What role did Eugenio Pacelli hold in Bavaria during World War I?

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Pius XII Pius XII served as pope from 1939 to 1958; photograph by Yousuf Karsh.

In 1917, Pope Benedict XV appointed Eugenio Pacelli as the apostolic nuncio—or ambassador—to the German state of Bavaria. This appointment was part of a broader Vatican initiative to mediate an end to World War I. During his time in the Bavarian capital of Munich, Pacelli actively supported the pope’s policy of strict impartiality regarding the conflict.1