2 Euro Cent Benedict XV

Benedict XV reigned from 1914 to 1922, spending virtually his entire pontificate navigating the catastrophe of World War I. He spent enormous personal and institutional funds on relief efforts and prisoner exchanges, reportedly exhausting the Vatican treasury in the process. His 2005 appearance on Vatican coinage is posthumous by over eight decades — the coin was issued during the sede vacante period following John Paul II's death in April 2005, before Benedict XVI's election, making pieces from this short interregnum among the lower-mintage Vatican euro issues.