Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

International politics as global politics from below: Pope Francis on global politics

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of International Relations and Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

There are several considerations of the papacy’s vision of what global politics should be like. There are, however, few mappings of the papacy’s actual concept of global politics, of how it evaluates the current state of global politics, understood as global political, social, and economic trends, patterns, actors and their relationships. This article delineates Pope Francis’ conception of global politics and contextualises it within the papacy’s trajectory of participating in global politics. Attending to a particular concept, of how the pope thinks about global politics, helps to better understand and place the papacy in the study of global politics. The article shows how Francis conceptualises global politics from below, from the periphery of society and politics, which leads him to unmask global inequalities. In particular, the article illustrates that Francis contests widespread assumptions of central hierarchic interstate relations and individualism, dominating the conceptual discourse about global politics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. From a theological point, this perspective from the periphery is obvious in Pope Francis’ ‘theology of the people’ (Luciani 2017; see also McCormick 2020): ‘While radical liberation theologians looked to Marxist, immanentist interpretations of the Gospel, theology of the people was founded on common peoples’ culture and devotion, including their spirituality and sense of justice’ (Gagliarducci 2015).

  2. For example, Pope Francis’ (2015b) attempts in Laudato Si’ ‘to halt the deterioration of “our common home” can be regarded as a “milieu goal”’ (Ferrara 2019: 2).

  3. The pope, like Ines Claude (1971: 211; see also Troy 2017) noted for the UN Secretary-General, has the ‘constitutional licence to be as big a man as he can’.

  4. After the First World War, for example, ‘Vatican diplomats took advantage of the turmoil following the Great War to disseminate a theocentric vision of “governing the world”, and inscribe this alternate conception of international affairs into the legal and political framework of nearly a dozen European states’ (Chamedes 2013: 976).

  5. For more nuanced studies, challenging the view that ethics and doctrine are static see, for example, Lynch (2020) and Stummvoll (2017).

  6. Other examples of diplomatic ‘fringe players’ are the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the European Union (Bátora and Hynek 2014).

  7. On this conceptual take on practice, see also Frost and Lechner (2016) who stress that the understanding of practices requires an internal point of view.

  8. This conviction is part of his Jesuit identity and mind-set (Massaro 2018).

  9. This is to except studies focusing on Latin America (e.g. Levine 2012; Wilde 2016; Schwarz 2018b).

  10. The term ‘human rights’ was first mentioned by Pope Pius XI (1937).

  11. The encyclical Pacem in Terris (John XXIII 1963) was published in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

  12. The term ‘out-narrate’ is from Milbank (2006) who uses it to demonstrate that a mythos cannot be refuted (i.e. by arguments) but only ‘out-narrated’ by offering a better story (ibid.: 331).

References

  • Abdullah, Yasmin (1996) ‘The Holy See at United Nations conferences. State or church?’, Columbia Law Review 96(7): 1835–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adler, Emanuel and Vincent Pouliot, eds (2011) International practices, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Agasso, Domenico, jr. (2017) ‘The Pope creates the third section of the Secretariat of State. It deals with nuncios’, Vatican Insider La Stampa, 2017, available at https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2017/11/20/news/the-pope-creates-the-third-section-of-the-secretariat-of-state-it-deals-with-nuncios-1.34388390 (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Agensky, Jonathan C. (2017) ‘Recognizing religion. Politics, history, and the “long 19th century”’, European Journal of International Relations 23: 729‒55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agnew, John (2010) ‘Deus Vult. The Geopolitics of the Catholic Church’, Geopolitics 15: 39–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albert, Mathias (2017) ‘Beyond Integration and Differentiation? The Holy See and the Pope in the System of World Politics’, Review of Faith & International Affairs 15(4): 21–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, John (2007) ‘Religion, Politics and International Relations. The Catholic Contribution to Democratization’s “Third Wave”: Altruism, Hegemony or Self-Interest?’, Cambridge Review of International Affairs 20(3): 383–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appleby, R. S. (2003) ‘Serving Two Masters? Affirming Religious Belief and Human Rights in a Pluralistic World’, in John D. Carlson and Erik C. Owens, eds, The Sacred and the Sovereign. Religion and International Politics, 170–95, Washington: Georgetown University Press.

