The Vatican «Ostpolitik» 1958-1978

The appraisal of the political dialogue and negotiations with the communist regimes of East Central Europe commenced by the Holy See in the 1960s did not provoke only lively debates among contemporaries, but remains to the present day one of the most debated questions of the twentieth-century history: should it be assessed as a fixed path to which no alternative existed, or was it a flawed initiative which merely served the international legitimacy of the communist totalitarian system?

This volume enriches the results of earlier historiography with new perspectives and confirmes inter alia that a black-and-white reading (often based on a one-sided use of sources) of Ostpolitik is incorrect: just as the critical assessment, which frequently places local considerations at the forefront, requires revision, the at times apologetic outlook defending the Vatican’s Eastern policy is also untenable. Only a nuanced and source-focused analysis of the ambitions of the Roman and Muscovite centers, and of local politics and Churches, as well as dialogue between the various research trends, can help us to gain a more thorough knowledge of (and make us better understand) those fixed paths upon which the Roman and local ecclesiastics of the era were forced to travel and which limited the possibility of success.

• Introduction
• András Fejérdy
• New Perspectives in Researching the Vatican’s Eastern Policy
• International and Cultural Contexts
• Pál Hatos
• Eastern Policy – Western Roots: The Cultural Context of the Vatican’s Ostpolitik
• Roberto Morozzo della Rocca
• Agostino Casaroli and the Popes of the Ostpolitik
• Adriano Roccucci
• Moscow and the Vatican’s Ostpolitik in the 1960s and 1970s: Dialogue and Antagonism
• Thomas Gronier
• Austria’s Place in the Ostpolitik of Popes Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI
• Sources
• Nadehzda Belyakova
• The Ostpolitik of Pope Paul VI: Soviet Sources and Research Perspectives
• Adam Somorjai OSB
• American Diplomatic Sources on the Ostpolitik of the Holy See. Two Case Studies
• Inese Runce
• When All Roads to Rome Lead through Moscow. Ostpolitik in the Light of the Diary of Cardinal Julijans Vaivods, Archbishop of Riga
• Pavol Jakubčin
• Sources of the Czechslovak Secret Services on the Ostpolitik
• New Approaches
• András Fejérdy
• The Holy See’s Negotiations with Budapest and Prague (1963-1978): Criteria for a Comparative Analysis
• Emilia Hrabovec
• The Vatican Ostpolitik and Czechoslovakia. National Aspects of the Political-Ecclesiastical Negotiations
• Krysztof Strzałka
• The 1974 Polish-Vatican Agreement: New Sources and a New Interpretation
• Roland Cerny-Werner
• A Regular Visit? The Diplomatic Trip of Agostino Casaroli to East-Berlin and its Reception in East-Berlin and the Vatican
• Index
• Biographical notes

• Nadezhda Belyakova

• Roland Cerny-Werner

• András Fejérdy

• Thomas Gronier

• Pál Hatos

• Emilia Hrabovec

• Pavol Jakubčin

• Roberto Morozzo della Rocca

• Adriano Roccucci

• Inese Runce

• Ádám Somorjai

• Krzysztof Strzałka

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