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Abstract
A new awareness of the role of religion in international relations has started to inform concrete policy discussions in several Western Ministries of Foreign Affairs under the heading of ‘religious engagement’ in foreign policy. Italy is no exception, but as the country which hosts the Holy See, it represents a special case. As the approach to religion found in the historical record of Italian foreign policy shows, Italy has a comparative advantage and could well develop a unique model of religious engagement by strengthening the central structures involved in religious matters and foreign policy, as well as by using the vast network of Rome-based religious non-state actors as a forum of consultation and policy advice.
Notes
1 Toft, Philpott and Shah, God’s Century, 211.
2 See Mandaville and Silvestri, “Integrating Religious Engagement and Diplomacy”.
3 “Religion, foreign policy and development: making better policy to make a bigger difference”, Wilton Park, 5 February 2014, https://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/conference/wp1311/
4 Petito and Thomas, “Encounter, Dialogue and Knowledge”; de Charentenay, “Religione e politica estera”.
5 Kepel, The Revenge of God; Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God.
6 Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations.
7 Petito and Hatzopoulos, Religion in International Relations.
8 Thomas, The Global Resurgence of Religion; Cavanaugh, The Myth of Religious Violence.
9 Appleby, The Ambivalence of the Sacred.
10 Appleby and Cizik, Engaging Religious Communities Abroad.
11 For the Office of Religion and Global Affairs and the related strategy, see http://www.state.gov/s/rga/
12 In cooperation with the Institute for International Political Study (ISPI), the project was located within the Policy Planning Unit of the MAECI at the initiative of its head, who briefly referred to its history in the introduction of his recent book; see Ferrara, Global Religions and International Relations.
13 For an analysis of this approach, see Petito and Thomas, “Encounter, Dialogue and Knowledge”.
14 See, for example, Mammarella and Cacace, Storia della politica estera italiana. For one of the very few works focusing on the relationship between the Vatican and Italian foreign policy, see Pollard, “Il vaticano e la politica estera italiana”.
15 Petito and Thomas, “Encounter, Dialogue and Knowledge”, 46.
16 See Spadolini, L’opposizione cattolica.
17 See Chabod, Storia della politica estera italiana, 179-323.
18 Carmody, “Franciscans and Italian Foreign Policy”.
19 See De Giuseppe, “Orizzonti missionari, coloniali, terzomondisti”.
20 Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Relazione al parlamento.
21 See Pretelli, “Education in the Italian Colonies”.
22 Carmody, “Franciscans and Italian Foreign Policy”. See also Buffon, “Franciscans in the Holy Land”.
23 See De Giuseppe, “Orizzonti missionari, coloniali, terzomondisti”.
24 Ibid.
25 See Pretelli, “Education in the Italian Colonies”.
26 See Sale, Libia 1911, cited in de Charentenay, “Religione e politica estera”.
27 Romano, Guida alla politica estera italiana.
28 See Nelsen and Guth, Religion and the European Union.
29 See De Giuseppe, “Orizzonti missionari, coloniali, terzomondisti”.
30 For a similar argument with reference to the return of geopolitical discourse in Italy, see Petito and Brighi, “Renaissance of Geopolitics”.
31 Habermas, “Notes on a Post-Secular Society”.
32 de Charentenay, “Religione e politica estera”, 238, authors' translation.
33 Petito and Thomas, “Encounter, Dialogue and Knowledge”.
34 Two critical epoch-making changes are affecting the Catholic Church: first, the changing demographic nature of Catholicism in what many analysts describe now as global Catholicism, a religion of the Global South (see Linden, Global Catholicism); second, the process of de-Italianization of the Curia accelerated by the last three (non-Italian) Popes (see de Charentenay, “Religione e politica estera”)
35 Petito and Thomas, “Encounter, Dialogue and Knowledge”, 47.
36 Byrnes, Reverse Mission, 13.
37 For instance, the network of religious orders set up a “working group on the preservation of the Creation” that dealt with, among other issues, the social consequences of mining activities and their relevance for local and regional conflicts, to contribute to the discussion generated by the recent Encyclical Letter by Pope Francis on the environment, and more recently dealt with food security and governance.
38 Morozzo della Rocca, Making Peace.
39 Magazines like Nigrizia (linked to the Combonian missionary order) have been quite critical, for instance, of Italian international development cooperation in Africa and the operations of the Italian national oil company, ENI, in African countries.
40 Malik, Reconciliation, 457.
42 See Giro, “Che diplomazia”.