Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV
(Latin: "Benedictus XV"), born
Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa (21 November 1854 – 22 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in 1922.
His pontificate was largely overshadowed by World War I and its political, social, and humanitarian consequences in Europe.
Between 1846 and 1903, the Catholic Church had experienced two of its longest pontificates in history up to that point.
Together Pius IX and Leo XIII ruled for a total of 57 years.
In 1914, the College of Cardinals chose della Chiesa at the young age of 59 at the outbreak of World War I, which he labeled “the suicide of civilized Europe.”
The war and its consequences were the main focus of Benedict XV.
He immediately declared the neutrality of the Holy See and attempted from that perspective to mediate peace in 1916 and 1917.
Both sides rejected his initiatives.
German Protestants rejected any “Papal Peace” as insulting.
The French politician Georges Clemenceau regarded the Vatican initiative as being anti-French.
Having failed with diplomatic initiatives, Benedict XV focused on humanitarian efforts to lessen the impacts of the war, such as attending prisoners of war, the exchange of wounded soldiers and food deliveries to needy populations in Europe.
After the war, he repaired the difficult relations with France, which re-established relations with the Vatican in 1921.
During his pontificate, relations with Italy improved as well, as Benedict XV now permitted Catholic politicians led by Don Luigi Sturzo to participate in national Italian politics.
In 1917, Benedict XV promulgated the Code of Canon Law which was released on May 27, the creation of which he had prepared with Pietro Gasparri and Eugenio Pacelli (future Pope Pius XII) during the pontificate of Pope Pius X.
The new Code of Canon Law is considered to have stimulated religious life and activities throughout the Church.
He named Pietro Gasparri to be his Cardinal Secretary of State and personally consecrated Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) on 13 May 1917 as Archbishop.
World War I caused great damage to Catholic missions throughout the world.
Benedict XV revitalized these activities, asking in "Maximum illud" for Catholics throughout the world to participate.
For that, he has been referred to as the "Pope of Missions".
His last concern was the emerging persecution of the Catholic Church in Soviet Russia and the famine there after the revolution.
Benedict XV was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and authorized the Feast of Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces.
After seven years in office, Pope Benedict XV died on 22 January 1922 after battling pneumonia since the start of that month.
He was buried in the grottos of Saint Peter's Basilica.
With his diplomatic skills and his openness towards modern society, "he gained respect for himself and the papacy."
Pontifical Oriental Institute
The Pontifical Oriental Institute (Orientale), is a Catholic institution of higher education located in Rome.
The plan of creating a school of higher learning for Eastern Christianity had been on the agenda of the Catholic Church since at least Pope Leo XIII, but it was only realized in 1917 by Pope Benedict XV (1914-1921).
The Orientale forms part of the consortium of the Pontifical Gregorian University (founded in 1551) and the Pontifical Biblical Institute (founded in 1909), both in Rome.
All three institutions are run by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
While the Orientale depends on the Holy See, its management is entrusted to the Society of Jesus.
Its Chancellor is the Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches and its Vice-chancellor is the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, while the Congregation for Catholic Education is the dicastery competent for approving the academic programmes of the Orientale.
The student population for the academic year 2018-2019: 351 in the Faculty of Eastern Ecclesiastical Sciences (SEO); 71 in the Faculty of Eastern Canon Law (DCO); Total: 422, of whom 242 were guest students.
Each year, another approximately 400 scholars visit the library for research purposes.
Robert F. Taft
Robert Francis
Taft, S.J.( January 9, 1932 – November 2, 2018) was an American Jesuit priest and Archimandrite of the Russian Greek Catholic Church, one of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See of Rome.
An expert in Oriental liturgy, he was a professor at the Pontifical Oriental Institute from 1975 to 2011 and its Vice- rector from 1995 to 2001.
Peter Dufka
Th Dr. Paed Dr. Mgr. art. Peter Dufka, PhD, SJ( born 8 November 1963 Handlová, Czechoslovakia now Slovakia) is Slovak Roman Catholic priest, Professor at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, Radio Vatican co-worker and Pro-Rector of Collegium Russicum( since 31 January 2017).
David Motiuk
David Motiuk( born January 13, 1962 in Vegreville, Alberta) is the bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton.
He was ordained a priest on 21 August 1988 and was ordained a bishop in Winnipeg on 11 June 2002.
He was appointed Eparchial Bishop of Edmonton on 25 January 2007 and installed on 24 March 2007.
He holds a doctorate in oriental canon law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.
Michel d'Herbigny
Michel-Joseph Bourguignon d'Herbigny (8 May 1880 – 23 December 1957) was a French Jesuit scholar and Roman Catholic bishop.
He was president of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, and of the Pontifical Commission for Russia.
