The Conclave of Benedict XV (1914)

In this essay, the author analyses the conclave of 1914, which saw Giacomo Della Chiesa ascend to the papal throne, and compares it to the conclave of August 1903, in which Pius X was elected. On the death of Pope Pius X on 20 August 1914, a ‘battle climate’ was initiated that was clearly perceived by journalists and Vatican diplomats and which characterized the period between the one pontiff’s death and the next pontiff’s election. Melloni then analyses the initial predictions and names of the papabili: which, as of 24 August 1914, were Francica-Nava, Ferrata, Ferrari, Richelmy, Serafini, Gasparri, De Lai, Della Chiesa, Pompilj and Maffi. Voting began on 31 August 1914 and, with the tenth ballot on the morning of 3 September 1914, it was the Cardinal of Bologna who reached a quorum of 38 votes. The essay concludes with the author’s review of the conclave and reports the decision to change the Secretary of State at the end of the conclave: Benedict XV was the last pontiff to do so. ‘Thus, a papacy of a political and religious timbre emerged from the conclave of 1914 that few would have been able to predict, but which, in its course, already showed the weight of a war setting that was not temporary, as many believed in those weeks’.