1917–1923: The Holy See Facing the Fall of the Empires and the Raising of a New World Order

Abstract

The defeat of Austria-Hungary and Germany in November 1918 not only put an end to the First World War but also meant the collapse of the old political order on both domestic and international arenas. To question this important turning point, this article focuses on an atypical actor of the international system — the Holy See. How did this proven defender of the authority react to the political internal changes in various countries? How did this experienced actor of the international scene fit into the setting of a “new diplomacy” incarnated in Mr. Wilson? Based on the Vatican Archives, the Sacred Congregation for the Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in particular, and on printed sources, the article demonstrates that, far from the backward-looking perspective, immediately after the War, the Holy See adopted a pragmatic policy towards the new States, seeking to establish bilateral relations. The Holy See also continued to pursue the strategy adopted during the War, performing multilateral actions through its diplomatic network, collaborating with non-governmental organisations on humanitarian action… The position of the Holy See, however, remained ambiguous: being excluded from peace conferences and openly critical of the new world order, it remained concentrated on its own project of re-Christianisation of the post-war national and international societies.