Parallel Empires: The Vatican and the United States: Two Centuries of Alliance and Conflict
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The fascinating and highly relevant history of the turbulent relationship between the United States and the Holy See, recounted and analyzed by Italian journalist and Vatican insider Massimo FrancoDrawing on unique access to the archives of the Holy See and a range of sources both in Washington, D.C. and Rome, Parallel Empires charts the path of U.S.-Vatican relations to reveal the dramatic religious and political tensions that have shaped their dealings and our world.Starting with the Holy See’s initial diplomatic overtures to the United States in the 1780’s, Franco illuminates a two-hundred-year-old history of alliances, mutual exploitation, and misperceptions. From the nativist anti-Catholicism of the nineteenth century, through JFK’s election as America’s first Catholic president and the cold war anti-Communist partnership between the United States and the Holy See, to the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1984, the story has never before been told quite like this. With U.S.-Vatican affairs still evolving in the present day, Parallel Empires also details the most recent developments of this ever-changing and often-tenuous relationship, including contemporary disagreements over the Iraq War and engagement with the Islamic world, and the Papacy of Benedict XVI. Parallel Empires leaves no doubt regarding the impact that the struggle between these two great powers—one of secular might and the other of moral influence—has had on both our history and on today’s world. Franco’s insights are sure to have lasting relevance as U.S.-Vatican relations continue to evolve, and withreligion’s undeniable influence on everything from domestic elections to international terrorism, his work will prove invaluable in coming years. Publishers Weekly This study is haunted by the great unanswered question of U.S. relations with Catholicism's tiny citadel-why bother having any at all? For much of its existence, the author notes, a virulently anti-Catholic America didn't bother, and it wasn't until 1984 that Ronald Reagan appointed America's first ambassador to the Vatican. Franco, a columnist for Corriere della Sera, devotes most of his attention to the last three decades, when John Paul II's anticommunism and the emergence of conservative Catholics as a cornerstone of the Republican base raised the Vatican's profile in American foreign policy. Franco susses out harmonies and dissonances in the current relationship: while the Vatican and the Bush administration line up on social issues like abortion and gay marriage, John Paul II irritated the White House by speaking out against the Iraq War and other American adventures, fearing they would nourish global "Christianophobia." Franco's is a nuanced, informative look at this relationship, but his styling of the Vatican and U.S. as "the West's two parallel empires" overstates a marginal dimension of world affairs. (Jan. 20)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1 Conclave on Air Force One 12 The Cardinal Who Hunted Heretics 63 President Washington, Pius VI Requests ... 204 Papal Blunders 335 Ghosts of the Ku Klux Klan 456 A Wartime Expediency 567 The Anticommunist Triangle 658 Kennedy's "Next Time" 759 An Almost Holy Alliance 8610 The Woman from the FBI and the Pedophiles 10111 The Empire of Right 11212 Pacifism and Peace 12413 Condoleezza and the Cardinal 13514 The Broken Bridge to Islam 14815 The Less Damaging President 16516 Three Presidents in Saint Peter's Square 178Postscript: A Pope in the White House 196Endnotes 203Bibliography 211Index 213
