This Day in History

September 3, 1914:

Crowning of the Peace Pope 

This week, we continue our commemoration of the centenary of the beginning of World War I. The following comes from our book, Light to the Nations II: The Making of the Modern World. For ordering information on this text and our other books, please click here.

  

The 57 cardinals who gathered in Rome on August 31, 1914, to elect the next pope had a daunting task. As one cardinal said, the man they chose had to be intelligent, diplomatic, and holy -- but above all, he had to have a charity expansive enough to embrace the Church and the world. Only such a man could effectively speak to a world torn by war and deep political rivalries. 

Archbishop Dell Chiesa on 

a parish visitation.

Some might have thought the man elected pope three days later lacked at least some of the desired qualities. The 59-year-old Cardinal Giacomo Giambattista Della Chiesa had spent most of his priestly life in the Holy See's diplomatic service, until, in 1907, Pope Pius X had appointed him archbishop of Bologna. The aristocratic, shy Della Chiesa was not outwardly warm and friendly, as Pius X had been. As archbishop, he had seemed downright cold to some of his priests, and he had sternly demanded strict obedience of them. Yet, Archbishop Della Chiesa personally visited all the parishes in his diocese, even those in hard-to-reach mountain areas. Both in Rome and Bologna, he spent freely of his own private wealth to help poor and needy families.

The new pope chose Benedict XV as his name -- the first time in 156 years that any pope had not chosen the names Leo,Gregory, or Pius. Though he gave his cardinals no reason for his choice, the pope later said he had taken the name because he wanted to win "the new world for Christ through the intercession of St. Benedict."

Additional Resources:

Read Pope Benedict XV's appeal for peace in his encyclical Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum

Listen to this Vatican Radio interview 

with historian, Professor John F. Pollard, who wrote The Unknown Pope, Benedict XV and the Pursuit of Peace

Benedict XV and World War I: Courageous Prophet of Peace by Fr. Ashley Beck