Editing Pope Benedict XV (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Benedictxvfamilyresidence.jpg|left|thumb|235x235px|The birthplace of Giacomo della Chiesa in Pegli]]
Giacomo della Chiesa was born prematurely at [[Pegli]], a suburb of [[Genoa]], Italy, the third son and sixth child of [[Marquess]] Giuseppe della Chiesa (1821–1892) and his wife [[Marchioness]] Giovanna Filippa Vittoria Maria Migliorati (1827–1904).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, aka Pope Benedict XV |url=https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/2ZS6-9VV |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=www.familysearch.org}}</ref> Genealogy findings report that his father's side produced [[Pope Callixtus II]] and also claimed descent from [[Berengar II of Italy]] and that his maternal family produced [[Pope Innocent VII]].<ref>George L. Williams, ''Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of the Popes'' (2004:133)</ref> He was also a descendant of Blessed [[Antonio della Chiesa]]. His sister, Giulia della Chiesa (1850 - ?) married in 1876 Faustino Persico. His brother, Giovanni Antonio della Chiesa (1853 - 1920), married Eugenia Jacobini (1863 - 1918), the niece of Cardinal [[Angelo Jacobini]], and had issue.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1882.htm|title=Consistory of March 27, 1882 (IV)|publisher=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church|author=Salvador Miranda|date=|access-date=15 February 2022}}</ref> Due to his premature birth, Giacomo was left with a limp and completed much of his early education at home.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pollard|first=John F.|title=The Unknown Pope: Benedict XV, 1914–1922 and the Pursuit of Peace|page=2|year=2000}}</ref> His other brother Giovanni Antonio was an admiral in the Italian navy.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ryan |first=James H.|date=December 1922 |title=The Vatican's World Policy|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/45327146.|journal=Current History |volume=17 |issue=3 |page=436|doi=10.1525/curh.1922.17.3.429 |jstor=45327146 }}</ref>
[[File:Paus Benedictus XV als tienjarige jongen, toen nog bekend als Giacomo Giambattista markies della, SFA022825227.jpg|left|thumb|267x267px|Benedict XV at the age of 12.]]

His wish to become a priest was rejected early on by his father, who insisted on a legal career for his son. At age 21 he acquired a doctorate in Law on 2 August 1875. He had attended the [[University of Genoa]], which after the [[unification of Italy]] was largely dominated by [[anti-Catholic]] and anti-clerical politics. With his doctorate in Law and at legal age, he again asked his father for permission to study for the priesthood, which was now reluctantly granted. He insisted, however, that his son conduct his theological studies in [[Rome]], not in [[Genoa]], so that he would not end up as a village priest or provincial [[monsignore]].<ref>De Waal 14–15</ref>

Della Chiesa entered the [[Almo Collegio Capranica]] and was there in Rome when, in 1878, [[Pope Pius IX]] died and was followed by [[Pope Leo XIII]]. The new pope received the students of the Capranica in private audience only a few days after his coronation. Shortly thereafter, della Chiesa was ordained a priest by Cardinal [[Raffaele Monaco La Valletta]] on 21 December 1878 at the [[Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran|Lateran basilica]].<ref name=Miranda>{{Cite web |url=https://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1914.htm |title=Miranda, Salvador. "Della Chiesa, Giacomo", ''The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church'', Florida International University |access-date=6 July 2019 |archive-date=28 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190628161227/https://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1914.htm }}</ref>

From 1878 until 1883 he studied at the [[Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy]] in Rome. It was there, on every Thursday, that students were required to defend a research paper, to which cardinals and high members of the [[Roman Curia]] were invited. [[Mariano Rampolla]], then Secretary for Oriental Affairs of the [[Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples|Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith]], took note of him and furthered his entry in the diplomatic service of the Vatican in 1882, where he was employed by Rampolla as a secretary and in January 1883 accompanied nuncio Rampolla to [[Madrid]].<ref name=Miranda/>

Just after [[Leo XIII]]'s death in 1903, Rampolla tried to make della Chiesa the secretary of the conclave, but the Sacred College elected [[Rafael Merry del Val]], a conservative young prelate, the first sign that Rampolla would not be the next Pope. When Cardinal Rampolla had to leave his post with the election of his opponent [[Pope Pius X]], and was succeeded by Merry del Val, della Chiesa was retained in his post.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}