PACELLI, FRANCESCO. - Jurist, b. in Rome on 27 Feb. 1874, son of Filippo and Virginia Graziosi, d. in Rome on 22 Apr. 1935. Having graduated in civil and canon law, he devoted himself to the study of public water law; in 1898 he published the treatise *Le acque pubbliche*, which became a fundamental work on the subject, expanded and updated in subsequent editions of 1918 and 1934. His publications earned him in 1922 the libera docenza in “Diritto delle acque” at the University of Rome. Alongside his academic work, he carried out an intense professional activity: he served in the legal office of the Municipality of Rome (to him is owed the preservation for the city of the Greek statue of the Niobid), advocate of the Sacred Consistorial Court, legal consultant to the Holy See and to many sacred congregations of the Roman Curia.
His studies and profession prepared Pacelli for his greatest work: the negotiations for the Conciliation. From their beginning (6 Aug. 1926) until the ratification of the Lateran Pacts (7 June 1929), he conducted them under the guidance and according to XI (v.), sometimes contributing decisively in person and demonstrating qualities both of jurist and negotiator. The first conversations with the Italian government’s representative, Domenico Barone, immediately addressed the Roman Question, and it was Pacelli’s merit to find preliminary formulas and prepare notes and memoranda that served as the basis for subsequent texts. The most delicate point was that of the sovereignty of the new State, Mussolini proposing a superimposition of the sovereignty of the Papal City or of the Pope, to agree finally on the name *Città del Vaticano*. The negotiations for the Treaty and the Concordat continued through 1927 and 1928, with frequent interruptions due to violence against Catholic youth associations and against priests, and especially because of the Royal Decree of 9 Jan. 1927, modified by another decree of 9 Apr. 1928, on the Opera Nazionale Balilla. Finally, the decision taken by Pius XI at the end of Oct. 1928 to renounce Villa Pampulini, limiting the territory to the Vatican, removed every reservation and opened the way to the final phase of the negotiations (from 9 Nov. 1928 to 10 Feb. 1929). Little was done in December because of Barone’s illness (d. 4 Jan. 1929); the work of the last month was most intense, in which Pacelli was the sole mediator between the two parties. The financial question, long debated during the negotiations, was settled, and the difficulties over marriage and the administration of ecclesiastical property were overcome. On 31 Jan. 1929 agreement was reached on the various points under discussion; the negotiations of the last days determined that the railway station should be built within the territory of the Città del Vaticano and that the Palace of the Holy Office should not be included in the territory of the new State.
After the signing of the Lateran Pacts (11 Feb. 1929), Pacelli was entrusted by the Pope with preparing the fundamental laws of the State of the Città del Vaticano and took part in the drafting of the Italian laws for the application of the Pacts. The strong tension provoked by Mussolini’s speeches to the Chambers (13 and 25 May), to which Pius XI replied with a letter to Cardinal Gasparri (5 June), was overcome with the declaration read at the moment of ratification in the Vatican (7 June 1929), which had been formulated the day before by Pacelli. Even afterwards, until his death, he continued to work for the implementation of the Pacts. In order to continue his activity in Italy on behalf of the Holy See, he refused to hold government office in the State of the Città del Vaticano; he accepted only that of General Counsellor.