ABSTRACT
Rome, Italy and the world beyond were surprised by the untimely death of Pope Benedict on 22 January 1922. When the conclave opened on 2 February 1922, a number of names appeared on the short-list of Vatican watchers. Although Mussolini revealed his hostility to the Popular Party and the Catholic democratic movement, the Vatican appreciated fascism's restoration of order. Early in the century the papacy had tolerated, if it had not encouraged, Catholic political parties, but Pius doubted their efficacy in upholding Catholic rights. Pius believed that popular democratic governments were subject to disorder and faced the danger of being overthrown by one faction or another. Pius also disapproved of the close relations between fascist Italy and Nazi Germany that commenced during the Abyssinian War and continued during the course of the civil war in Spain, as the two fascist dictatorships supported the forces of General Francisco Franco.
