A century ago, on 3 September 1914, a month after the outbreak of World War One, Giacomo Della Chiesa was elected Pope. He tried to stop the war but in vain. The first public speech Pope Benedict XV gave after the Conclave which elected him as Pius X’s successor on 3 September, marked the start Read more
Germany’s Catholic bishops have acknowledged that churches share responsibility for “war-mongering” in the build up to the First World War. In a statement, the bishops said the Great War’s dimensions were “shocking”. The conflict from 1914 to 1918 left 16 million dead and 21 million wounded. The centenary of the outbreak of the war was Read more
Pope Benedict XV was archbishop of Bologna, Italy, in June 1914 when the pistol shots of a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo murdered Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, and echoed throughout the world. On Aug. 20, 1914, with World War I less than a month old, Pope Pius X died, and on Sept. Read more