God's Diplomats: Pope Francis, Vatican Diplomacy, and America's Armageddon

by Victor Gaetan

Overview

Using inside sources and extensive field reporting about the secretive, high-stakes world of international diplomacy, Vatican reporter Victor Gaetan takes readers to the Holy See to explicate Pope Francis's diplomacy, show why it works, and to offer readers a startling contrast to the dangerous inadequacies of recent U.S. international decisions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538184615
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/15/2023
Pages:	486
Product dimensions:	5.97(w) x 8.99(h) x 1.05(d)

About the Author

Victor Gaetan is senior international correspondent for the National Catholic Register and a contributor to Foreign Affairs magazine, the Washington Examiner, America, and The American Spectator. He resides in Washington, DC.

Table of Contents

Part One

Introduction: What Does Washington Fear About Pope Francis and Vatican Diplomacy?

Chapter 1: An Adaptable Network, Willing to Bleed

Chapter 2:Mission Beyond Religion

Chapter 3:Education of a Diplomat

Chapter 4: Sovereignty is the Ticket to the International System

Chapter 5:Diplomatic Classics, Rules of Thumb, and Modus Operandi

Part Two

Introduction: The Mustard Seed: Jorge Bergoglio as Manager, Missionary, and Mystic

Chapter 6: Stifling War in Ukraine; Prioritizing Peace with Russia

2013 protests in Ukraine lead to a war that threatens over two decades of

relationship building between Rome and Moscow

Chapter 7:Mediating Cold War Quarrels: Cuba

2014 marks normalization of relations between the US and Cuba, a landmark agreement brokered by Rome

Chapter 8:Diminishing Division: Kenya

2015 finds Pope Francis in Kenya where he shares a simple gesture

Chapter 9:Letting War’s Victims Lead: Colombia

2016 clinches a peace deal signed by government and guerillas after over 50 years

of fighting; the Catholic Church helps define the agreement’s core concern

Chapter 10: Piecing Together the Middle East: Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia2017 brings political crisis in Lebanon that cardinal-patriarch works to untie

Chapter 11:Unifying the Religion of the Lord of Heaven: China

2018 achieves agreement between Vatican and Beijing on bishop selection

Chapter 12: Piercing Hearts: South Sudan

2019 witnesses a pope on his knees kissing the feet of warlords

Editorial Reviews

I'm so impressed by the meticulousness of the research, the breathtaking pace at which Victor Gaetan guides the reader in God's Diplomats through one of the most complex labyrinths on earth (which constantly made me feel I was reading a great spy novel), and the deep faith reflected in his careful historical analysis.

Carlos Eire

In God's Diplomats, the chapters on the history of Vatican diplomacy in individual countries are a must-read for anyone trying to understand why the Vatican works the way it does.

Barb Fraze

God’s Diplomats will appeal to many audiences. It is a must read for secular diplomats and Church leaders at every level engaged with the Church’s diplomatic efforts. It should also be required reading for trained diplomats. In-the-pew Catholics and other people of goodwill will find it affirming of the positive role that religion can play in the public square.

Stephen M. Colecchi

God’s Diplomats: Pope Francis, Vatican Diplomacy, and America’s Armageddon is a welcome addition to the literature on the Holy See and it should not be missed, not only by scholars and a more general audience interested in the Holy See, but also by anyone interested in diplomacy and diplomatic negotiation in contemporary international relations.

Where Peter Is

It's a fascinating read, well written, widely sourced, with over a hundred pages of endnotes. It is also a sympathetic view of the Church's involvement in world diplomacy, with particular emphasis on recent hotspots. I recommend it most highly.

Dwight G. Duncan

I expect God’s Diplomats will become a standard reference for scholars of the role of religion in international affairs, and benefit anyone who wishes to understand the impact of Vatican diplomacy, and its surprising ability to alter the views of world leaders as diverse as Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush, and Bashar al-Assad.

Nicolai N. Petro

This book is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the influence the papacy wields on global politics in the 21st century.

