Papal Diplomacy from 1914 to 1989

Papal Diplomacy from 1914 to 1989
Author: Dennis Castillo
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2019-10-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1498546498

The First World War, the Second World War, and the Cold War are episodes of a wider conflict, called here “The Seventy-Five Years War,” dominated the twentieth century. Both unresolved issues and new issues from the First World War carry over into the next conflict, which in turn led immediately to the Cold War. While this great conflict can be viewed from different perspectives, this book focuses on the role of the Papacy. From the stateless Benedict XV’s attempts to call a peace conference, to the establishment of Vatican City and the restoration of sovereignty, to the struggles of Pius XI and Pius XII with both Fascism and Communism, and the contributions of John Paul II to the collapse of Communism, the Catholic Church was a part of this struggle. In addition to its humanitarian and pacifistic efforts from 1914 to 1989, the Catholic Church was also engaged in an intense ideological struggle with atheistic communism. This conflict will often take priority over other ideological conflicts, such as that with Fascism, as well as complicate the Church’s mission in other parts of the world, such as Latin America and Asia.

The Vatican and Permanent Neutrality

The Vatican and Permanent Neutrality
Author: Marshall J. Breger
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2022-03-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1793642176

The essays in this book cover a fast-paced 150 years of Vatican diplomacy, starting from the fall of the Papal States in 1870 to the present day. They trace the transformation of the Vatican from a state like any other to an entity uniquely providing spiritual and moral sustenance in world affairs. In particular, the book details the Holy See’s use of neutrality as a tool and the principal statecraft in its diplomatic portmanteau. This concept of “permanent neutrality,” as codified in the Lateran Treaties of 1929, is a central concept adding to the Vatican's uniqueness and, as a result, the analysis of its policies does not easily fit within standard international relations or foreign policy scholarship. These essays consider in detail the Vatican’s history with “permanent neutrality” and its application in diplomacy toward delicate situations as, for instance, vis a vis Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan, but also in the international relations of the Cold War in debates about nuclear non-proliferation, or outreach toward the third world, including Cuba and Venezuela. The book also considers the ineluctable tension between pastoral teachings and realpolitik, as the church faces a reckoning with its history.

City of Echoes

City of Echoes
Author: Jessica Wärnberg
Publisher: Icon Books
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2023-08-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1837731071

In Rome the echoes of the past resound clearly in its palaces and monuments, and in the remains of the ancient imperial city. But another presence has dominated Rome for 2,000 years -the pope, whose actions and influence echo down the ages. In this epic tale, historian Jessica Wärnberg tells, for the first time, the story of Rome through the lens of its popes, illuminating how these remarkable (and unremarkable) men have transformed lives and played a crucial role in deciding the fate of the city. Emerging as the anonymous leader of a marginal cult in the humblest quarters of the city, less than 300 years later the pope sat enthroned in a gilt basilica, endorsed by the emperor himself. Eventually, the Roman pontiff would supplant even the emperors, becoming the de facto ruler of Rome and pre-eminent leader of the Christian world. Shifting elegantly between the panoramic and the personal, the spiritual and the profane, this is a fresh and often surprising take on a city, a people and an institution that is at once familiar and elusive.

Peacemaking and the Canon Law of the Catholic Church

Peacemaking and the Canon Law of the Catholic Church
Author: Charles Reid, Jr.
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2023-12-21
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004545743

This volume unites three disparate strands of historical and legal experience. Nearly from its beginning, the Catholic Church has sought to promote peace – among warring parties, and among private litigants. The volume explores three vehicles the Church has used to promote peace: papal diplomacy of international disputes both medieval and contemporary; the arbitration of disputes among litigants; and the use of the tools of reconciliation to bring about rapprochement between ecclesiastical superiors and those subject to their authority. The book concludes with an appendix exploring a wide variety of hypothetical, yet plausible scenarios in which the Church might use its good offices to repair breaches among persons and nations.

