Negoziare con il nemico? Continuità e discontinuità tra la Ostpolitik di Pio XII e dei suoi successori

ANDRÁS FEJÉRDY

On Wednesday, 21 May, the sixth and final appointment of the annual cycle of the permanent seminar in History of the Papacy will be held in room F007 at 5pm. On this occasion András Fejérdy, from the HUN-REN Centre for Humanistic Research, Budapest - Péter Pázmány Catholic University, Budapest, will give a lecture entitled ‘Negotiating with the Enemy? Continuity and discontinuity between the Ostpolitik of Pius XII and his successors'. The scholar will focus on the fundamental characteristics of the policy of Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI towards Eastern Europe after the Second World War. Based on the results of research carried out in the archives of Pope Pacelli's pontificate and in the Casaroli Papers, he will examine how Pius XII developed his essentially wait-and-see strategy in response to supposed or actual attempts at rapprochement by the Soviet Union in the years 1944-45. It will be analysed why his readiness for dialogue, albeit with important cautions and reservations due to ideological opposition, was not successful in the following years and how his attitude towards the communist regimes stiffened following his negative experiences in 1956. The scholar will illustrate the reasons behind the decision of John XXIII and Paul VI to enter into negotiations with Budapest and Prague in 1963, also highlighting the influence of changes in the church policy of the Soviet Bloc. Fejérdy will show that the Ostpolitik of Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI is an organic continuation of the Holy See's concordat diplomacy, even if the various pontiffs applied it differently.