When Cardinal Joseph Ratizinger was elected Pope, he chose the name of Benedict and became the sixteenth Pope of that name. He stated that he chose it because of Benedict of Nursia one of the founders of European civilisation. The present Pope Benedict continued, "I chose to call myself Benedict XVI ideally as a link to the venerated Pontiff, Benedict XV, who guided the church throughout the turbulent times of the WW1. He was a true and courageous prophet of peace who struggled strenuously and bravely, first to avoid the drama of war and then to limit its terrible consequences."

With the 90th anniversary of the Armistice of November 11, 1918, being marked today, it is fitting to recall what Pope Benedict XV, Giacomo Della Chiesa, did in order to soften as much as possible the cruel effects of the war, which he failed to prevent. As John F. Pollard, the latest of Benedict XV's biographers, writes "Over four of the seven-and-a-half years of Benedict's pontificate [1914-1922] lay under the shadow of the WW1," which he at the time called "the suicide of Europe".

Almost immediately after his election, on September 8, 1914, Pope Benedict XV made a public statement calling for peace. During his pontificate, he was to make various other statements in favour of peace proposing an honourable settlement for both sides of the conflict. He declared his strict neutrality, as universal Father, which in fact he tried hard to keep, though not always succeeding. The British war poet Wilfred Owen often wrote against the religious leaders of his country for their encouragement of the war. He wrote how Christ taught, "Suffer dishonour and disgrace, but never resort to arms.... Thus you see how pure Christianity will not fit in with pure patriotism." This could be understandable in a country like Mr Owen's where the Church of England is the one established by law.

However, also the French Catholic hierarchy encouraged the war probably because they wanted to prove to their anti-clerical government that the French Church was as patriotic as the rest of the Frenchmen. In fact, between 5,000 and 6,000 French priests were killed in the war and over 9,000 received the Croix de guerre and 900 the Legion d'Honeur out of about 20,000 French priests who served in the army (not as chaplains). The same patriotic stance was taken by the German and Austrian hierarchies, the former still smarting from Bismark's Kulturkampf persecutions (1871-1891) and eager to show their patriotism, the latter under the smothering "patronage" of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor. In spite of the tug of war from opposing national hierarchies in which Benedict XV found himself, he tried to keep neutral.

The Pope, however, in spite of his efforts, did not succeed in persuading the belligerents of his neutrality. According to J. Derek Holmes in The Papacy in the Modern World, 1914-1978, each side accused the Pope of siding with the other. The French called him "The Boche Pope", the Germans "The French Pope," while the Italians called him "Maledetto XV". He was even blamed for the rout at Copretto, because the Italian soldiers shouted, "Viva Papa Benedetto" since they knew that he was pleading for "the useless bloodshed" to stop.

Sir Basil Liddell Hart in his History of the First World War denies this: "Reviewing the drama of Caporetto in the clearer light of history, there is reason to think that excessive emphasis was placed on the effect of enemy and seditious propaganda, and that the major reason of the crumbling resistance early was the same as in France that spring - that the troops were morally tired, and that the result of being hurled endlessly against machine-gun defences had worn down their fighting spirit." Liddell Hart continues: "The presence of imminent disaster to their country set a new light upon their position [the Italian army's], and gave a sacrificial impulse to a duty which on the Piave line, fighting 'with their backs to the wall', they honourably and gallantly fulfilled."

To return to the Pope's efforts to alleviate the suffering caused by the war, for example, Pope Benedict protested against the transportation of French and Belgian civilians for work in Germany. Moreover, through the Opera dei Prigioneri which he set up, Pope Benedict helped the prisoners of war of both sides, by putting them in contact with their families, by negotiating the exchange of POWs such as the seriously wounded or the fathers of large families, by trying to track missing soldiers, and giving the opportunity to POWs to convalesce in Switzerland.

The Pope used most of his own private money, besides that of the Church, so that there was hardly any left for his funeral when he died on January 22, 1922, his relief work was fairly successful. Much less successful were the Pope's efforts at ending the conflict. We may take his first encyclical as a clear example of his efforts for peace, since the intense diplomatic efforts were of their very nature more secret and more complicated.

In Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum (November 1,1914), he wrote: "Surely there are other ways and means whereby violated rights can be rectified. Let them be tried honestly and with good will, and let arms meanwhile be laid aside... Let them not allow these words of a friend and of a father to be uttered in vain." These word, however, were uttered in vain and the Pope was, sometimes, even scoffed at for his efforts. On August 1, 1917, when all countries, especially their fighting men, were exhausted and demoralised by the war, Pope Benedict came out with his peace proposal which was rejected by the Allies.

Yet many see in the US President Wilson's own famous address to the Senate for Peace without Victory a certain similarity to Pope Benedict's suggestions in his peace proposal. Although often reviled during his lifetime for his efforts at bringing about peace, after his death Pope Benedict XV was better appreciated and respected. This was the Pope whom Joseph Ratzinger hopes to imitate in his work for peace. Joseph Ratzinger continued his explanation, quoted in the beginning, for his choice of name in these words: "In his [Benedict XV's] footsteps I place my ministry, in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples, profoundly convinced that the great good of peace is, above all, a gift of God, a fragile and precious gift to be invoked, safeguarded and constructed, day after day with everyone's contribution."

Let us hope that Pope Benedict XVI may be more successful and be able to dissuade those tempted to go to war.