elevated by the Pope (a traditional reward to the secretary of a conclave), becoming Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prassede and full Secretary of State, in place of Rampolla, who was moved to the post of Secretary of the Holy Office. The praise which Merry del Val received from the Pope on 11 November 1903, the day he received the cardinal's hat, went as follows: "The good odor of Christ, lord cardinal, that you have spread in every place, even in your temporary dwelling, and the many works of charity to which you have dedicated yourself constantly in your priestly ministry, especially in this our city of Rome, have won for you, with admiration, universal esteem." From Pascendi Dominici gregis (published in 1907) until 1914, Merry del Val was pro-active in combatting modernism among the clergy, especially the university professors. Nevertheless, he avoided an official canonical acknowledgement of Sodalitium Pianum (in France known as "La Sapinière") and kept a certain distance from the extensive activities of Umberto Benigni; in this attitude he was supported by voices from Germany protesting against an "integralist conspiracy". In 1911, Sodalitium Pianum departed of its own volition from the structure of the Secretariat of State. Among Merry del Val's diplomatic achievements was the signing of a Concordat with Serbia barely four days before the assassination of the Austrian Heir-Apparent Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 plunged Europe into the First World War. Merry del Val recorded that the "breakthrough" in the difficult negotiations with Belgrade came on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. The Pope and his Cardinal Secretary of State were fully aware that war was imminent. Pius X had already warned a departing Brazilian Ambassador a year earlier that Europe would not "get through 1914" without a major conflagration. Merry del Val remained Secretary of State throughout the pontificate of Pius X, but when Pope Benedict XV, an old associate of Rampolla, was elected in the conclave of 1914, Merry del Val was not reappointed. Benedict XV in fact appointed as his Cardinal Secretary of State, first Domenico Ferrata, who died almost immediately, and then Pietro Gasparri. Thus at the head of the Church were the two bishops – Della Chiesa (now Pope Benedict XV) and Gasparri – who had been leapfrogged by Merry del Val on the eve of the conclave in 1903. But Benedict XV appointed Merry del Val as secretary