Benedetto XV, p. Gemelli e la fondazione dell’Università Cattolica

The documentation held in the Vatican Archives and in the Historical Archive of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore highlights the relationship between Father Agostino Gemelli and Pope Benedict XV, which was complicated by the attempt made by Gemelli to conciliate patriotism and religion during the First World War as well as the foundation of a Catholic University in a cultural context still affected by modernist crisis. Neither the Pope nor the Vatican Congregation for Seminaries and Universities gave Gemelli full confidence. The Franciscan consequently had to reconsider his project in order to obey Vatican directives, basing his cultural effort on a rigorous thomist view.