Editing Pope Benedict XV (section)

=== Italy ===
[[Leo XIII]] already had agreed to the participation of Catholics in local but not national politics. Relations with Italy improved as well under Benedict XV, who de facto reversed the stiff anti-Italian policy of his predecessors by allowing Catholics to participate in national elections as well. This led to a surgence of the [[Italian People's Party (1919)|Italian People's Party]] under [[Luigi Sturzo]]. Anti-Catholic politicians were gradually replaced by persons who were neutral or even sympathetic to the Catholic Church. King [[Victor Emmanuel III]] himself gave signals of his desire for better relations, when, for example, he sent personal condolences to the Pontiff on the death of his brother.<ref>Pollard 163</ref>

Benedict XV, along with most traditional Catholics of his time, opposed voting rights for women in principle, on the grounds that it would take them out of their "natural sphere".<ref>Pollard 173</ref> However, he was pragmatic and recognized female suffrage could be a "social necessity in some countries...in order to counter the generally subversive views of the socialists with the supposedly conservative votes of women", believing that women would help support traditional Catholic positions if granted suffrage.<ref>Pollard 174</ref>