Berkley Center

Vatican diplomacy has a history that is longer than the life of most sovereign states. It also, in the past and still today, addresses a range of issues that is broader than many states engage. At the same time, analysis of Vatican policy does not easily fit standard methods of international relations scholarship or the foreign policy critiques used for secular states.

This Berkley Center Lecture used a comparative analysis of three pontificates—Pius XII (1939 - 1958), John Paul II (1978 - 2005), and Pope Francis (2013 - current)—to assess the style and substance of Vatican diplomacy today. The analysis was framed in terms of the international system each faced, their conception of the role of the Church in the world, and the pastoral and policy vision which informed each pope’s ministry.

A reception followed the lecture.

This event was co-sponsored by Georgetown University's Office of the President and its Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.