The study deals with the comparison of the attitudes of the two highest representatives of the Catholic Church, Popes Benedict XV and Pius XII, at the beginning of the World Wars I and II. It reflects their relationship with the great powers and their representatives, diplomatic, political, peace and charitable activities, changes in the Roman Curia and the personalities of the pontiffs in the contemporary political-religious context of that time. The text represents a controversy with the public opinion that the Holy See remained passive during the world conflicts of the 20th century at the same time showing that the attitudes of the two pontiffs were largely similar. The study is based mainly on published sources and numerous literature, especially of English and Italian provenance.
The study deals with the advance of Italian fascism between 1919 and 1922. It follows its emergence in March 1919 in Milan, North Italy, the preconditions for its rise, important figures of the movement, national congresses, and program manifestos until the “March on Rome”, when B. Mussolini became Prime Minister of the Italian government in the autumn of 1922. It presents the fascist movement as a diverse platform that, with its pragmatic approach, responded to immediate social events, absorbing them into its program. The study analyses the personality of B. Mussolini, particularly his socialist and journalistic past, which he was able to skilfully utilize for the mobilization of masses after 1919. It points to the wider context of political situation in post-war Italy that contributed to the growth of the fascist movement (G. D’Annunzio, the squadrists etc.). The study thus presents fascism as a phenomenon of post-war Italy, which, despite being on the side of the victorious countries in WWI, found itself in a very complicated situation, such as the financial exhaustion of the country, frequent strikes of workers in industrial North-Italian cities, agricultural hardship, difficult integration of former soldiers into everyday life, growing violence and political radicalism, and the growing political and economic differences between the North and the South. It therefore shows that the advance of fascism was at the same time caused by the retreat of democratic elites from the positions that they should have fiercely protected against the aggressive authoritarian movement.
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Studie se zabývá nástupem italského fašismu v letech 1919–1922. Sleduje jeho vznik v březnu 1919 v severoitalském Miláně, předpoklady jeho vzniku, významné osobnosti hnutí, národní kongresy i programové manifesty, až do tzv. pochodu na Řím, kdy se stal na podzim 1922 B. Mussolini předsedou italské vlády. Prezentuje fašistické hnutí jako pestrou názorovou platformu, která svým pragmatickým přístupem reagovala na bezprostřední společenské dění a aktuálně je do svého programu vstřebávala. Analyzuje osobnost B. Mussoliniho, zejména jeho socialistickou a novinářskou minulost, jíž dokázal vůdce fašismu obratně využít k mobilizaci mas po roce 1919. Poukazuje na širší kontext, který přispíval k vzestupu fašistického hnutí (G. D’Annunzio, squadristi atd.), jejž zasazuje do politických poměrů poválečné Itálie. Studie tak prezentuje fašismus jako fenomén poválečné Itálie, která se, ač na straně vítězných států v první světové válce, ocitla ve značně složitých poměrech, jako byly finanční vyčerpání země, časté stávky dělníků v továrnách v průmyslových severoitalských městech, zemědělské těžkosti, obtížná integrace někdejších vojáků do každodenního života, růst ná- silí a politického radikalizmu obecně i prohlubující se politické a hospodářské rozpory mezi severem a jihem. Plně tak ukazuje, že nástup fašismu byl současně ústupem demokratických elit z míst, která měly urputně proti agresivnímu autoritativnímu hnutí bránit.
The study focuses on the period of the First Czechoslovak Republic, when the Apostolic Nunciature in Prague was vacant and represented only by chargé d‘affaires, who were in charge of the Vatican embassy. During the interwar period this happened twice, in 1925–1928 and 1934–1935, in both cases for appeal of the Apostolic Nuncio to Rome. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Nunciature was headed by very able officials who analysed the political-religious situation in the country and informed the high Vatican circles about important events in Czechoslovakia. At the same time, they attended negotiations regarding the future Apostolic Nuncio to Prague. The Czech-Vatican relations were strained and significantly disturbed; in fact, the situation could have easily escalated into an open rupture. It is neverthlees owing to to the activity of the above-mentioned officalis that the Holy See and Czechoslovakia avoided a complete severance of diplomatic relations.
The study deals with the reports on the parliamentary elections by the Vatican diplomats in Czechoslovakia in the period of the First Republic (1918–1938). This represents a valuable source of knowledge of the multi-layered activity of the Apostolic Nuncio in Prague, who regularly sent his detailed reports to the Secretary of State of the Holy See - in the 1920s, Cardinal Pietro Gasparri and Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII. The study deals with every parliamentary election that took place during the inter-war period (April 1920, November 1925, October 1929 and May 1935). Their results are compared in relation to both the expectations of the representatives of the Holy See and the political and religious reality in Czechoslovakia, considering each election to be a phenomenon that cannot be comprehensively studied without knowledge of the Vatican archives. The text is primarily based on the Historical Archive of the State Secretariat of the Holy See in the Vatican and abundant Czech literature.
The study deals with the diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Fascist Italy over the period of 1922–1929. In the period of the dramatic events in the 1920s, it follows up on the final phase of the so-called Rome question, which was opened after World War I. It describes each of the meetings and analyses the requirements of both sides, which resulted in the signing of Lateran Treaty in February 1929. By means of this treaty, Mussolini’s Italy recognized the sovereignty of the Holy See over the Church, accepted the right to send and receive legates, issue passports, own a post office and coin their own money. Furthermore, the Italian state returned property to religious persons, reintroduced obligatory religious education regulated by the Church, declared the Catholic Church as the state Church, forbid all anticlerical magazines, books and films, and imposed penalties for criticism and insults to the Catholic Church. In addition, the Pope was financially compensated. The head of the Catholic Church, in return, accepted the Italian kingdom with its capital city Rome, thereby indirectly contributing to the legitimation of Fascist Italy, which as a result, gained recognition in an international context. Despite every goodwill gesture of the Fascist state, Benito Mussolini began to break with his promises during the 1930s. It soon became apparent that B. Mussolini only saw concordat as a formal matter which should manifest the unity of the state and Church in the Apennine peninsula at least externally and assure support for the young authoritative figure from a powerful institution, the Catholic Church.
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