Christopher Lamb

[God’s Diplomats is] a mix of impartial description and informed opinion. Not everyone will agree with how different issues are framed, or how different figures are portrayed. But what certainly cannot be argued with is the fact that Gaetan has given a gift not only to foreign policy practitioners, but also to American Catholics. You will not find a book on Church diplomacy as accessible, comprehensive, and faithful, as God’s Diplomats. It is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the Vatican’s diplomatic priorities better — and especially why they don’t always align with America’s.

National Catholic Register

Informative, insightful and entertaining, he has produced a page-turner that will shed much light and offer fresh perspective on parts of Pope Francis' ministry that have received too little attention.. . .If you read one book on Pope Francis and the Vatican this year, read this one!

Robert C. Mickens

Victor Gaetan's God's Diplomats will make a valuable contribution to writings about Holy See diplomacy.

Ambassador Francis Rooney

Gaetan's book fills a space never covered: by John Allen [renowned American Vaticanista], former Ambassadors, or Italian authors on the Holy See and diplomacy. Gaetan explains how and why the Vatican diplomatic corps works well and should be a model to US diplomacy.

James F. Creagan

Gaetan’s book tells the story that Pope Francis and Holy See diplomats themselves do not in a combination of accessible, novel-like prose and meticulous research (including 117 pages of endnotes). The award-winning journalist has reported on Vatican diplomacy for over 20 years, and in God’s Diplomats he tells all.

Los Angeles Review of Books

Victor Gaetan expertly introduces readers to the history of this approach, and to how Pope Francis has employed it, in his book God’s Diplomats. An experienced international correspondent, Gaetan bases his book on extensive interviews and research, including documents from the Vatican archives and from WikiLeaks.

America Magazine

History proved the Vatican to be correct when it warned the United States that going to war against Iraq would unleash mayhem. But how could the Church predict such an outcome? In this tour de force work of history, Victor Gaetan demonstrates how invaluable is the Vatican's worldwide diplomatic network, a veritable intelligence gathering machine. Iraq is just one example in Gaetan's book, in which he shows how the Church's well-established diplomacy infrastructure can serve as a force for world peace.

John Burger

Illuminating, entertaining, and inspiring, God’s Diplomats is a major contribution to contemporary literature on Catholicism, international relations and the Francis pontificate.

Austen Ivereigh

[God's Diplomats is] a mix of impartial description and informed opinion. Not everyone will agree with how different issues are framed, or how different figures are portrayed. But what certainly cannot be argued with is the fact that Gaetan has given a gift not only to foreign policy practitioners, but also to American Catholics. You will not find a book on Church diplomacy as accessible, comprehensive, and faithful, as God's Diplomats. It is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the Vatican's diplomatic priorities better -- and especially why they don't always align with America's.

Gaetan's book fills a space never covered: by John Allen [renowned American Vaticanista], former Ambassadors, or Italian authors on the Holy See and diplomacy. Gaetan explains how and why the Vatican diplomatic corps works well and should be a model to US diplomacy.

Gaetan's book tells the story that Pope Francis and Holy See diplomats themselves do not in a combination of accessible, novel-like prose and meticulous research (including 117 pages of endnotes). The award-winning journalist has reported on Vatican diplomacy for over 20 years, and in God's Diplomats he tells all.

God's Diplomats will appeal to many audiences. It is a must read for secular diplomats and Church leaders at every level engaged with the Church's diplomatic efforts. It should also be required reading for trained diplomats. In-the-pew Catholics and other people of goodwill will find it affirming of the positive role that religion can play in the public square.

God's Diplomats: Pope Francis, Vatican Diplomacy, and America's Armageddon is a welcome addition to the literature on the Holy See and it should not be missed, not only by scholars and a more general audience interested in the Holy See, but also by anyone interested in diplomacy and diplomatic negotiation in contemporary international relations.

History proved the Vatican to be correct when it warned the United States that going to war against Iraq would unleash mayhem. But how could the Church predict such an outcome? In this tour de force work of history, Victor Gaetan demonstrates how invaluable is the Vatican's worldwide diplomatic network, a veritable intelligence gathering machine. Iraq is just one example in Gaetan's book, in which he shows how the Church's well-established diplomacy infrastructure can serve as a force for world peace.

