24 Dec 1918 In May and June 1915 , the Ottoman Empire waged a genocide against the Armenian Christian minorities in Anatolia . The Vatican attempted to get Germany and Austria – Hungary involved in protesting to its Turkish ally . The Pope himself sent a personal letter to the Sultan , who was also Caliph of Islam . It had no success “ as over a million Armenians died , either killed outright by the Turks or from maltreatment or starvation . " At the time , the anti-Vatican resentment , combined with Italian diplomatic moves to isolate the Vatican in light of the unresolved Roman Question , contributed to the exclusion of the Vatican from the Paris Peace conference of 1919 ( although it was also part of a historical pattern of political and diplomatic marginalization of the papacy after the loss of the Papal States ) . Despite this , he wrote an encyclical pleading for international reconciliation , '' Pacem , Dei Munus Pulcherrimum . '' After the war , Benedict focused the Vatican 's activities on overcoming famine and misery in Europe and establishing contacts and relations with the many new states which were created because of the demise of Imperial Russia , Austria – Hungary , and Germany . Large food shipments , and information about and contacts with POWs , were to be the first steps for a better understanding of the papacy in Europe
genocide against the Armenian Christian minorities
Armenian Genocide
Pope Benedict XV