Examines the nature of the Papacy's involvement in the political and diplomatic issues of the modern world.

This volume brings together some of the leading scholars of Vatican history to examine papal diplomacy in the 19th and 20th centuries. Essays consider the role of the Vatican in the major events of the modern era (the unification of Italy, World Wars I and II, the Holocaust, the war in Vietnam, the Nicaraguan revolution). Other essays examine the way in which the Papacy conducts its relations with secular states, specifically addressing its relationship with Ireland, Canada, the United States, and Yugoslavia. And three essays consider the place of the Vatican in the politics of the contemporary Middle East. This important work provides a sense of the complex nature of the Papacy's involvement in the political and diplomatic issues of the modern world.