By John F. Pollard

Published by Geoffrey Chapman

2000, Softcover, 240 pages

Benedict XV (1914 – 1922) is the least known of the twentieth -century Popes, yet one of the most important. Throughout the First World War, he sought both to prevent the spread of hostilities and to encourage the peace initiatives of the other powers. During his pontificate he pursued peace in a broader sense, among nations, between social classes and within the Roman Catholic Church itself, after the painful divisions caused by the ‘modernist crisis’ during the reign of his predecessor Pius X. Benedict was also a great humanitarian Pope, engaging in vast relief operations for the victims of war, famine and other disasters, and he helped to found the Save the Children Fund. (From the back cover)