Pope Benedict XV: Encyclopedia II - Pope Benedict XV - Pontificate

Pope Benedict XV - Pontificate

Benedict's pontificate was dominated by the Great War, which he termed "the suicide of Europe", and its turbulent aftermath. His early call for a Christmas truce in 1914 was ignored, and though he organised significant humanitarian efforts (establishing a Vatican bureau, for instance, to help prisoners of war from all nations contact their families) and made many unsuccessful attempts to negotiate peace, his effectiveness even in Italy was undermined by his pacifist stance. The best known was the seven-point Papal Peace proposal of August 1917, demanding a cessation of hostilities, a reduction of armaments, guaranteed freedom of the seas, and international arbitration. Only Woodrow Wilson responded directly, declaring that a declaration of peace was premature; in Europe each side saw him as biased in favour of the other and were unwilling to accept the terms he proposed. This resentment contributed to the exclusion of the Vatican from the Paris Peace conference of 1919 (although it was also part of a historical pattern of marginalization of the Pope's political clout after the loss of the papal states); despite this, he wrote an encyclical pleading for international reconciliation, Pacem, Dei Munus Pulcherrimum [1].

In the post-war period Benedict was involved in developing the Church administration to deal with the new international system that had emerged.

In internal Church affairs, Benedict reiterated Pius X's condemnation of "modernist" scholars and the errors in modern philosophical systems in his first encyclical Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum, and declined to readmit to full communion scholars who had been excommunicated during the previous pontificate. However, he calmed what he saw as the excesses of the anti-modernist campaign within the Church.

Benedict also promulgated a new Code of Canon Law in 1917 and attempted to improve relations with the anticlerical Republican government of France by canonising the French national heroine Joan of Arc. In the mission territories of the Third World, he emphasised the necessity of training native priests to replace the European missionaries as soon as possible, and established a Coptic college in the Vatican.

In physical appearance, Benedict was a slight, rather sickly man (the smallest of the three cassocks which had been prepared for whoever the new Pope might be in 1914 was still a good deal too big for him). His demeanour was aristocratic but kindly, though on occasion he could lose his temper. He was renowned for his generosity, answering all pleas for help from poor Roman families with large cash gifts from his private revenues.

Benedict had a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and like all the modern Popes encouraged the wearing of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He endorsed the belief that wearing it piously brings "the singular privilege of protection after death" from eternal damnation, and granted an indulgence for every time it was kissed. He also added the title 'Queen of Peace' to her Litany, and gave his support to an understanding of Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces (by approving a Mass and office under this title for the dioceses of Belgium) and affirmed that "together with Christ she redeemed the human race" by her immolation of Christ as his sorrowful mother. (in his encyclical Inter sodalicia).

Benedict XV fell ill with pneumonia in early January 1922. Speculation around the world about the 67 year old pontiff's impending death went so far that a New York newspaper mistakenly ran a front page headline announcing that he had died when, in fact, he continued on. The newspaper had a sense of humor about its terrible gaffe and ran a follow-up headline later in the day, "Pope has remarkable recovery". On January 22, the Pope died of the illness.

Although one of the less remembered popes of the twentieth century, he was unique in his humane approach in the world of 1914-1918, which starkly contrasts with that of the other great monarchs and leaders of the time. His worth is reflected in the tribute engraved at the foot of the statue that the Turks, a non-Catholic, non-Christian people, erected of him in Istanbul: "The great Pope of the world tragedy...the benefactor of all people, irrespective of nationality or religion."

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Pontificate", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki