Second Risorgimento

Benedict XV unites a variety of Catholic militia on the Italian Peninsula and begins the reconquest of Italy.

Italy had broken into several factions, as monarchists, democrats, socialists and a part of military that decided to focus on 'restoring the order' in a way looking suspiciously like a military junta - and that was suspiciously well-organized. Many of these groups were separated into numerous local militias, fighting in their own regions, without any way of influencing the wider state of affairs.   The now Awakened Pope Benedict XV used this. His authority allowed him to gain control of at least some local Catholic militia. With them, he began what was quickly dubbed as second Risorgimento. A reunification if Italy, this time under authority of the pope (though it was far from theocracy, as pope Benedict XV installed himself in a way similar to a constitutional monarch, relegating most power to local governments).   When he proclaimed a crusade for Italy and announced that those who fall under his authority would be treated like the crusaders of old - which meant getting in a shorter line for Heaven - he was ridiculed by the representatives on the Weimar Congress. This changed rather quickly, as not only he introduced a brand new school of thaumaturgy (with faith used to power Italian techmaturgy turning out better than the 'standard' elemental cells used by everyone else in the world at this point), but he also turned out to be a strategic mastermind in a way that couldn't be explained in any other way than his Awakening.   Withing four months, Italy was united into an Italian Federation, a compilation of a lot of local autonomous states under a certain set of common laws and the pope as a de facto monarch. Most of the monarchists and democrats rallied under the papal banner, while the majority of socialist militias were defeated and disbanded. The same happened to what was presumed to be a pre-war military conspiracy made for reasons unknown.