Choice of name hints at anti-war stance
By DUNCAN CAMPBELL

The Guardian – United Kingdom
Apr 20, 2005

The choice of the name Benedict by the new Pope could be symbolic of
his desire to emphasise the importance of Europe in his papacy as St
Benedict is the patron saint of Europe.

The previous holder of the name, Pope Benedict XV, was strongly
associated with seeking a peaceful solution to the first world war.

St Benedict of Nursia is known as the founder of western monasticism
in the sixth century and started the monastery of Monte Cassino. He is
the patron of many aspects of life, including farm workers, architects
and monks but, most significantly perhaps, of Europe.

“He [the new Pope] is very concerned about the state of Christianity
in Europe and that might be one of his reasons for choosing the
name,” Simon Caldwell, news editor of the Catholic Herald, said last
night. The most recent Pope Benedict had been a champion of Catholic
missions, he said.

Some commentators saw the choice as linking with Benedict XV’s first
world war efforts and a possible attempt to continue his immediate
predecessor’s anti-war stance.

In 1917, Benedict XV issued a peace proposal which urged that for
“the material force of arms should be substituted the moral force
of law”. He called for a just solution to territorial disputes,
“notably those relating to Armenia, the Balkan states, and the
territories composing the ancient kingdom of Poland”.

He was also famous for not seeing Catholicism as removed from the rest
of the Christian church and one of his sayings was that “Christianity
is my family and Catholicism is my name.”

Pope Benedict XV sought peaceful solution to first world war