Internationalism No. 77, July 2025 Page 7 II By combining papal “neutralism” and support for the national war effort on the part of various episcopates, the Catholic Church emerged strengthened from the First World War. The second imperialist conflict posed new problems. Historian Andrea Riccardi noted that Pope Pacelli (Pius XII) could however count on a Church “characterised by strong centralisation and compact unity”. The leadership of the religious “international” that is Catholicism, according to Riccardi, “was located outside the national sphere”. The Lateran Pacts of 1929 made it clear that “the central organs of the Holy See, the point of reference for the entire Catholic international”, were located “in the State of the Vatican City, under the direct sovereignty of the pope”. This was in line with a very long-term strategy of the papacy. Although for centuries the po...