pius XI . The national antagonisms between the warring parties were accentuated by religious differences before the war, with France, Italy and Belgium being largely Catholic. Vatican relations with Great Britain were good, while neither Prussia nor Imperial Germany had any official relations with the Vatican. In Protestant circles of Germany, the notion was popular that
8640-585: The part of the deceased pontiff that there were fewer moderate and progressive cardinals in the Sacred College. However, the cardinals feared that one of the sides in World War I might potentially influence the conclave to elect a pope that would prove amenable to their side and their positions. While the cardinals expressed relief in the abolition of the veto in 1904, there was still a palpable fear that there would be subtle attempts to exert control over
8748-503: The peace conditions and the humiliation of the Germans would likely result in another war as soon as Germany would be militarily in a position to start one. The Vatican also rejected the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, seeing in this step an inevitable and eventual strengthening of Germany. The Vatican also had great reservations about the creation of small successor states which, in the view of Gasparri, were not viable economically and therefore condemned to economic misery. Benedict rejected
8856-522: The poor." A meeting of all priests in a synod had to be postponed at the wish of the Vatican considering ongoing changes in Canon Law . Numerous churches were built or restored. He personally originated a major reform of the educational orientation of the seminary, adding more science courses and classic education to the curriculum . He organized pilgrimages to Marian shrines in Loreto and Lourdes at
8964-534: The pope assured Wilson his blessing did not discriminate those of other faiths, since Wilson was a Presbyterian . Following the declaration of the Irish Republic in 1919, Benedict XV was visited by Seán T. O'Kelly in May 1920, who explained Irish politics and presented a memorandum, hoping for support from the "Sovereign Pontiff". In 1921, a peace agreement was formalized between the British Empire and
9072-614: The preliminary diplomatic negotiations leading to the Balfour Declaration , Pope Benedict gave his support to a Jewish homeland in Palestine to Zionist diplomat Nahum Sokolow on 4 May 1917, describing the return of the Jews to Palestine as "providential; God has willed it." Cardinal James Gibbons helped secure a meeting between the pope and President Woodrow Wilson which took place on 4 January 1919. The cardinal had sent
9180-429: The priesthood. As bishop, he visited all parishes, making a special effort to see the smaller ones in the mountains which could only be accessed on horse-back. He always saw preaching as the main obligation of a bishop. He usually gave two or more sermons a day during his visitations. His emphasis was on cleanliness inside all churches and chapels and on saving money wherever possible, for he said, "Let us save to give to
9288-616: The start of that month. He was buried in the grottoes of Saint Peter's Basilica . With his diplomatic skills and his openness towards modern society, "he gained respect for himself and the papacy." Giacomo della Chiesa was born prematurely at Pegli , a suburb of Genoa , Italy, the third son and sixth child of Marchese Giuseppe della Chiesa (1821–1892) and his wife Marchesa Giovanna Migliorati (1827–1904). Genealogy findings report that his father's side produced Pope Callixtus II and also claimed descent from Berengar II of Italy and that his maternal family produced Pope Innocent VII . He
9396-883: The starving children in German-occupied Belgium. His aid to children was not limited to Belgium but extended to children in Lithuania, Poland, Lebanon, Montenegro, Syria and Russia. Benedict was particularly appalled at the new military invention of aerial warfare and protested several times against it to no avail. In May and June 1915, the Ottoman Empire waged a genocide against the Armenian Christian minorities in Anatolia . The Vatican attempted to get Germany and Austria-Hungary involved in protesting to its Turkish ally. The Pope himself sent
9504-400: The strongly anti-religious policies adopted by Vladimir Lenin 's government along with the bloodshed and widespread famine which occurred during the subsequent Russian Civil War . He undertook the greatest efforts trying to help the victims of the Russian famine with millions in relief. In the post-war period, Pope Benedict XV was involved in developing the Church administration to deal with
