Dès le debut

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The appeal for peace by Pope Benedict XV. of August 1, 1917, also called Dès le début ( German: "since the beginning [of our pontificate ]") after the French opening words of the apostolic letter , marked the climax, but also the unsuccessful conclusion of Pope Benedict XV's efforts for peace . in the First World War .

Background and course

In his inaugural encyclical Ad beatissimi Apostolorum principis of All Saints' Day in 1914, the Pope categorically called for the end of this “terrible slaughter”. The Pope's political initiatives were unsuccessful, while his humanitarian aid was often effective. In Istanbul the newly founded Turkish state even erected a monument to him: "Dedicated to the great high priest during the worldwide tragedy, Benedict XV, benefactor of the people, regardless of nationality or religion, his memory of the Orient."

The Vatican had already suggested a guarantee of the restoration of Belgium in December 1916 , but Germany could only be induced to give hints on the Belgian question.

The papal nuncio in Munich, Pacelli , submitted a peace proposal to Chancellor Georg Michaelis and Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann , which provided for the return of the German colonies, the evacuation of Belgium and the occupied territories of France (July 24-26, 1917).

Even before the German answer, the peace note from Pope Benedict XV took place on August 1, 1917 (the formal presentation took place on August 15). This provided for: the mutual return of all occupied territories, in particular the complete evacuation of Belgium while ensuring its full political, military and economic independence from any power as well as the return of the German colonies , as well as the examination of other territorial questions, e.g. B. between Austria-Hungary and Italy , as well as between Germany and France in a conciliatory spirit and according to what is just and possible . He also called for disarmament and effective international arbitration to avoid future wars.

But Germany refused the Pope's mediation despite strong pressure from the Catholic Austria-Hungary. The official German answer of September 13, 1917 to the Curia therefore did not go beyond general approval and pledges of peace; concrete proposals or concessions on individual issues were avoided.

One of the reasons for the failure of peace policy is that the papacy has been politically isolated since the loss of the papal state in 1870. In 1905 France carried out a sharp separation of church and state, which the “French Pope” Benedict (as General Ludendorff called him) was only able to moderate gradually. The Italian kingdom had stipulated that the price for its donation to the Entente (the Allies) would be that the Pope would be excluded from future peace negotiations.

Each side suspected the Pope of being secretly on the other side ( Clemenceau : “le pape boche ”). The German episcopate thwarted the papal engagement with the laconic remark of the Cologne Cardinal Felix von Hartmann that the Pope did not speak as the highest shepherd of the Catholics, but as sovereign under international law.

In all countries the overwhelming majority of Catholics stood up for the “just cause” of the fatherland. The devastating experience of powerlessness that the Vatican had to go through had far-reaching consequences.

In canon law of 1917 ( CIC ) Benedict XV. through a clear centralization, which was continued by his successors. Since the apostolic letter "Dès le début", the papacy has integrated the entire program of the international peace movement , which has been growing since around 1870 , into Catholic teaching, according to all essential points. Since then, following this line, the popes have been demanding:

  1. effective international law that must be able to enforce arbitration,
  2. Disarmament and reduction of the military to the extreme defensive minimum,
  3. the complete overcoming of war as a means of politics (as confirmed by the Second Vatican Council).

Pope Benedict reaffirmed this guideline in his encyclical Pacem, Dei munus pulcherrimum from 1920 and, in view of the Paris Treaties , warned that peace could not last.

literature

  • Wolfgang Steglich (ed.): The peace appeal of Pope Benedict XV. of August 1, 1917 and the Central Powers. Diplomatic files from the German Foreign Office, the Bavarian State Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Foreign Office from the years 1915-1922 . Steiner Publishing House, Wiesbaden 1970.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Steglich: Alliance securing or peace of understanding. Investigations into the peace offer of the Central Powers of December 12, 1916 . Göttingen / Berlin / Frankfurt am Main 1958, pp. 168–169.
  2. ^ André Scherer, Jacques Grunewald: L'Allemagne et les problemèmes de la paix pendant la première guerre mondiale. Documents extraits des archives de l'Office allemand des Affaires étrangères. (German original documents). Paris 1962/1978, ISBN 2-85944-010-0 . Volume 2, pp. 285-287 (No. 175) (full text).
  3. ^ André Scherer, Jacques Grunewald: L'Allemagne et les problemèmes de la paix pendant la première guerre mondiale. Documents extraits des archives de l'Office allemand des Affaires étrangères. (German original documents). Paris 1962/1978, ISBN 2-85944-010-0 . Volume 2, pp. 337–338 (No. 205) (wording) and Ernst Rudolf Huber: German Constitutional History since 1789 . Volume 5: World War, Revolution and Reich renewal 1914–1919 . Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne / Mainz 1978, ISBN 3-17-001055-7 , pp. 339-340.
  4. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789 . Volume 5: World War, Revolution and Reich renewal 1914-1919 . Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne / Mainz 1978, ISBN 3-17-001055-7 , p. 353 and Georg Michaelis: For state and people. A life story Berlin 1922, pp. 338–340.