Un Diplomatico Vaticano fra Dopoguerra e Dialogo: Mons. Mario Cagna (1911-1986) (review)

This book consists of seven scholarly articles, two memorials, an archival list, and twenty-nine primary documents intended to illustrate the context of the life and career of Archbishop Mario Cagna as a Vatican diplomat. Cagna was born in Lu in Piedmont in 1911, was ordained in 1934, and studied at the Gregoriana before entering the papal diplomatic service in 1937. After short postings to Holland and Peru, he was assigned as the secretary to the apostolic nunciature to Italy between 1949 and 1962. Between 1962 and 1966, while the Second Vatican Council was in session, Cagna served as internuncio in Japan, being named pro-nuncio in 1966 just before his departure. He returned to Europe to become one of the facilitators of the new Vatican Ostpolitik as apostolic delegate to Yugoslavia. In 1970, after the restoration of diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and the Holy See, he was appointed apostolic nuncio in Yugoslavia, becoming the first postwar nuncio in eastern Europe. In 1976, he transferred to Vienna as apostolic nuncio to Austria, where he served until his retirement because of ill health in 1984. He died in 1986.

The articles explain the context of the various periods in Cagna's life and career. Bruno Ferrero explores the history of the parish of Lu in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to determine why that parish produced a large number of clerical vocations, concluding that it was due to the effectiveness of the lay organizations, rather than to the inspiration of the clergy. Gianni LaBella discusses the situation in Peru in the 1940s and the impact on the Catholic Church of the replacement of a conservative government by a liberal secular government. Augusto d'Angelo writes of the apostolic nunciature in Italy under Archbishop Francesco Borgoncini Duca, the first nuncio, indicating that the preferred route for any business transpiring between Italy and the Holy See during the 1950s and the 1960s was between the Italian ambassador to the Holy See and officials in the Vatican Secretariat of State. The nunciature to Italy, consequently, had very little work to do. Nicla Buonasorte has studied the unique situation of the Catholic Church in Japan, where that church was very much in a minority and had to coexist with Shintoism and Buddhism to the extent that some Catholics practiced all three religions.

The last three articles deal with Vatican Ostpolitik. Andrea Riccardi offers a summary history of the relationship between the Holy See and the Soviet Union from the papacy of Benedict XV to that of Paul VI. After John XXIII had initiated an opening to the east, Paul VI continued this Ostpolitik through negotiations with the governments of eastern Europe in spite of the fact that these negotiations produced few benefits for the Church. Luigi Bianco writes of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and the Vatican following the signature of the Protocol of 1966, which had been negotiated by Monsignor Agostino Casaroli as one of his first initiatives in the area of Ostpolitik. Bianco also describes the work of Cagna as the first nuncio. Alberto Melloni, in looking at "Ostpolitik and its Men," indicates that the Catholic Church was seriously divided over the program of Ostpolitik, with many of the opponents of that policy being found among the churchmen of eastern Europe and with many being willing to criticize the apparent doggedness with which the policy was followed by Paul VI in spite of minimal results.

In their own right, the articles are well conceived and valuable contributions to our knowledge, especially d'Angelo's work on the Italian nunciature, Riccardi's effective summation of the development of Ostpolitik, and Melloni's discussion of church opposition to Ostpolitik. What, however, seems to be missing from virtually all the articles is any discussion of the personality, career, and role of Mario...