Rafael Merry Del Val - Cardinal Secretary of State

Cardinal Secretary of State

After a two month trial period, Pius X named him pro-Secretary of State. That November he became the first cardinal elevated by the Pope (a traditional reward to the secretary of a conclave), becoming Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prassede and full Secretary of State, replacing Cardinal Rampolla del Tindaro, who was moved to the post of Secretary of the Holy Office.

The praise which he received from Pope Pius X on 11 November 1903, the day Merry del Val 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 he was pro-active in combatting modernism among the clergy, especially the university professors. However, he obviated an official canonic acknowledgement of Sodalitium Pianum (in France known as "La Sapinière") and showed a certain distance to the extensive activities of Umberto Benigni; supported by voices from Germany protesting against an "integralistic conspiracy". In 1911, Sodalitium Pianum departed of its own volition from the structure of the Secretariat of State.

Among his 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. He 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, he 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. However, Benedict XV appointed Merry del Val as secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office on 14 October 1914.

After being Secretary of State, the Congregation was considered an important though lesser assignment. The Pope did not appoint him as Prefect, because at the time the Popes themselves were Prefects of the Holy Office. The post of Secretary was then the highest-ranking office in the Dicastery. Merry del Val as secretary was responsible for running the daily affairs of the Holy Office, in which capacity he reportedly explained Pope Pius's policy of non possumus to Theodore Herzl and his emerging movement of Zionism, saying that as long as Jews deny Christ's divinity, the Church could not make a declaration in their favor. To the British Roman Catholic diplomat Mark Sykes who visited him on the same topic he was more supportive, indicating that the Vatican would look benignly on the project. After the death of Pope Benedict XV (22 January 1922), Cardinal Merry del Val was retained by Pope Pius XI in the role of Secretary of the Holy Office, a post he held until 26 February 1930, when he died in Vatican City, aged 64, during an operation for appendicitis. The funeral took place in the patriarchal Vatican basilica on 3 March 1930. Buried in the grotto of the same basilica. On 31 July 1931, a new tomb, gift of the Spanish government, was dedicated by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli.