Published 2026-05-15
Keywords
- papado,
- diplomacia,
- política,
- Pactos de Letrán,
- sociedad del espectáculo
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2026 Diego Alejandro Mauro, Vicente Jesús Díaz Burillo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The funeral held in April 2025 to mark the death of Pope Francis dominated the media worldwide for several days. In media terms, but also politically and diplomatically, the Vatican became a global reference point. This contrasts, however, with the precarious position of the papacy at the end of the 19th century. After the loss of the Papal States in 1871, with the “Roman Question” between the new Kingdom of Italy and the papacy as a backdrop, and in the face of advancing secularization, the papal institution ran a real risk of completely losing its cultural, diplomatic, and political relevance. The history of the papacy during the 20th century has been, in this sense, a success, not only in that the papacy managed to survive by maintaining its sovereignty within the Catholic Church, but also by becoming a recognized and respected diplomatic, political, economic, and media agent on a global scale.
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