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Pius XI, originally Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti 1857-1939
Italian pope

Born in Desio, near Milan, and ordained in 1879, he was a great linguist and scholar, and librarian of the Ambrosian (Milan) and Vatican libraries. He became Cardinal Archbishop of Milan in 1921. As pope from 1922, he signed the Lateran Treaty with Mussolini (1929), which brought into existence the Vatican state, and made concordats with many countries. He also broke new ground by appointing six Chinese bishops, and clarified the basis for Catholic school education.