I expect God's Diplomats will become a standard reference for scholars of the role of religion in international affairs, and benefit anyone who wishes to understand the impact of Vatican diplomacy, and its surprising ability to alter the views of world leaders as diverse as Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush, and Bashar al-Assad.

I'm so impressed by the meticulousness of the research, the breathtaking pace at which Victor Gaetan guides the reader in God's Diplomats through one of the most complex labyrinths on earth (which constantly made me feel I was reading a great spy novel), and the deep faith reflected in his careful historical analysis.

Illuminating, entertaining, and inspiring, God's Diplomats is a major contribution to contemporary literature on Catholicism, international relations and the Francis pontificate.

In God's Diplomats, the chapters on the history of Vatican diplomacy in individual countries are a must-read for anyone trying to understand why the Vatican works the way it does.

Informative, insightful and entertaining, he has produced a page-turner that will shed much light and offer fresh perspective on parts of Pope Francis' ministry that have received too little attention. . . .If you read one book on Pope Francis and the Vatican this year, read this one!

It's a fascinating read, well written, widely sourced, with over a hundred pages of endnotes. It is also a sympathetic view of the Church's involvement in world diplomacy, with particular emphasis on recent hotspots. I recommend it most highly.

This book is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the influence the papacy wields on global politics in the 21st century.

Victor Gaetan expertly introduces readers to the history of this approach, and to how Pope Francis has employed it, in his book God's Diplomats. An experienced international correspondent, Gaetan bases his book on extensive interviews and research, including documents from the Vatican archives and from WikiLeaks.

Victor Gaetan's God's Diplomats will make a valuable contribution to writings about Holy See diplomacy.

From the Publisher

Informative, insightful and entertaining, he has produced a page-turner that will shed much light and offer fresh perspective on parts of Pope Francis' ministry that have received too little attention.. . .If you read one book on Pope Francis and the Vatican this year, read this one!

Robert C. Micken

2022-02-03
A Roman Catholic journalist surveys the diplomatic agenda of Pope Francis in this political book.

Since the United States colonization of the Catholic-majority Philippines, writes Gaetan, the U.S.–Vatican relationship has been defined by “mutual skepticism between empires with deeply divergent worldviews.” Even when there have been moments of public cooperation, such as President Ronald Reagan’s partnership with Pope John Paul II in the Polish Solidarity movement, the Vatican’s refusal to “defer to the American view” of international relations has consistently defined their relationship. Even more than his predecessors, Pope Francis has vocally challenged America’s moral standing on issues that range from climate change and immigration to global finance and international arms deals. And though President Barack Obama’s relationship with the pontiff was “largely respectful,” the author describes a clandestine intelligence campaign spearheaded by the U.S. to discredit Jorge Bergoglio in the years preceding his becoming Pope Francis. But it was during President Donald Trump’s administration when Washington’s previously hushed critiques of the Vatican came to the fore. In particular, Senior Counselor to the President Steve Bannon (a paradoxical “thrice-divorced” traditional Catholic) launched a multimillion-dollar tour of European capitals and a right-wing media blitz to discredit Pope Francis. While the American establishment’s distrust of the Vatican is well covered in this engaging narrative, what makes this book special is its disclosure of the “behind-the-scenes” and “discreet” diplomatic actions of Pope Francis in China, Africa, and Eastern Europe that reveal the chasm of differences that exists between American and Vatican foreign policy. In a series of case studies of specific, 21st-century international conflicts, Gaetan convincingly demonstrates the pope’s keen diplomatic talents that effectively exploited “America’s loss of prestige” to pursue “alternative solutions” to world peace. As an international correspondent for the National Catholic Registerand contributor to Foreign Affairs, the author blends his expertise of geopolitics with access to the Vatican’s inner circles. This is an impressively well-researched book that features interviews with leading diplomatic insiders as well as information from the U.S. and Vatican archives. Though perhaps unnecessarily ad hominemin its barbs against the pope’s right-wing critics, this work delivers a superb analysis of his often unheralded diplomacy.

An authoritative overview of Pope Francis’ challenge to American hegemony.

Kirkus Reviews