impair the influence of the Catholic Church. In every country the representatives of Catholicism were compelled to identify themselves with the war aims of that country, and this circumstance helped to undermine the international Catholic solidarity which had hitherto been so strong.
Benedict XV was elected Pope evidently because he had collaborated so long with Popes Leo XIII and Pius X, and with their two prominent State Secretaries, Rampolla and Merry del Val. The political and diplomatic tasks of the Church during the war exhibited such difficulties, as early as September 1914, that great reliance was placed upon the diplomatic and political experience of Giacoppa della Chiesa. Let me at once point out that Benedict XV did not fulfil these expectations. He had been a good official, capable of studying in detail the problems with which he was dealing; he worked hard and was not impervious to new ideas, but he had no skill in politics. He succumbed completely to the influences surrounding him, and he never was able to cope with the situation during the war on the lines of the great political and diplomatic traditions of the Vatican. His war policy was therefore doomed to failure from the outset. When he was elected, it was considered in the Allied countries that his policy would follow the traditions of Leo XIII and Cardinal Rampolla, i.e. he would favour the Entente. This soon proved to be an error, and it became clear that there had been many changes in the Vatican since the time of Leo XIII. Parenthetically I may point out that the Vatican was simply unable to pursue a pro-Allied policy during the war, and it was equally unable to maintain an attitude of neutrality towards the Allies. This was due to the fundamental character of the war between the Central Powers and the Allies, the result of which was that the longer the war went on, the more did the interests of the Catholic Church lean towards the side of the Central Powers.
The war began with an ultimatum of the Habsburgs, the most Catholic of the great Powers in Europe, the traditional pillar of the Catholic Church, deriving support from the Vatican both within and without, and possessing a record of many years of service to the Vatican in international politics in the Balkans, in Germany, against Russia, against Italy, and within its own frontiers, against Liberalism and all progressive tendencies, against Orthodoxy and all schismatic movements. The war began against Orthodox Serbia, which was supported by
