Foreign policy of the Holy See after the First World War during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV

In a relatively short pontificate of Pope Benedict XV we can distinguish two stages: the First World War and the first years after its end. To a certain extend the war determined the character of the Pope’s activities, who during the war took measures to stop the fights between the parties of the conflict and after the war he fought to strengthen the position of the Catholic Church in new circumstances. In this way the Pope wanted to prevent the Church dependence on a state or rather a group of states, which wanted to have influence on the life of the Church and the faithful. It can be said that the actions taken by Pope Benedict XV allowed the Church to avoid it