Last updated 09/07/24: Online ordering is currently unavailable due to technical issues. We apologise for any delays responding to customers while we resolve this. For further updates please visit our website: https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/technical-incident
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
The election of Giacomo Della Chiesa as Pope Benedict XV coincided with the outbreak of the First World War. His pacifism led to vigorous attempts to halt the war, which failed because of the Vatican's isolation and poor diplomatic prestige. The most notable attempt was Benedict Peace Note of 1917 that set out seven proposals for negotiating peace. Despite Benedict's failure to alter the course of the war, his diplomatic efforts were matched by humanitarian action on behalf of prisoners of war and famished children. Benedict's legacy has been greater diplomatic resources for the Vatican and an energetic search for peace.
1 Liebman, M., “Journal secret d'un conclave », La Revue Nouvelle, 19, XXXVIII, (1963), p.37Google Scholar.
2 Pollard, John, The Unknown Pope: Benedict Xv and the Pursuit of Peace, London, 1999, p.61Google Scholar.
3 For the anti-Modernist campaign in Pius X's pontificate, seeChadwick, O., A History of the Popes: 1830–1914, Oxford, 1998, pp.346–359CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4 That Della Chiesa and Gasparri had been friends and not just colleagues is clear from the letter that Gasparri wrote to Della Chiesa on the latter's elevation to the sacred purple: see Archivio della Famiglia Della Chiesa, “Lettere inviate a S.E. Cardinale della Chiesa” (no date).
5 Ugo Bellocchi (ed.), Tutte le Encicliche e Documenti Pontifici, VIII, Benedetto XV (1914–1922), Vatican City, 2000, Dés Debut, 1 August 1917, Epistola, p.184.
6 Falconi, C., The Popes in the Twentieth Century, London, 1960, p.116Google Scholar.
7 See, for example, Bellocchi (ed.), Tutte le Encicliche, Al tremendo conflitto, 4 March 1916, Epistola, 95.
8 Ibid, Ubi Primum, 8 September 1914, 14.
9 For the text see Carlen, C. IHM, (ed.), The Papal Encyclicals, 1903–1939, Raleigh, NC, 1981, pp.143–151Google Scholar.
10 Ibid, p.146.
11 Ibid, pp.144–5.
12 Ibid.
13 Bellocchi (ed.), Tutte le Encicliche, Allorché fummo chiamati, 28 lugio 1915. Esortazione, 66.
14 Pollard, The Unknown Pope, pp.118–120.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid, pp.120–3.
17 ASV (Archivio Segreto Vaticano), Affari Ecclesiastici Straordinari, Stati Ecclesiastici, 1316, fasc. 455, “Libri diplomatici pubblicati da vari Stati belligeranti, Libro bianco tedesco sulle crudeltá delle truppe russe contro i civili e i prigionieri di guerra tedeschi.”
18 Pollard, The Unknown Pope, pp.115–6.
19 Clark, Christopher, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, London, 2013.Google Scholar
20 Gregory, J. D., On the Edge of Diplomacy: Rambles in and Reflections, 1902–1928, London, 1928, p.98Google Scholar.
21 Alvarez, D., “Vatican Communications Security, 1914–1918” in Intelligence and National Security, vol. 7, no. 4, (1992), pp.447–454Google Scholar.
22 For the text of the Treaty of London, see Grenville, J.A.S., The Major international Treaties, 1914–1945. A History and Guide with Texts, London, 1974, pp.24–7Google Scholar.
23 Rocca, R. Morozzo della, “Benedetto XV e Constaninopoli: fu vera neutralitá?”, in Cristianesimo nella Storia, 14 (1999), pp.375–84Google Scholar.
24 Pollard, The Unknown Pope, 132–3.
25 G. Dalla Torre, Memorie, Verona, 1965, pp.189–90.
26 Norton, R., “Benedict XV and the Save the Children Fund”, The Month, 28 (July, 1995), pp.281–283Google Scholar.
27 Taylor, A. J. P., From Sarajevo to Potsdam, London, 1966, p.42Google Scholar.
28 For the text of the Peace Not’, see Bellocchi, Tutte le Encicliche, Des Le Début, 1 agosto 1917. Esortazione, 182–4 and wwi.lib.byu.educ/index/Pope_Benedict_XV%27s_Peace_Proposal accessed 15.01.2014.
29 Serra, E., ‘La nota del primo agosto 1917 e il governo italiano: qualche osservazione’, Rumi, in G. (ed.), Benedetto XV e la pace, Brescia, 1990, p.61Google Scholar.
30 Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 52, Rome, 1999, pp.500–7.
31 Annuarion Pontificio, 1923, pp.681–9.
32 See Records and Documents of the Holy See Relating to the Second World War: the Holy See and the War in Europe, March 1939-August 1940, translated from the original by Gerard Noel, Dublin, 1968, pp. 8–45, and documents cited in that text.
33 J., Pierre Blet, S., Pius XII and the Second World War, According to the Archives of the Vatican, translated by Johnson, Lawrence W., Hereford, 1997, p.139Google Scholar.
34 Hebblethwaite, P., John XXIII: Pope of the Council, London, 1984, pp. 445–7Google Scholar.
35 Hebblethwaite, P., Paul VI: the First Modern Pope, London, 1993, chap. 29Google Scholar.
36 Bernstein, Carl & Politi, Marco, His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of our Time, London and New York, 1996, pp.488–9Google Scholar.