  • Araujo, Robert J. (2007) ‘John Paul II - A Man of God and a Servant of Man. The Pope at the United Nations’, Ave Maria Law Review 2: 367–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbato, Mariano (2017) ‘Keep the Faith. Progress, Social Justice and the Papacy’, Globalizations 21: 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbato, Mariano (2016) ‘Legionen des Papstes’ [Legions of the Pope], Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 26(4): 375–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbato, Mariano (2013) ‘A State, a Diplomat, and a Transnational Church. The Mulit-layered Actorness of the Holy See’, Perspectives: Central European Review of International Affairs 21(2): 27–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbato, Mariano P., Robert J. Joustra and Dennis R. Hoover, eds (2019) Modern Papal Diplomacy and Social Teaching in World Affairs, Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bátora, Jozef and Nik Hynek (2014) Fringe players and the diplomatic order. The new heteronomy?, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Berenskoetter, Felix (2016) ‘Unpacking Concepts’, in Felix Berenskoetter, ed., Concepts in world politics, 1–19, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington, Melbourne: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, Tamsin (2009) ‘Religion and Globalisation. Bringing Anthropology and International Relations Together in the Study of Religious-Political Transnational Movements’, Globalizations 6(2): 265–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bull, Hedley (1977) The Anarchical Society. A Study of Order in World Politics, London: Macmillan.

  • Byrnes, Timothy A. (2017) ‘Sovereignty, Supranationalism, and Soft Power. The Holy See in International Relations’, Review of Faith & International Affairs 15(4): 6–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casanova, José (1997) ‘Globalizing Catholizism and the Return to a ‘Universal’ Church’, in Susann H. Rudolph, ed., Transnational Religion and Fading States, 121–43, Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catania, R. T. (2016) ‘Making Immigrants Visible in Lampedusa. Pope Francis, Migration, and the State’, Italian Studies 70(4): 465–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cerella, Antonio (2014) ‘Postsecular Encounters in World Politics’, Millennium – Journal of International Studies 42(3): 957–65.

  • Chamedes, Guilana (2013) ‘The Vatican and the reshaping of the European international order after the First World War’, Historical Journal 56(4): 955–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chappel, James (2018) Catholic modern. The challenge of totalitarianism and the remaking of the Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

  • Chelini-Pont, Blandine (2009) ‘Papal Thought on Europe and the European Union in the Twentieth Century’, Religion, State and Society 37(1‒2): 131–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chong, Alan (2010) ‘Small state soft power strategies. Virtual enlargement in the cases of the Vatican City State and Singapore’, Cambridge Review of International Affairs 23(3): 383–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claude, Inis L. (1971) Swords into Plowshares. The Problems and Progress of International Organization, New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • ‘Code of Canon Law’. Available at http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_INDEX.HTM (last accessed on 3 November, 2020).

  • Coleman, John A. and William F. Ryan (2005) Globalization and Catholic social thought. Present crisis, future hope, Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

  • Constantinou, Costas M., Fiona McConnell and Noé Cornago (2016) ‘Transprofessional Diplomacy’, Brill Research Perspectives in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy 1(4): 1–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coppa, Frank J. (2013) ‘Pope Pius XII. From the Diplomacy of Impartiality to the Silence of the Holocaust’, Journal of Church & State 55(2): 286–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coulombe, Charles A. (2009) The Pope’s legion. The multinational fighting force that defended the Vatican, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crespo, Ricardo A. and Christina C. Gregory (2019) ‘The doctrine of mercy. Moral authority, soft power, and the foreign policy of Pope Francis’, International Politics 15(4): 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronin, Bruce (2003) Institutions for the common good. International protection regimes in international society, Cambridge, UK, New York: Cambridge University Press.

  • Della Cava, Ralph (1992) ‘Vatican Policy, 1978-90. An Updated Review’, Social Research 59(1): 169–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diez, Thomas (2017) ‘Diplomacy, Papacy, and the Transformation of International Society’, Review of Faith & International Affairs 15(4): 31–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dionne, E. J., jr. (2014) ‘The pope’s message to the president’, Washington Post, 2014, available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-the-popes-message-to-the-president/2014/03/26/8e52fd10-b50d-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html?utm_term=.38c67ccb53fe (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Encarnación, Omar G. (2014) ‘Pope Francis’ Latin Lessons. How Latin America Shaped the Vatican’, Foreign Affairs(14 May), available at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/central-america-caribbean/2014-05-14/pope-francis-latin-lessons (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Ferrara, Pasquale (2019) ‘Sustainable International Relations. Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’ and the Planetary Implications of “Integral Ecology”’, Religions 10(8): 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrara, Pasquale (2015) ‘The Concept of Periphery in Pope Francis’ Discourse. A Religious Alternative to Globalization?’, Religions 6(1): 42–57, available at http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/6/1/42 (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Ferrari, Lisa (2006) ‘The Vatican as a Transnational Actor’, in Lawrence C. Reardon, Paul Manuel and Clyde Wilcox, eds, The Catholic Church and the Nation-State. Comparative Perspectives, 33–50, Washington: Georgetown University Press.