9612-574: The suicide of civilized Europe ". The war and its consequences were the main focus of Benedict XV. He immediately declared the neutrality of the Holy See and attempted from that perspective to mediate peace in 1916 and 1917. Both sides rejected his initiatives. German Protestants rejected any "Papal Peace" as insulting. The French politician Georges Clemenceau regarded the Vatican initiative as being anti-French. Having failed with diplomatic initiatives, Benedict XV focused on humanitarian efforts to lessen
9720-569: The time. He was asked to go. While he tried honestly to show himself as a friend of Poland, Warsaw forced his departure after his neutrality in Silesian voting was questioned by Germans and Poles. Nationalistic Germans objected to a Polish nuncio supervising elections, and Poles were upset because he curtailed agitating clergy. On 20 November, when German Cardinal Adolf Bertram announced a papal ban on all political activities of clergymen, calls for Ratti's expulsion climaxed in Warsaw. As part of
9828-461: The warring parties promised not to let prisoners of war (POWs) work on Sundays and holidays . Several individuals on both sides were spared the death penalty after his intervention. Hostages were exchanged and corpses repatriated. The Pope founded the Opera dei Prigionieri to assist in distributing information on prisoners. By the end of the war, some 600,000 items of correspondence were processed by
9936-596: The widespread medical emergency, the ARA distributed medical supplies, which included over 2,000 necessities, from medicines to surgical instruments. There were 125,000 medical packages, weighing 15 million pounds, sent on 69 ships. According to Dr. Shapiro, when the ARA left Russia in 1923, after two years of relief efforts, "the Russians had been pulled out of the slough of famine and death. I can say without boasting that no relief organization ever worked so hard to complete its task." In May 1922, Lev Kamenev , President of
10044-553: The winter of 1919–1920. The situation became so desperate that a considerable minority of the starving resorted to cannibalism. According to the historian Orlando Figes , "thousands of cases" were reported, with the number of cases that were never reported certainly even higher. In Samara , "ten butcher shops were closed for selling human flesh." In Pugachyov , "it was dangerous for children to go out after dark since there were known to be bands of cannibals and traders who killed them to eat or sell their tender flesh." An inhabitant of
10152-780: The world. Benedict XV revitalized these activities, asking in Maximum illud for Catholics throughout the world to participate. For that, he has been referred to as the "Pope of Missions". His last concern was the emerging persecution of the Catholic Church in Soviet Russia and the famine there after the revolution. Benedict XV was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and authorized the Feast of Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces . After seven years in office, Pope Benedict XV died on 22 January 1922 after battling pneumonia since
10260-602: Was crowned in the Sistine Chapel on 6 September 1914, and, also as a form of protest due to the Roman question , there was no ceremony for the formal possession of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran . In the 1914 conclave, the cardinals were divided into two factions: the "reactionaries" and the "conservatives". The decade-long campaign waged against Modernism cast a cloud over the conclave, and also ensured on
10368-417: Was a protracted conclave. Upon his election, Benedict XV was unable to locate a suitable cassock to wear since the three that were available to him did not appropriately fit his frail form. From a diary that recorded the events of the conclave, "the papal habit that was chosen was the small one, but lacking in some part, and being a little long, it was adapted with clothespin pins, and raised and covered with
10476-478: Was agreed upon in principle a year later in June 1920. It was signed on 30 May 1922. It guaranteed freedom for the Catholic Church, established archdioceses, liberated clergy from military service, allowed the creation of seminaries and Catholic schools, and enshrined church property rights and immunity. The Archbishop swore alliance to Estonia. Relations with Catholic Lithuania were slightly more complicated because of
10584-422: Was alleged that Plunkett pledged the Irish Republic to fidelity to the Holy See, with the Pope formally imparting his blessing on the endeavors of the Irish Republic, prompting the Archbishop of Armagh Michael Logue to send a telegram to the Pope on 30 April 1916 asking for a clarification as to what occurred during the meeting. When L'Osservatore Romano denied these claims in 1933, the paper said that "the news
