Controversial Concordats: The Vatican's Relations with Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler

This is a survey of the relationship of the Roman Catholic Church with three dictatorial figures in the 19th and 20th centuries: Napoleon, Mussolini and Hitler. The essays reveal that the papacy not only played a key role in determining church-state relations in particular countries, but also greatly influenced the general course of international relations and modern history from the era of the French Revolution to the age of dictators and World War II. This volume examines the concordats signed by Pope Pius VII and his Secretary of State, Consalvi, with Napoleonic France in 1801; the concordat concluded by Pius XI and Cardinal Gasparri with Fascist Italy in 1929; and that signed by Pius XI and Cardinal Pacelli with the Third Reich in 1933. In addition to tracing the evolution of these crucial agreements, the contributors assess their consequences at home and abroad, their impact on the universal Church and the Catholic faith, and their effects on European and international developments. A complete bibliography - divided into three parts corresponding to the periods examined - offers an historiographical overview of the sources for each of the agreements. It also provides important references on the broad issue of church-state relations in the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition to the editor, the contributors are: Joseph A. Biesinger, William Roberts, Stewart A. Stehlin and John Zeender.