Editing Pope Benedict XV (section)

=== After the war ===
At the time, the anti-Vatican resentment, combined with Italian diplomatic moves to isolate the Vatican in light of the unresolved Roman Question,<ref>Pollard 141 ff</ref> contributed to the exclusion of the Vatican from the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919]] (although it was also part of a historical pattern of political and diplomatic marginalization of the papacy after the loss of the Papal States). Despite this, he wrote an [[encyclical]] pleading for international reconciliation, ''Pacem, Dei Munus Pulcherrimum.''<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xv/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xv_enc_23051920_pacem-dei-munus-pulcherrimum_en.htmlPACEM DEI MUNUS PULCHERRIMUM ENCYCLICAL OF POPE BENEDICT XV ON PEACE AND CHRISTIAN RECONCILIATION TO THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, AND ORDINARIES IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY SEE]</ref>

After the war, Benedict focused the Vatican's activities on overcoming famine and misery in Europe and establishing contacts and relations with the many new states which were created because of the demise of [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]], Austria-Hungary, and Germany. Large food shipments, and information about and contacts with POWs, were to be the first steps for a better understanding of the papacy in Europe.<ref name="Franzen 380" />

Regarding the [[Versailles Peace Conference]], the Vatican believed that the economic conditions imposed on Germany were too harsh and threatened the European economic stability as a whole. Cardinal Gasparri believed that the peace conditions and the humiliation of the Germans would likely result in another war as soon as Germany would be militarily in a position to start one.<ref>Pollard 144</ref> The Vatican also rejected the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, seeing in this step an inevitable and eventual strengthening of Germany.<ref>Pollard, 145</ref> The Vatican also had great reservations about the creation of small successor states which, in the view of Gasparri, were not viable economically and therefore condemned to economic misery.<ref>Pollard 145</ref> Benedict rejected the [[League of Nations]] as a secular organization that was not built on Christian values.<ref name="Pollard 147">Pollard 147</ref> On the other hand, he also condemned European nationalism that was rampant in the 1920s and asked for "European Unification" in his 1920 encyclical [[:it:Pacem Dei Munus Pulcherrimum|''Pacem Dei Munus Pulcherrimum'']], "peace, a beautiful gift of God".<ref name="Pollard 147" /> Similarly, Benedict XV extolled the virtues of peace, denouncing the fragility of a peace that is not wholly oriented towards reconciliation. Prophetically, the Pope wrote that "if almost everywhere the war somehow ended and some peace pacts were signed, the germs of ancient grudges still remain. No peace has value if hatred and enmities are not put down together by means of a reconciliation based on mutual charity".<ref name=RT/>

The pope was also disturbed by the [[October Revolution|communist revolution]] in Russia. He reacted with horror to the strongly anti-religious policies adopted by [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s government along with the bloodshed and widespread famine which occurred during the subsequent [[Russian Civil War]]. He undertook the greatest efforts trying to help the victims of the Russian famine with millions in relief.<ref name="Pollard 147" />