PAPA BENEDETTO XV -ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPH 1919-VERY RARE !!

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PAPA BENEDETTO XV -ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPH 1919-VERY RARE !! Pope Benedict XV ( Latin : Benedictus PP. XV ), ( Italian : Benedetto XV ), ( November 21 , 1854 - January 22 , 1922 ), born Giacoma Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa , reigned as Pope from September 3 , 1914 to January 22 , 1922 ; he succeeded Pope Pius X (1903-14). Contents [ hide ] 1 Early life 2 Pontificate 3 Pope Benedict XVI 4 References 5 External links [ edit ] Early life Pope Benedict XV was born as Giacomo della Chiesa at Pegli , a suburb of Genoa , Italy , of noble family, the son of Marchese Giuseppe della Chiesa and wife Marchesa Giovanna Migliorati . His first name Giacomo in Italian is the equivalent of James in English. He acquired a doctorate of law in 1875 , after which he studied for the priesthood . He was ordained priest on December 21, 1878. Shortly after ordination, he began studies at the training school for the Vatican diplomatic service , in which he would spend most of his career. Once he had entered the diplomatic service, Mariano Cardinal Rampolla was a friend and patron, employing him as a secretary on being posted to Madrid and subsequently on being appointed Cardinal Secretary of State . During these years Della Chiesa helped negotiate the resolution of a dispute between Germany and Spain over the Caroline Islands as well as organising relief during a cholera epidemic. When Rampolla left his post with the election of Pope Pius X , and was succeeded by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val , Della Chiesa was retained in his post.But 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 (with its more strongly uncompromising foreign policy) somewhat uncomfortable. He was soon moved out of the diplomatic service, on 18 December 1907 becoming Archbishop of Bologna .On 25 May 1914 Della Chiesa was created a cardinal , becoming the Cardinal Priest of the Titulus Ss. Quattuor Coronatorum . In this capacity, on the outbreak of World War I (1914-18) - with the papacy vacant upon Pius X's death on 20 August 1914 - he made a speech on the Church's position and duties, emphasising the need for neutrality and promoting peace and the easing of suffering. The 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. [ edit ] Pontificate Styles of Pope Benedict XV Reference style His Holiness Spoken style Your Holiness Religious style Holy Father Posthumous style none Benedict XV's pontificate was dominated by World War I , which he termed "the suicide of Europe", and its turbulent aftermath. Benedict's first encyclical extended a heartfelt plea for an end to hostilities. His early call for a Christmas truce in 1914 was ignored. The Pope 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, 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. His best known intervention was the seven-point Papal Peace proposal of August 1917 , demanding a cessation of hostilities, a reduction of arrmaments, 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 political and diploma... read more

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