He was secretly consecrated a bishop and was instrumental in a failed attempt to establish a clandestine hierarchy for the Catholic Church in the Soviet Union during the religious persecutions of the 1920s.
Irénée Hausherr
Irénée Hausherr( 7 June 1881, Eguisheim- 5 December 1978, Colmar) was a Jesuit of Alsatian origin and specialist in Greek patristic and monastic spirituality.
Ordained priest in 1923 after studies in the Netherlands, he became a professor at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, where he is claimed to have pioneered the study of the spirituality of the Christian East at an academic level.
In this he was seconded by the future Cardinal Tomas Spidlik.
Several of his works take their title from key terms of Desert spirituality, e.g.," penthos"; and" philautiaphilautie").
He published mainly for the Pontifical Oriental Institute, also in" Analecta Bollandiana", and Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo.
He was a specialist in Hesychasm.
Lawrence Huculak
Lawrence Daniel Huculak( born January 25, 1951 in Vernon, British Columbia) is the Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg.
In 1969 he entered the Order of St. Basil the Great in Mundare, Alberta.
He was ordained a priest on August 28, 1977 and was ordained as the Eparchial Bishop of Edmonton on 3 April 1997.
He was appointed Metropolitan of Winnipeg on 9 January 2006 and installed on 11 February 2006.
He holds a doctorate in eastern liturgy from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.
Cyril Vasiľ
Archbishop Cyril Vasiľ, S.J.,( born 10 April 1965) is a Slovak Jesuit priest, professor and Rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute.
He was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches( 7 May 2009) and consecrated bishop of the( titular) see of Ptolemais in Libya( 14 June 2009).
Vasiľ was born in Košice, Slovakia.
From 1982 to 1987 he attended the Faculty of Theology of Cyril and Methodius in Bratislava.
He was ordained priest for the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in 1987.
In 1989 he obtained the licentiate in canon law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.
On 15 October 1990 he entered the Society of Jesus and in 2001 made his solemn profession.
In 1994 he obtained a doctorate in Eastern Canon Law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute.
In 2002 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Eastern Canon Law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and pro-rector, and in May 2007 rector, the first member of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church to hold that post.
He was a Consultor of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants.
He was appointed an expert to the assembly of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist that was held in 2005.
He was also a professor in the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, the Theological Faculty of the University of Bratislava and the University of Trnava.
In 2003 he was appointed Spiritual Director of the Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d′ Europe.
He served as Spiritual Director of this traditional faith- based Scouting organization until 2007.
In addition to Slovak, he knows Latin, Italian, English, Russian, Ukrainian, French, German, Polish, Spanish, Greek and Old Church Slavonic.
He is the author of numerous books and articles and has worked with Vatican Radio.
On 7 May 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him titular Archbishop of" Ptolemais in Libya" and Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, a department of the Roman Curia headed by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri.
He succeeded Antonio Maria Vegliò, who on 28 February 2009 had become President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants.
On 21 January 2010 he was appointed as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in addition to his duties at the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
Marc Luyckx Ghisi
Marc Luyckx Ghisi was born 20 April 1942 in Louvain, Belgium.
He lives with his wife Isabelle near Brussels.
Initially, he studied mathematics, philosophy and theology (Ph.D.) and became a Catholic priest.
He presented a doctorate in Rome (Pontifical Oriental Institute), in Russian and Greek theology, on Nikolai Berdyaev’s early writings in Russian, since his discovery of Marxism until his conversion to orthodoxy" (Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome).
After his marriage, he was for ten years (1990-1999), member of the Forward Studies Unit of the European Commission, created by Jacques Delors, where he focused on the meaning of European integration and created the programme
The soul of Europe.
He had the opportunity to travel a lot and meet worldwide government officials and advisors in Europe, the U.S., China, Japan, or in India.
Some were aware of the shift of civilization in which we are engaged globally, but these visionaries were a minority.
In the Forward Studies Unit he invited many thinkers such as US sociologist Paul H. Ray (cultural creatives), Edgar Morin (a leading French philosopher of the paradigm shift), Hazel Henderson (author of numerous books on the win-win economy and the new green sustainable economy), Rinaldo Brutoco (CEO of World Business Academy), Avon Mattison (founder of Pathways to Peace), Harlan Cleveland, (President of the World Academy of Art and Science), Prof. Ziauddin Sardar.
He was Dean of the Cotrugli Business School in Zagreb and Belgrade (2005-2009).
For 8 years he has also been a member of the Auroville International Advisory Council in South India.
He is a Fellow of the World Business Academy, a member of the Club of Rome-EU,

Question: Why did the founder of university Pontifical Oriental Institute die?
Answer: pneumonia