Francesco Pacelli

He became a lay canon lawyer and the legal advisor to Pope Pius XI, acted as a legal advisor to Pope Pius XI; in this capacity, he assisted Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri in the negotiation of the Lateran Treaty in 1929 with Benito Mussolini, which established the independence of Vatican City, bringing an end to the Roman Question.

Francesco Pacelli was born in Rome into an upper-class family of intense Catholic piety with a history of ties to the papacy (the "Black Nobility"), which for most of the 19th century was in service to the Holy See.

His brother, Eugenio Pacelli, was ordained a priest on Easter Sunday 2 April 1899 by Bishop Francesco di Paola Cassetta — the vice-regent of Rome and a family friend.

Several years after, on 23 June 1920, he was appointed Nuncio to Germany, and after completion of a concordat with Bavaria, the nunciature was moved to Berlin, Prussia, in 1925.

[10] In this role, he was instrumental in negotiating this Lateran Treaty in 1929, which reaffirmed the independence of the Papacy with the formation of Vatican City as a sovereign entity.

[14] After his brother Francesco had successfully concluded the historic Lateran Treaty, Eugenio Pacelli was called to Rome by Pope Pius XI and on 7 February 1930 appointed as Cardinal Secretary of State succeeding his mentor and friend Pietro Gasparri.

It consisted of two small rooms, and a chapel, where Francesco Pacelli and the family met every morning for Holy Mass and evenings for reciting the rosary.

[16] The stress of daily negotiations over the decades-old Roman Question with the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on behalf of the Holy See had effects on the health of Francesco Pacelli.