Benedict XV (1854-1922) was elected pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 1914. His reign was dominated by World War I (1914-1918) and by a conflict with the Kingdom of Italy. This conflict, called the Roman question, concerned the status of Rome after Italian troops occupied the city in 1870, thus ending papal temporal (nonreligious) power there.
During the war, Benedict tried to maintain a strict neutrality between the opposing Allies and Central Powers. In the Treaty of London in 1915, the Allies secretly agreed with Italy to exclude the pope from peace negotiations to prevent him from introducing the Roman question. In 1917, Benedict submitted a seven-point peace plan, but both warring sides rejected it.
After the war, Benedict called for international reconciliation and gave general approval to the establishment of the League of Nations. He encouraged the United States Catholic bishops to found the National Catholic Welfare Council in 1919 to represent Catholic interests in the United States. The council later was renamed the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and eventually became part of the present-day United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In 1917, Benedict issued the Code of Canon Law. The code was the first complete collection of laws governing the entire church. Much of the code had been completed during the reign of the previous pope, Pius X.
Benedict was born on Nov. 24, 1854, in Pegli, near Genoa, Italy. His given and family name was Giacomo Della Chiesa. He was ordained a priest in 1878 and was trained for papal diplomatic service. Benedict was active in church diplomacy from 1882 until his appointment as archbishop of Bologna in 1907. He was named a cardinal in 1914, three months before his election as pope. He died on Jan. 22, 1922.
