Pope Giacomo della Chiesa aka Benedict XV
(3.09.1914 – 22.01.1922)
Giacomo della Chiesa was elected Pope on September 3, 1914.
He took the name Benedict XV, and his coronation took place in the Sistine Chapel.
He undertook many peace initiatives and tried to mitigate the effects of the First World War.
In 1914, he opened in the Vatican an office for the care of prisoners and an information centre for prisoners and the missing. He organized medical and food aid for prisoners of war and for the population of countries affected by military operations.
He promulgated the Catholic Code of Canon Law, prepared by his predecessor Pope Pius X, which remains in force to this day.
He sought to revive Catholic missionary activity, and by his apostolic letter “Maximum illud” of 1919 he began a new era in Catholic missions.
In the encyclical “Humani generis redemptionem”, published on June 15, 1917, he set forth the theological foundations for preaching the word of God in the Church.
He encouraged the faithful to read the Bible. On September 15, 1920, on the occasion of the 1500th anniversary of the death of Saint Jerome, he promulgated the encyclical “Spiritus Paraclitus” on the inspiration of the books of Holy Scripture and the importance of the study of Scripture.
By the Bull “Incrementum” of 1919, he introduced the preface for the dead and the privilege of celebrating three Masses on All Souls’ Day.
He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He approved the Officium and the Holy Mass for the dioceses of Belgium in honour of Mary as the Mediatrix of All Graces. In his apostolic letter “Inter Sodalicia” he declared that Mary “together with Christ redeemed the human race” through her offering of Christ as the Sorrowful Mother.
He condemned the use of Marian statues and images dressed in priestly vestments, which he forbade on April 4, 1916.
Encyclical “Humani Generis Redemptionem” – On preaching the Word of God
For if We look around us and count those who are engaged in preaching the Word of God, We shall find them more numerous perhaps than they have ever been before.
If on the other hand We examine the state of public and private morals, the constitutions and laws of nations, We shall find that there is a general disregard and forgetfulness of the supernatural, a gradual falling away from the strict standard of Christian virtue, and that men are slipping back more and more into the shameful practices of paganism.
