Death of Pope Pius X
- Category:
- Society
- Date:
- 20 August 1914
- Author:
- Łukasz Skowroń
- Tags:
- Vatican, Pius X, Benedict XV
On 20 August 1914 Pope Pius X died in Rome. He was 79 and had led the Catholic Church since 1903. He died only a few weeks after the outbreak of a war that divided Europe’s Catholics into warring camps.
A pope of ordinary people
Pius X, born Giuseppe Sarto into a poor family in northern Italy, was a pastor, not a diplomat. As pope he became known for reforms in the life of the Church, including encouraging frequent communion and lowering the age of children’s first communion. He also firmly combated so-called modernism, currents in theology that he regarded as a threat to the faith. He was known for the simplicity of his life. According to tradition, he said of himself that he was born poor, lived poor and wished to die poor.
War and death
The Pope had long feared a great war in Europe. According to those around him, the outbreak of the conflict in August 1914 shook him deeply, and his health deteriorated sharply. He died after a short illness. Among the faithful the belief quickly spread that he had died of grief over the war.
The successor
At the conclave that opened on 31 August, the cardinals on 3 September elected the Archbishop of Bologna, Giacomo della Chiesa. He took the name Benedict XV. He was an experienced diplomat, which was of enormous importance in wartime.
Throughout the war Benedict XV tried to maintain the neutrality of the Holy See and called for peace. He called the war “the suicide of civilised Europe”, organised help for prisoners and the wounded, and in 1917 presented the warring sides with his own peace plan. His appeals, however, went unanswered. Pius X was canonised in 1954.
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Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 20 August 1914 · Western FrontGermans besiege the fortress of LongwyOn 20 August 1914 German troops closed the ring around the French fortress of Longwy. The garrison held out under heavy fire until 26 August.
- 20 August 1914 · Western FrontEnd of the battles of Morhange and SarrebourgOn 20 August 1914 a German counter-attack in Lorraine shattered the French offensive. The French armies fell back towards Nancy with heavy losses.
- 20 August 1914 · Western FrontThe Germans occupy BrusselsOn 20 August 1914 German troops entered Brussels, which had been declared an open city. An occupation began that lasted until November 1918.
- 21 August 1914 · Western FrontBattle of Charleroi beginsOn 21 August 1914 the French 5th Army and the German 2nd Army clashed on the Sambre. The Germans seized the river crossings before the French could occupy them.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 3 September 1914 · SocietyBenedict XV elected popeOn 3 September 1914 the conclave elected Cardinal Giacomo della Chiesa pope. As Benedict XV he called for peace and helped victims throughout the war.
- 5 November 1914 · DiplomacyBelgium rejects papal mediationAccording to a British chronology, on 5 November 1914 the Belgian government rejected papal mediation. A few days earlier Benedict XV had called for peace.
- 7 December 1914 · DiplomacyA British envoy to the VaticanIn December 1914 Sir Henry Howard became Britain's envoy to Benedict XV. He was London's first official envoy in Rome since the 17th century.
- 30 July 1915 · DiplomacyBenedict XV appeals for peaceOn the first anniversary of the war Benedict XV appealed to the warring peoples and their rulers to end the "horrible slaughter". It went unanswered.