The State of the Church – Great Diplomacy of a Small State

Abstract

The paper presents the historiographical considerations about if and why one could insert the early modern State of the Church into the concept of a “small state” and, at the same time, what were the reasons for the great diplomatic success of Rome during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The activity of papal diplomacy is shown as primarily focused on affirming the dualistic authority of the early modern Holy See (both as of a secular territorial state and a universal monarchy of religious character). The analysis also concerns the papal attitude of “active neutrality” as a political and diplomatic strategy focused on achieving the papacy’s “international” position. The profile of the paper is historiographical, as it takes from the legacies of Polish, French, German, English and Italian historical science. The enquiry aims to systematise and synthesise the former judgments of historians regarding the nature of the Papal State’s statehood in the context of the pope’s exercise of universal ecclesiastical authority.The permanent apostolic nunciatures, operating since the end of the fifteenth century, have become the core of early modern European diplomacy, guaranteeing Rome its political expansion after the Avignon crisis, despite the economic and military weakness of its territorial basis: the State of the Church. In this sense, the Papal State ceased to be a “small state” and became a universalistic entity of both political and ecclesiastical character. The Roman Curia no longer only played a passive role in “international” relations; on the contrary, thanks to the new system of permanent diplomatic representations at Catholic courts, it had the opportunity to undertake its own political initiative, act as a mediator and arbitrator, as well as strengthen the control over the religious life of European states.