Gasparri was born on 5 May 1852[1] in Capovallazza di Ussita,[1] a small village in the Apennine Mountains in central Italy[2] (in the modern province of Macerata, then part of the Papal States).

[6] Gasparri was called to Rome in 1904 to take the post of Secretary for the Commission for the Codification of Canon Law, in which he spent the next 13 years in seclusion, digesting volumes of decrees and studies compiled over centuries to create the first definitive legal text in the history of Catholicism.

On 18 October 1917, Pope Benedict named him the first president of the newly created Pontifical Commission for Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law.

[citation needed] He served as the Cardinal Secretary of State under Popes Benedict XV and Pius XI, beginning with his appointment on 13 October 1914.

[11] By 1928, Gasparri was suffering from heart disease and diabetes, slept poorly, and—despite Pius XI's urging—refused to take time off, fearing that the pope would replace him in his absence.

Jus novum (c. 1140-1563) Jus novissimum (c. 1563-1918) Jus codicis (1918-present) Other Sacraments Sacramentals Sacred places Sacred times Supra-diocesan/eparchal structures Particular churches Juridic persons Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law Clerics Office Juridic and physical persons Associations of the faithful Pars dynamica (trial procedure) Canonization Election of the Roman Pontiff Academic degrees Journals and Professional Societies Faculties of canon law Canonists Institute of consecrated life Society of apostolic life In response to the request of the bishops at the First Vatican Council, Pope Pius X ordered the creation of a general Roman Catholic canon law codification, which did not exist at that time.

[15] Work began with collecting and reducing diverse documents into a single code, presenting the normative portion in the form of systematic short canons shorn of the preliminary considerations ("Whereas ..." etc.)

Under Gasparri's leadership, the Vatican successfully concluded a record number of diplomatic agreements with European governments, many of which heading new states, created after World War I.

[19] The Lateran Treaty is the crowning achievement of Pietro Gasparri, as it ended the sixty-year conflict between the Vatican and the Kingdom of Italy.

[21] On the day of the signing, before leaving for the Lateran Palace, Gasparri met with Pius XI in order for him to approve the final draft of the agreements.

After kneeling for the pope's blessing, Gasparri left the room with tears in his eyes, feeling the enormous importance of what would take place later that day.

With the Russian Revolution, the Vatican was faced with a new, so far unknown situation, an ideology and government which rejected not only the Catholic Church but religion as a whole.

The Baltic states and Poland gained their independence from Russia after World War I, thus enabling a relatively free Church life in those former Russian countries.

On 11 April 1919 Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri informed the Estonian authorities that the Vatican would agree to have diplomatic relations.

The Lithuanian military took over a year later and a proposal of a concordat, drafted by the papal visitator Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius, was agreed upon by the end of 1926.

On 11 June 1921 he wrote to the Polish episcopate, warning against political misuses of spiritual power, urging again peaceful coexistence with neighbouring people, stating that "love of country has its limits in justice and obligations".

[28] Ratti, a scholar, intended to work for Poland and build bridges to the Soviet Union, hoping even to shed his blood for Russia.

[29] Pope Benedict XV needed him as a diplomat and not as a martyr and forbade any trip into the USSR, although he was the official papal delegate for Russia.

"While he tried honestly to show himself as a friend of Poland, Warsaw forced his departure, after his neutrality in Silesian voting was questioned"[30] by Germans and Poles.

Nationalistic Germans objected to a Polish nuncio supervising elections, and Poles were upset because he curtailed agitating clergy.

[31] November 20, when German Cardinal Adolf Bertram announced a papal ban on all political activities of clergymen, calls for Ratti's expulsion climaxed in Warsaw.

[43] The concordat extends to the Latin rite in five ecclesiastical provinces of Gniezno and Poznan, Varsovie, Wilno, Lwow and Cracovie.

But Polish bishops felt forced to take measures against early violations, in the area of marriage legislation and property rights.