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Catholicism Opening to the World and Other Confessions pp 25–42Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Benedict XV: A Most Unexpected Architect of Vatican II

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Part of the book series: Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue ((PEID))

Abstract

Benedict XV deserves a place among the architects of Vatican II, even though he may be among the most unexpected ones. This chapter demonstrates how his pontificate was foundational in developing a new spirit of opening to the world, which was later embraced by the Second Vatican Council. Benedict’s farsighted vision of the Church is manifest in his defense of international peace, his actions in favor of Christian unity, and in a new understanding of the Church’s missionary activity. Pope Benedict and the Council are still challenging the Church today, a challenge picked up by Pope Francis who describes peace as an art, loving your neighbor as foundational, and protecting Eastern Catholics and their heritage as a vital issue.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    John F. Pollard, The Unknown Pope: Benedict XV (1914–1922) and the Pursuit of Peace (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1999), xiii.

  2. 2.

    Ibid., 7.

  3. 3.

    Benedict XV, Apostolic Exhortation Dès le début, AAS 9 I (1917): 417–20 (French), 421–23 (Italian).

  4. 4.

    The 16 documents of Vatican II make no less than 180 references to him and his teaching.

  5. 5.

    Peter Hebblethwaite, John XXIII: Pope of the Century (London: Continuum, 2000).

  6. 6.

    John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris, AAS 55 (1963): 257–304.

  7. 7.

    Benedict XV, Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud, AAS 11 (1919): 440–55.

  8. 8.

    Benedict XV, Encyclical Letter Spiritus Paraclitus, AAS 12 (1920): 389–422.

  9. 9.

    Benedict XV, Motu Proprio Orientis Catholici, AAS 9 I (1917): 531–33.

  10. 10.

    Benedict XV, Motu Proprio Dei Providentis, AAS 9 I (1917): 529–31.

  11. 11.

    Benedict XV, Encyclical Letter Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum Principis, AAS 6 (1914): 585–99.

  12. 12.

    Benedict XV, Brief Quod Nobis, AAS 12 (1920): 440–41.

  13. 13.

    Ronald G. Musto, The Catholic Peace Tradition (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1986), 187.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., 104: “The theory of just war is not Christian in any proper sense of the word: it has no biblical, theological, or canonical foundation.” The just war doctrine was first articulated by St. Ambrose and later developed by St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas . According to it, all governments have an obligation to avoid war, but in some specific circumstances, can wage war in order to obtain justice. The act must be morally justifiable, be a last resort, be done with the right intention, and be proportional to the offense.

  15. 15.

    Benedict XV, Dès le début, 420, 423.

  16. 16.

    D. A. Binchy, “The Vatican and International Diplomacy,” International Affairs 22 (January 1946): 50.

  17. 17.

    During the Great War, the Vatican was dubbed the “Second Red Cross.” It tracked and secured the exchanges of thousands of prisoners of war, rescued civil populations from complete destitution, from starvation, and tried to prevent massacres in Armenia.

  18. 18.

    John XXIII, Letters to His Family (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970), 437, cited in Giancarlo Zizola, The Utopia of Pope John XXIII (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1978), 35.

  19. 19.

    Ibid., 80.

  20. 20.

    Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi, 3.

  21. 21.

    Joseph Joblin, “Le Saint Siège face à la guerre,” Gregorianum 80 (1999): 306.

  22. 22.

    Benedict XV, Encyclical Letter Pacem Dei Munus, AAS 12 (1920): 209–18.

  23. 23.

    Benedict XV, Pacem Dei Munus, 7, 10, 13.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., 1.

  25. 25.

    Benedict XV, Dès le début, 417–20.

  26. 26.

    Benedict XV, Pacem Dei Munus, 17.

  27. 27.

    John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 132–34, 137–38.

  28. 28.

    Benedict XV, Dès le début, 418, 421.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., 418–19, 422.

  30. 30.

    John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 137.

  31. 31.

    Benedict XV, Pacem Dei Munus, 5: “Nothing was so often and so carefully inculcated on His disciple by Jesus Christ as this precept of mutual charity as the one which contains all others… ‘Let us love one another for charity is God.’”

  32. 32.

