DONATELLA BOLECH CECCHI

La S.Sede fra imparzialitą e tutela dei cattolici: la missione giapponese in Vaticano (1942)

N. 178

Summary — In January 1942 the Japanese government asked the Holy See to accept a diplomatic mission. As the Japanese request offered indeed a good chance to defend the Catholics, who were falling under Tokio’s control in the Far East, the Vatican decided to give immediate assent, although this decision, coming short after Pearl Harbor, could be perceived by the Angloamerican public opinion as an absolution of the Japanese treacherous attack. The Vatican’s decision gave way to strong protests from Washington and London. In order to counterbalance this seemingly shift towards the Axis, the Holy See accepted also a diplomatic mission from Nationalist China, notwithstanding Rome and Tokio’s opposition. The A., while she does not deny the Church’s right to choose above all the defense of the Catholics, in recostructing the Vatican’s decision making process, puts the question if this step was in full accord with that position of neutrality the Holy See had chosen since the first world war.