 At one point during World War II Lercaro was forced to operate under the alias of "Father Lorenzo Gusmini" and live in a vacant monastery cell to avoid being killed by Nazi collaborators.Lercaro's reputation as an outspoken critic of Communism is believed to be a contributing factor in Pope Pius XII's decision to make him the first Archbishop of Ravenna (31 January 1947) and then the twentieth Archbishop of Bologna (19 April 1952), both considered among the largest Italian cities under Communist rule.Even though Lercaro felt that Pope John was moving much too quickly when he first announced the Second Vatican Council in late 1959, he later sat on its Board of Presidency and became regarded as one of the main architects of the Council's liturgical reforms.