Review article
Diplomatic Relations Between the Holy See and the Soviet Union During the Pontificates of the Council Popes
Boris Vukićević
; Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Crna Gora, Podgorica, Montenegro
Abstract
The spreading of Soviet influence into Eastern and Central Europe after World War II added to the already complex relations between the Holy See and the countries declared “popular democracies”. After the pontificate of staunchly anti-communist pope Pius XII (1939 – 1958) a new pope, John XXIII, turned a new page in history of diplomacy of the Holy See. He convened the Second Vatican Council that helped the Church open to diversities and challenges of the modern world. That included forging a dialogue between the Church and socialist countries. The leading Vatican diplomat and father of so-called Ostpolitik of the Holy See was Agostino Casaroli whose visits to Moscow in 1971 and the signing of the Helsinki Final Act were some of the high points of the Ostpolitik of the Holy See. Paul VI (1963 – 1978), who succeeded John XXIII, led a policy of fine balance between pursuing better relations with the Soviet Union and improvement of conditions of the faithful in socialist countries.
Keywords
The Holy See; the Soviet Union; detente; John XXIII; Paul VI; the Cold War; the Second Vatican Council
Hrčak ID:
124807
URI
Publication date:
1.7.2014.
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