10692-445: Was also a descendant of Blessed Antonio della Chiesa . His brother, Giovanni Antonio Della Chiesa, married the niece of Cardinal Angelo Jacobini . Due to his premature birth, Giacomo was left with a limp and completed much of his early education at home. His wish to become a priest was rejected early on by his father, who insisted on a legal career for his son. At age 21 he acquired a doctorate in Law on 2 August 1875. He had attended
10800-558: Was also part of a historical pattern of political and diplomatic marginalization of the papacy after the loss of the Papal States). Despite this, he wrote an encyclical pleading for international reconciliation, Pacem, Dei Munus Pulcherrimum. After the war, Benedict focused the Vatican's activities on overcoming famine and misery in Europe and establishing contacts and relations with the many new states which were created because of
10908-421: Was distributed properly. Hoover also demanded for Russia to use some of its gold holdings to defray the cost of the relief effort. He secured $ 18 million from the Russian leadership, $ 20 million from the U.S. Congress, $ 8 million from the U.S. military, and additional money from U.S. charities to arrive at a total of approximately $ 78 million from all those sources. After an agreement was finally signed at Riga,
11016-650: Was entirely unfounded" and that the actions of Benedict XV were "in open contradiction to the well-known gentleness of the late Pontiff and to his most lively desire for peace and the prevention of any further effusion of blood". Plunkett himself affirmed the truth of the allegations, saying "The fact is that the that the Papal Blessing given the men of 1916 by Pope Benedict has only one witness remaining – myself. Those who profess to refute me have not evidence to support them". Russian famine of 1921%E2%80%931922 The Russian famine of 1921–1922 , also known as
11124-511: Was initially rejected. The American Relief Administration (ARA), which Herbert Hoover formed to help the victims of starvation of World War I, offered assistance to Lenin in 1919 if it had full say over the Russian railway network and handed out food impartially to all. Lenin refused that as interference in Russian internal affairs. Lenin was eventually convinced by the famine, the Kronstadt rebellion , large-scale peasant uprisings such as
11232-434: Was largely overshadowed by World War I and its political, social, and humanitarian consequences in Europe. Between 1846 and 1903, the Catholic Church had experienced two of its longest pontificates in history up to that point. Together Pius IX and Leo XIII ruled for a total of 57 years. In 1914, the College of Cardinals chose della Chiesa at the relatively young age of 59 at the outbreak of World War I, which he labeled "
11340-567: Was mixed. President of the United States Woodrow Wilson rejected the plan. Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary were also favorable, but Germany replied ambiguously. Benedict also called for outlawing conscription, a call he repeated in 1921. Some of the proposals eventually were included in Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points call for peace in January 1918. In Europe, each side saw him as biased in favor of
11448-802: Was supplying over 16,000 hospitals, which were treating more than a million persons daily. Because those institutions were scattered over areas with few railroads and often poor roads, with some hospitals over a thousand miles from the main supply base in Moscow, the task was monumental. Dr. Louis L. Shapiro, an army colonel who was one of the ARA's medical directors in Russia, recalled that southern Russia had little more than "mud ruts for roads, with limitless prairies." On one trip, with few car necessities or regular gas, he drove 150 miles on tires without inner tubes, instead stuffed with straw. "After our kitchens were established and our clinics able to distribute medical supplies" said Shapiro, "children who had been eating
11556-495: Was the first country to respond, with Hoover appointing Colonel William N. Haskell to direct the American Relief Administration (ARA) in Russia. Within a month, ships loaded with food were headed for Russia. The main contributor to the international relief effort would be the ARA, which was founded and directed by Hoover. It had agreed to provide food for a million people, mostly children, but within
11664-549: Was unavailable for heating or cooking and millions of Russian peasants had clothing consisting mostly of rags, which would lead to certain death from cold exposure during the approaching winter. The children at risk included those in orphanages and other institutions, as they usually had only one garment, often made of flour sacks, and they lacked shoes, stockings, underclothing, or any other clothing to keep warm. Also at risk were children living at home with their parents, who also lacked enough clothing, which made them unable to reach
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