Cut off from the Holy See

The Special and “Very Special” Faculties Granted During the Second World War and the Early Cold War

Abstract

The history of “special faculties” in the twentieth century is not entirely new to historical research. However, no comprehensive analysis of the types of faculties concerned, the stages in which they were granted, and the reasons for granting them has yet been published. This paper aims to fill this gap, using documents from the Vatican Secretariat of State. It shows how, during the Second World War, the Vatican delegated – primarily to nuncios, but also to certain bishops – a significant number of powers otherwise reserved to the Pope. After the war, Rome continued this practice in relation to Hungary and Poland. There, the absence of conventional Vatican representation forced the Pope to make the leaders of the local Church his de facto representatives. The findings of this paper support the observation that Rome developed a deliberate strategy for the eventuality that local hierarchies under Soviet control might have to make even major decisions on their own.