EncycloReader

Pope Benedict XV was born Giacomo della Chiesa, of a noble Italian family, in 1854. Ordained at the age of 24, he became secretary to the Papal embassy in Spain in 1883. He became a bishop in 1900, Archbishop of Bologna in 1907 and cardinal in May 1914. He was elected Pope on September 3, 1914, to succeed Pope Pius X. He died in 1922, and was succeeded by Pope Pius XI.