Constitutional Culture, Independence, and Rights

Constitutional Culture, Independence, and Rights
Author: Javier Garcia Oliva
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2023-05-26
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1487532202

In Constitutional Culture, Independence, and Rights, Javier García Oliva and Helen Hall coin the term "constitutional culture" to encapsulate the collective rules and expectations that govern the collective life within a jurisdiction. Significantly, these shared norms have both legal and social elements, including matters as diverse as standards of parenting, the modus operandi of police officers, and taboos around sexuality. Using Quebec, Scotland, and Catalonia as case studies, the book delves into what these constitutional battles mean for the rights, identity, and needs of everyday people, and it powerfully demonstrates why the hypothetical future independence of these regions would have far-reaching practical consequences, beyond the realm of political structures and academic theory. The book does not present a magic bullet to resolve debates around independence – this is not its purpose, and the text in fact demonstrates why there is no objectively optimal approach in any or all contexts. Instead, it seeks to shed light on aspects of these situations often overlooked in discussions around the fate of nations, and it addresses what the consequences of constitutional paradigm shifts might be for individuals. Constitutional culture is a complex web of interconnected understandings and behaviours, and the vibrations from shaking or cutting a fundamental strand will be felt throughout the structure.

The Disarmament of Hatred

The Disarmament of Hatred
Author: G. Barry
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2012-03-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 023037333X

Documenting an audacious Franco-German movement for moral disarmament, instigated in 1921 by war veteran and French Catholic politician Marc Sangnier, in this transnational study Gearóid Barry examines the European resonance of Sangnier's Peace Congresses and their political and religious ecumenism within France in the era of two World Wars.

Vatican Secret Diplomacy

Vatican Secret Diplomacy
Author: Charles R. Gallagher
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2008-06-10
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0300148216

In the corridors of the Vatican on the eve of World War II, American Catholic priest Joseph Patrick Hurley found himself in the midst of secret diplomatic dealings and intense debate. Hurley’s deeply felt American patriotism and fixed ideas about confronting Nazism directly led to a mighty clash with Pope Pius XII. It was 1939, the earliest days of Pius’s papacy, and controversy within the Vatican over policy toward Nazi Germany was already heated. This groundbreaking book is both a biography of Joseph Hurley, the first American to achieve the rank of nuncio, or Vatican ambassador, and an insider’s view of the alleged silence of the pope on the Holocaust and Nazism. Drawing on Hurley’s unpublished archives, the book documents critical debates in Pope Pius’s Vatican, secret U.S.-Vatican dealings, the influence of Detroit’s flamboyant anti-Semitic priest Charles E. Coughlin, and the controversial case of Croatia’s Cardinal Stepinac. The book also sheds light on the powerful connections between religion and politics in the twentieth century.

The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism, 1914-1958

The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism, 1914-1958
Author: John Francis Pollard
Publisher: Oxford History of the Christia
Total Pages: 561
Release: 2014
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199208565

The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism, 1914-1958 examines the most momentous years in papal history. Popes Benedict XV (1914-1922), Pius XI (1922-1939), and Pius XII (1939-1958) faced the challenges of two world wars and the Cold War, and threats posed by totalitarian dictatorships like Italian Fascism, German National Socialism, and Communism in Russia and China. The wars imposed enormous strains upon the unity of Catholics and the hostility of the totalitarian regimes to Catholicism lead to the Church facing persecution and martyrdom on a scale similar to that experienced under the Roman Empire and following the French Revolution. At the same time, these were years of growth, development, and success for the papacy. Benedict healed the wounds left by the 'modernist' witch hunt of his predecessor and re-established the papacy as an influence in international affairs through his peace diplomacy during the First World War. Pius XI resolved the 'Roman Question' with Italy and put papal finances on a sounder footing. He also helped reconcile the Catholic Church and science by establishing the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and took the first steps to move the Church away from entrenched anti-Semitism. Pius XI continued his predecessor's policy of the 'indigenisation' of the missionary churches in preparation for de-colonisation. Pius XII fully embraced the media and other means of publicity, and with his infallible promulgation of the Assumption in 1950, he took papal absolutism and centralism to such heights that he has been called the 'last real pope'. Ironically, he also prepared the way for the Second Vatican Council.

Hitler's Pope

Hitler's Pope
Author: John Cornwell
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2000-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1101202491

The “explosive” (The New York Times) bestseller that “redefined the history of the twentieth century” (The Washington Post ) This shocking book was the first account to tell the whole truth about Pope Pius XII's actions during World War II, and it remains the definitive account of that era. It sparked a firestorm of controversy both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Award-winning journalist John Cornwell has also included in this seminal work of history an introduction that both answers his critics and reaffirms his overall thesis that Pius XII fatally weakened the Catholic Church with his endorsement of Hitler—and sealed the fate of the Jews in Europe.