XII
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One of the characteristic symptoms of the situation in the summer of 1917, and a classical example of the war policy of the Holy See, was the peace note of Pope Benedict XV, issued on August 1, 1917. It aimed at bringing about peace negotiations and thus accelerating the end of the war. This brings it within the scope of the present remarks, apart from the fact that there was a close connection between the war policy of the Vatican and the attempts to preserve the Habsburg Empire.
Here I should like to insert a few words about the general policy and diplomacy of the Vatican during the war.
Pope Pius X died in August 1914, and his successor was elected on September 3rd following. The new Pope, Giacoppo della Chiesa, had been the deputy of Cardinal Rampolla, the State Secretary of Leo XIII and later of Merry del Val, the State Secretary of Pius X. From 1907 onwards he had been the Cardinal of Bologna, and on being elected Pope he received the name of Benedict XV. The war had brought the Catholic Church into a very awkward predicament, not only in a political respect, but also as regards its ecclesiastical, spiritual, and moral mission. In a political respect it was between two fires, and if it had unequivocally taken sides, the consequences would have been very detrimental to its interests. From a spiritual and ecclesiastical point of view, its position was no less difficult. The war had disorganized the contact of the Vatican with the priesthood and its other adherents in both camps, and in consequence of this its followers became more subject to the authority of their respective States. Then, too, the moral disorder which arose everywhere as a result of the war inevitably tended to