    Sisley Huddleston, “The Revival of the Vatican,” The Fortnightly Review, July 1920, 67–77; Alexis François, Semaine littéraire de Genève, 29 October 1921.

  33. 33.

    See Philippe Chenaux, “Les regards du Vatican sur la construction européenne,” Journal de Genève, 8 October 1988.

  34. 34.

    Benedict XV, Pacem Dei Munus, 18.

  35. 35.

    Benedict XV, Maximum Illud, 8.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., 34.

  37. 37.

    See also Lumen Gentium 23: “The task of announcing the Gospel in the whole world belongs to the body of pastors… Consequently, the bishops, each for his own part, in so far as the due performance of their own duty permits, are obliged to enter into collaboration with one another… Thus, they should come to the aid of the missions by every means in their power, supplying both harvest workers and also spiritual and material aids.”

  38. 38.

    Benedict XV, Maximum Illud, 14.

  39. 39.

    Ibid.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., 20.

  41. 41.

    See Francesca Aran Murphy, “Globalization from Benedict XV to Benedict XVI: The ‘Astonishing Optimism’ of Gaudium et Spes in a Missionary Context,” Nova et Vetera, English Edition, 8 (Spring 2010): 395–424.

  42. 42.

    See Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Rerum Ecclesiae, AAS 18 (1926): 65–83; Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Evangelii Praecones, AAS 43 (1951): 497–528; and Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Fidei Donum, AAS 49 (1957): 225–48.

  43. 43.

    Propaganda Fide regrouped three lay missionary societies (Society of St. Peter the Apostle for Native Clergy, Society of the Holy Childhood, and Society for the Propagation of the Faith) and transferred their headquarters from France to Rome in order to reorganize their fund-raising activities.

  44. 44.

    Benedict XV, Dei Providentis, 530.

  45. 45.

    George Tavard, Ecumenism: Two Centuries of Ecumenism (Notre Dame, IN: Fides, 1978), 117.

  46. 46.

    Benedict XV, Dei Providentis, 530.

  47. 47.

    Benedict XV, Encyclical Letter Principi Apostolorum Petro, AAS 12 (1920): 457.

  48. 48.

    Leo XIII’s Apostolic Letter Orientalium Dignitas of 1894 had already identified the Eastern rite churches as churches.

  49. 49.

    Benedict XV, Orientis Catholici, 531.

  50. 50.

    Leo XIII, Apostolic Bull Apostolicae Curae, ASS 29 (1896): 193–203.

  51. 51.

    Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Mortalium Animos, AAS 20 (1928): 5–16.

  52. 52.

    Pope Francis, “Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Members of the Diplomatic Corps Accredited to the Holy See (January 13, 2014),” AAS 106, no. 2 (2014): 79–85.

  53. 53.

    Pope Francis, “Angelus,” July 27, 2014, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2014/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20140727.html.

  54. 54.

    Ibid.

  55. 55.

    Ibid.

  56. 56.

    Francis, “Message for World Day of Peace 2015,” AAS 107, no. 1 (2015): 66–75, no. 2.

  57. 57.

    In his first message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace in 2006, then newly elected Benedict XVI declared: “The very name Benedict, which I chose on the day of my election to the Chair of Peter, is a sign of my personal commitment to peace. In taking this name, I wanted to evoke both the Patron Saint of Europe, who inspired a civilization of peace on the whole continent, and Pope Benedict XV, who condemned the First World War as a “useless slaughter” and worked for a universal acknowledgment of the lofty demands of peace.” Benedict XVI, “Message for World Day of Peace 2006,” AAS 98, no. 1 (2006): 56–64, no. 2.

  58. 58.

    Angelo Roncalli to Msgr. Pezzoli, Prevost of St. Allessandro in Colonna, Bergamo, May 1936, in Zizola, The Utopia of Pope John XXIII, 17.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Mark’s College at UBC, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Agnes de Dreuzy

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Vladimir Latinovic

  2. Department of Theology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

    Gerard Mannion

  3. Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome, Italy

    Jason Welle, O.F.M.

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de Dreuzy, A. (2018). Benedict XV: A Most Unexpected Architect of Vatican II. In: Latinovic, V., Mannion, G., Welle, O.F.M., J. (eds) Catholicism Opening to the World and Other Confessions. Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98581-7_3

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