If Pope Benedict XVI has taken that name in commemoration of the last Pope called Benedict, he has a tough act to follow.

In terms of war and peace, Benedict XVI, like Benedict XV, will have to deal with a world at war, though the latter's attention was more concentrated, directed at World War I in Europe, the largest and most savage conflict until then.

The new Pope will have to address wars in the Middle East and Africa , and the worldwide scourge of terrorism.

Liberals in the Catholic Church have been disappointed by the election of Benedict XVI (the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger), who is expected to be at least as conservative as John Paul II. They would have preferred a more liberal Latin American candidate, or an African.???

Benedict XV (the Italian Giacomo della Chiesa), who had the physical disability of being unusually small, was 60 years old when he was elected Pope in September 1914, the year World War I began. He succeeded Pius X and was head of the Catholic Church until his death in January 1922, four years after the War ended.

Born in Genoa in 1854, Benedict XV was Archbishop of Bologna before being elected Pope. He took the name Benedict in honour of Pope Benedict XIV, who was head of the Catholic Church from August 1740 to May 1758.

Benedict XV was polished, reserved, and well respected. He had been trained as a lawyer, knew diplomacy, and was well versed in the affairs of the government departments of the Vatican .

According to Donald Attwater's Dictionary of the Popes , Benedict XV “took a rather more moderate view than his predecessor [Pius X] of what was necessary to prevent a recrudescence of Modernism”. So he was, perhaps, more liberal in some areas.

Benedict XV's big challenge was walking the tightrope of neutrality in World War I, the success of which policy was perhaps evidenced by accusations from both the Allies and their foes, led by German Kaiser Wilhelm II, that the Pope favoured their enemies.

There were Catholics on both sides during the war, fighting each other. Benedict took an anti-war position, rather than a position favouring or criticising either side. 

Five days after his election, Benedict XV said: “We ourselves are resolved to leave nothing undone to hasten the end of this calamity.” His first encyclical elaborated on this theme, and he made a special appeal to the warring parties in July 1915, which made little impression.

With his initiatives for peace rejected, the “useless massacre” went on. He used what influence he had to alleviate the crises faced by populations in the warring countries. He also promoted prisoner exchanges.

Pope Benedict XVI

In August 1917, Pope Benedict put forward specific peace proposals, circulated to the belligerent governments. Benedict, unlike victorious politicians meeting at Versailles at the end of the War, saw that a “humiliating, vindictive treaty could be no basis for peace”.

His words were prophetic. By 1939, when Pius XII became Pope, Adolf Hitler had set out to avenge the humiliation the Germans had suffered in the 1918 peace treaty concluded at Versailles .

Benedict XV's pontificate, in spite of the terrible war and its aftermath, was a time of great religious fruitfulness. His first encyclical appealed for a restoration of harmony among Catholics of all countries.

He was eventually courted by the Germans and the French. When Benedict canonised Joan of Arc in 1920, the French government took the opportunity to send an official representative and re-opened its embassy at the Vatican.

Pope Benedict stressed the training of indigenous clergy in all countries and established an organisation to deal with the affairs of Catholics of Eastern rites.

Benedict XV's time as Pope has been described as one of the most dignified in the history of the papacy. Benedict XIV (the Italian Prosper Lambertini), in honour of whom Benedict XV had taken the name, was 65 years old when he became Pope in 1740, and remained head of the Catholic Church for 18 years, till his death in 1758. Like Benedict XV, he was Archbishop of Bologna before he became Pope.

The conclave of Cardinals who chose Benedict XIV as Pope lasted for three months.

Benedict XIV had great experience in pastoral work as well as in how the Vaticanís government departments worked. He was well versed in canon law and history.

He produced written works of importance, the first Pope to do so in some time. He was also a lively wit, so much so that detractors spoke of his unseemly levity.

He wrote a standard and authoritative book on the “history, theology, canon law, and procedure of beatification and canonisation”, according to Attwater.

He also wrote on the meaning of the Mass, the Divine Office (read daily by priests), and on canon law as it applied generally to bishoprics.

Some of Benedict XIV's policies were moderate. He decentralised the Catholic Church by allowing the kings of Spain , Portugal and Sardinia to appoint all but the most important bishops in their countries.

One of his principal policies was appeasement towards non-Catholic countries – approved even by the Sultan of Turkey. He set up a special court to deal with issues arising from these and similar matters.

Because of the direction Benedict took, some of his own Cardinals (some of whom he eventually had to deal with strictly) called Benedict XIV the “Protestant Pope”. 

The French writer Voltaire dedicated one of his plays to Benedict, referring to him as “The Head of the True Faith”. The two began an amiable correspondence, though the Catholic Church condemned a number of Voltaire's books in 1753.

Benedict XIV was also conciliatory to Eastern Catholic Churches, such as Egypt 's Coptic Church, as well as the Armenian rite, and Catholics in China . “We desire most intensely that all should be Catholics, but not that all should be Latins,” he declared.

He inaugurated the new priestly orders of the Passionist Congregation and the Redemptorist Congregation, but was in some matters critical of the Jesuits. Benedict XIV also founded or confirmed institutions such as the Vatican Museum and the Liturgical Academy .

Benedict appointed a woman professor of mathematics at Bologna University and this was in the 1700s. He was eventually called “the most illustrious Pope of the 18th century” and one of the “most outstanding pontiffs of all time”.

Between Benedict XV and Benedict XVI there were six Popes: Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II.

Benedict XVI, at the age of 78, has his work clearly marked out for him. The world waits to see how he will deal with this.