Il cardinale Gasparri e il conflitto Stato-Chiesa in Messico

The essay highlights the role played by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri in Vatican decision-making processes regarding the Catholic Church in Revolutionary and Post-revolutionary Mexico. Whereas Gasparri enjoyed a good collaboration with Pope Benedict XV (1914–1922), his relationship with Pius XI (1922–1939) – for whom he served as Secretary of State until the end of 1929 – was more difficult. From this perspective the suspension of worship in the whole country ( July 1926) marked a turning point, showing the differences between the pragmatic view of Gasparri and the more intransigent posture of Pius XI, which led to a progressive estrangement of the cardinal from elaborating the guidelines of Vatican politics concerning Mexico. As regards the key elements of Gasparri’s way of acting in the Mexican scenario, one can’t help but notice the attention paid to the relevance of political Catholicism as well as to the defens of religious liberty as a basis for a mutual understanding between Catholics and nonCatholics.