10 May 2007
3. Origin and Historical Evolution of Pontifical Diplomacy
It is not entirely self-evident, I would say, that the Apostolic See should maintain a presence on the international scene via a diplomatic corps of its own. Diplomacy per se is a prerogative of States, deriving directly from their being constituted as sovereign States in relation with other States. The Holy See, on the other hand, is an eminently religious entity. For this reason I should like to present a brief excursus, not so much on the history of Vatican diplomacy, as on certain historical factors that have played a significant part in its formation and evolution.
The historical development of Vatican diplomacy rests, it seems to me, on two pillars.
3a. The first pillar is indicated succinctly in the letter of Pope Gelasius I to the Emperor Anastasius (the Pope was writing in 494, at the time of the late Roman Empire): “There are two things by which this world is principally governed: the sacred authority of the Pontiffs and the power of Kings”. The Letter of Pope Gelasius goes on to underline that, just as the Emperor is subject to the bishops in spiritual matters, so the latter obey the laws of the Emperor. This same principle, which has undergone significant variations in its formulation in the course of history, was taken up again by the Second Vatican Council in its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, issued on 7 December 1965: “The political community and the Church are autonomous and independent of each other in their own fields. They are both at the service of the personal and social vocation of the same individuals, though under different titles” (Gaudium et Spes, 76). This is not the place to explore the socio-juridical bases on which this statement rests; but ultimately, it seems to me, it is inspired by Christ’s own words: “Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt 22:21).
In the course of history it is principally this “pillar” that the Popes have placed at the basis of the diplomatic activity of the Apostolic See, that is to say, first and foremost the Church’s right to active and passive legation; but the content of diplomatic action has also always been referred by the Popes, directly or indirectly, to the affairs of the Church and to what must be rendered to God.
3b. Soon, however, after the rapid consolidation of the structures of the Church, the religious power of the Roman Pontiff and his consequent social responsibility inevitably became increasingly intertwined with the structures of civil society. This process was set in motion as a result of the dissolution of the structures of the crumbling Roman Empire, in the wake of the barbarian invasions from central Europe between the fifth and eighth centuries after Christ, and as a result of the concomitant, spontaneous recourse to the authority of the Pope and the Bishops. This occurred specifically in relation to social and political questions, inasmuch as the Pope and the Bishops constituted the sole remaining centres of recognized moral authority and social order.
The terminus a quo of the evolution of the temporal power of the Roman Pontiffs can be located in the gift to the “Patrimonium Sancti Petri” of the city of Sutri by the Lombard King Liutprando. We are in the year 628 at the time of Pope Gregory II. The terminus ad quem is the “debellatio” of what remained of the Papal States by a unit of the Italian army in 1870. The King of Italy was Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy and the Pope was Pius IX.
In between these two historical landmarks, the temporal power of the Popes underwent infinite vicissitudes. I shall mention only that it reached its maximum territorial extension in the fifteenth century, covering central Italy from west coast to east coast. It was in this period, with the parallel emergence of Italian States and of European Nation-States, that the first permanent embassies and the first nunciatures originated.5 Moreover, permanent representations had already been maintained by the Pope since ancient times at the seat of the Roman Emperor in Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), and after 800 at the court of Charlemagne, who had been crowned Roman Emperor by Leo III.
Before 1870, the “States of the Church”, as they were called, were totally suppressed for the first time by the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who annexed them to France in 1809. This was at the time of Pope Pius VII. But a few years later, in 1815, the Congress of Vienna restored them to the same Pope under the new name of “Stato Pontificio”, which means literally “Papal State”. Regarding Vatican diplomacy, the Congress of Vienna is especially interesting for the recognition it expressed for the protocol precedence or the role of dean traditionally reserved for the Apostolic Nuncios. This recognition was certainly not due to the political-temporal power of the Apostolic See, undoubtedly very weak, but rather to the spiritual prerogative of the Pope as a religious authority.
The restoration decided by the Congress of Vienna did not last long, either in Europe or in Italy. Wars of independence soon broke out, led by Piedmont against Austria with a number of parallel movements for the unification of Italy. These led to the establishment in 1861 of the Kingdom of Italy, not yet covering the entire peninsula, but with that declared intention of annexation. The “Breach of Porta Pia”, through which Italian troops entered Rome on 20 September 1870, was the final act of this process. It marked the end of the temporal power of the Popes. As far as papal diplomacy is concerned, it is worthy of note that even after 1870, in the absence of the Pope’s temporal power, diplomatic relations were established between the Holy See and numerous States.6