Count Vincenzo Ottorino Gentiloni (13 October 1865 – 2 August 1916) was an Italian politician, one of the early leaders of the Italian Catholic

Azione Cattolica The Azione Cattolica Italiana, or Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action) for short, is a widespread Roman Catholic lay association in Italy. History In Italy in 1905, Azione Cattolica was established as a non-political lay organization under the dir ...

movement. He was born near

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

, was active in Catholic politics from the 1890s, and served as president of the Catholic Electoral Union from 1909 to 1916. When the Pope lifted the ban on Catholic participation in politics in 1913, and the electorate was expanded, he collaborated with Prime Minister

Giovanni Giolitti Giovanni Giolitti (; 27 October 1842 – 17 July 1928) was an Italian statesman. He was the Prime Minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921. After Benito Mussolini, he is the second-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history. A pr ...

in the Gentiloni pact. It directed Catholic voters to Giolitti supporters who agreed to favor the Church's position on such key issues as funding private Catholic schools, and blocking a law allowing divorce. Radicals and Socialist condemned the alliance, and brought down Giolitti's coalition in 1914. Gentiloni died in 1916, due to epidemic typhus, contracted during the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

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