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Невозможное сосуществование: Святой Престол и религиозный вопрос в России между конкордатом и крестовым походом, 1924—1934 An Impossibile Coexistence: the Holy See and the Question of Religion in Russia, 1924—1934 — from Efforts at a Concordat to a “Crusading” Spirit
Over the centuries the Holy See has been greatly attracted by Orthodox Russia, and this attraction opens many avenues of research to historians of international relations. My essay focuses on Pope Pius XI’s policy towards Russia, with all its wealth of religious, historical and cultural implications. The essay first recapitulates the approach used towards Soviet Russia all through the Twenties by Papal diplomacy, with a view to establishing a concordat. Such a result would have satisfied the Vatican’s need to dialogue with secularist States, especially right-wing totalitarian and authoritarian ones, with their international recognition to be balanced by guarantees and rights granted to Catholics for the practice of their faith. The essay then devotes special attention to the reasons why, in 1929—1930, new Soviet legislation on religious practice and anti-religious propaganda, to be conducted by the League of Militant Atheists, induced the Holy See to break off diplomatic dialogue and inaugurate a decade of open and vigorous conflict with Soviet Communism, surprising the world