Editing Pope Pius XI (section)

=== Nuncio to Poland and expulsion ===
{{Main|Pope Pius XI and Poland}}
[[File:Achille Ratti Alps.jpg|thumb|left|Ratti (centre) circa 1900 in the Alps on a tour.]]
[[File:Achille-Ratti 1919.jpg|left|thumb|Achille Ratti in 1919]]
In 1918, [[Pope Benedict XV]] (1914–1922) appointed Ratti to what was in effect a diplomatic post, as [[apostolic visitor]] (an unofficial papal representative) in [[Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)|Poland]]. In the aftermath of World War I, a Polish state was restored, though the process was in practice incomplete, since the territory was still under the effective control of [[German Empire|Germany]] and [[Austria-Hungary]]. In October 1918, Benedict was the first head of state to congratulate the Polish people on the occasion of the restoration of their independence.<ref name="Schmidlin III, 306">Schmidlin III, 306.</ref> In March 1919, he appointed ten new bishops and on 6 June 1919 reappointed Ratti, this time to the rank of [[papal nuncio]] and on 3 July appointed him a [[titular bishop|titular archbishop]].<ref name="Schmidlin III, 306" /> Ratti was consecrated as a [[bishop]] on 28 October 1919.
[[File:Pius XI leaning.jpg|150px|thumb|left |Achille Ratti, shortly after his consecration as bishop]]According to German theologian [[:de:Joseph Schmidlin|Joseph Schmidlin]]'s ''Papstgeschichte der Neuesten Zeit'', Benedict and Ratti repeatedly cautioned Polish authorities against persecuting Lithuanian and [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church|Ruthenian]] clergy.<ref name="Schmidlin III, 307">Schmidlin III, 307.</ref> During the Bolshevik advance against [[Warsaw]] during the [[Polish-Soviet War]], Benedict asked for worldwide public prayers for Poland, while Ratti was the only foreign diplomat who refused to flee Warsaw when the [[Red Army]] was approaching the city in August 1920.<ref>Fontenelle, 34–44.</ref> On 11 June 1921, Benedict asked Ratti to deliver his message to the Polish episcopate, warning against political misuses of spiritual power, urging peaceful coexistence with neighboring peoples, and saying that "love of country has its limits in justice and obligations".<ref>AAS 1921, 566.</ref>

Ratti intended to work for [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] by building bridges to men of goodwill in the [[Soviet Union]], even to shedding his blood for Russia.<ref name="Stehle 25">Stehle, 25.</ref> But Benedict needed Ratti as a diplomat, not a martyr, and forbade his traveling to the USSR despite his being the official papal delegate for Russia.<ref name="Stehle 25" /> The nuncio's continued contacts with Russians did not generate much sympathy for him within Poland at the time. After Benedict sent Ratti to [[Silesia]] to forestall potential political agitation within the Polish Catholic clergy,<ref name="Schmidlin III, 307" /> Ratti was asked to leave Poland. On 20 November, when German Cardinal [[Adolf Bertram]] announced a papal ban on all political activities of clergymen, calls for Ratti's expulsion climaxed.<ref name="Schmidlin IV, 15" /> Ratti was asked to leave. "While he tried honestly to show himself as a friend of Poland, Warsaw forced his departure, after his neutrality in [[1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite|Silesian voting]] was questioned"<ref>Stehle, 26.</ref> by Germans and Poles. Nationalistic Germans objected to the Polish nuncio supervising local elections, and patriotic Poles were upset because he curtailed political action among the clergy.<ref name="Schmidlin IV, 15">Schmidlin IV, 15.</ref>
[[File:Achille Kardinal Ratti (spätere Papst Pius XI.), 1921 JS.jpg|left|thumb|Cardinal Achille Ratti in 1921]]