The Vatican and Permanent Neutrality

Marshall J. Breger, Herbert R. Reginbogin

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781978774896
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire de l'Italie

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.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction Marshall J. Breger
• Part I FROM THE PAPAL STATES TO THE VATICAN: 1870–1929
• Chapter One The Holy See and Neutrality Vatican Diplomacy 1870–1929 John F. Pollard
• Chapter Two The Holy See and Neutrality in the Aftermath of World War I The Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles and Other Peace Treaties Kurt Martens
• Chapter Three The Lateran Treaty and the Hermeneutics of the Holy See Neutrality The Final Defeat of the Papal State and the Roman Question Maria d’Arienzo
• Part II THE LONG SECOND WORLD WAR: 1931–1945
• Chapter Four Neutrality to the Test The Vatican and the Fascist Wars of the 1930s Lucia Ceci
• Chapter Five Vatican Diplomacy and Church Realities in the Philippines during World War II Pascal Lottaz
• Chapter Six Pope Pius XII, Vatican Neutrality, and the Holocaust Case Studies from the Newly Opened Vatican Archives Suzanne Brown-Fleming
• Part III INTO THE COLD: 1950–1990
• Chapter Seven No Neutrality in Ideology The Holy See and the Cold War Piotr H. Kosicki
• Chapter Eight The Holy See’s Efforts to Secure the Departure of Cardinal Mindszenty Diplomacy in a Cold War Context Arpad von Klimo and Margit Balogh
• Part IV POST-COLD WAR: 1990–2020
• Chapter Nine Pope Francis and Vatican Sovereignity Massimo Faggioli
• Chapter Ten Neutrality as an Aid to Holy See Diplomacy Iraq and Syria, 1991–2011 Luke Cahill
• Chapter Eleven The Church and the Bomb Holy See Diplomacy and Nuclear Weapons Maryann Cusimano Love
• Chapter Twelve Vatican’s / Holy See’s Approach to Nonproliferation The United States and Japan Saho Matsumoto
• Chapter Thirteen Power and Spirituality The Collision of Canon and International Law Herbert Reginbogin
• Appendix
• Index
• About the Contributors