  • Flamini, Roland (2014) ‘Peter and Caesar. Is Pope Francis shifting the Vaticans’s Worldview?’, World Affairs July/August: 25–33.

  • Flamini, Roland (1980) Pope, Premier, President. The cold war summit that never was, New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franco, Massimo (2015) ‘A Latin American Pope in the United States’, Survival 57(6): 69–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franco, Massimo (2013a) ‘The First Global Pope’, Survival 55(3): 71–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franco, Massimo (2013b) ‘The Possible Revolution of Pope Francis’, Survival 55(6): 115–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franco, Massimo (2010) ‘The Vatican and the White House’, Survival 52(3): 51–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franco, Massimo and Roland Flamini (2008) Parallel empires. The Vatican and the United States – two centuries of alliance and conflict, New York: Doubleday.

  • Frost, Mervyn and Silviya Lechner (2016) ‘Understanding international practices from the internal point of view’, Journal of International Political Theory 12(3): 299–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaetan, Victor (2015) ‘The Political Pope. How Francis Was Thrust Into the World’s Most Intractable Conflicts’, Foreign Affairs (25 September), available at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2015-09-25/political-pope (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Gagliarducci, Andrea (2015) ‘The “theology of the people”, according to Pope Francis’, available at https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-theology-of-the-people-according-to-pope-francis-83384 (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Gallagher, Charles R. (2008) Vatican secret diplomacy. Joseph P. Hurley and Pope Pius XII, New Haven: Yale University Press.

  • Genovese, Federica (2015) ‘Politics ex cathedra. Religious authority and the Pope in modern international relations’, Research & Politics 2(4): 1-15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grasso, Kenneth L. and Robert P. Hunt, eds (2007) Catholicism and Religious Freedom. Contemporary Reflections on Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty, Lanham: Sheed & Ward.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregg, Samuel (2017) ‘Understanding Pope Francis. Argentina, Economic Failure, and the Teologiá del Pueblo’, Independent Review 21(3): 361–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffith, Paul (2001) ‘The Future of the Papacy. A Symposium’, First Things (111): 35–36, available at https://www.firstthings.com/article/2001/03/the-future-of-the-papacy-a-symposium (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Grzymala-Busse, Anna (2020) ‘Beyond War and Contracts. The Medieval and Religious Roots of the European State’, Annual Review of Political Science 23(1): 19–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grzymala-Busse, Anna (2016) ‘The Difficulty with Doctrine. How Religion Can Influence Politics’, Government and Opposition 51: 327–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, Jürgen (2006) ‘Religion in the Public Sphere’, European Journal of Philosophy 14(1): 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haddad, Emma (2008) The refugee in international society. Between sovereigns, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Rodney B. (1997) ‘Moral Authority as a Power Resource’, International Organization 51(4): 591–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson, Eric O. (1987) The Catholic Church in World Politics, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heft, James L. (2011) ‘John Paul II and the “Just War” Doctrine. “Make Peace through Justice and Forgiveness Not War”’, in Patrick James, ed., Religion, identity, and global governance. Ideas, evidence and practice, 203–19, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

  • Hehir, Bryan (1990) ‘Papal Foreign Policy’, Foreign Policy 78: 26–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobson, J. M. (2005) ‘The Enduring Place of Hierarchy in World Politics. Tracing the Social Logics of Hierarchy and Political Change’, European Journal of International Relations 11(1): 63–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holsti, K. J. (2004) Taming the sovereigns. Institutional change in international politics, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

  • Hurd, Elizabeth S. (2008) The Politics of Secularism in International Relations, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ignatius, David (2015) ‘The paradox of Pope Francis’s power’, Washington Post, 2015, available at https://goo.gl/81801k (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Iheka, Cajetan (2017) ‘Pope Francis’ Integral Ecology and Environmentalism for the Poor’, Environmental Ethics 39(3): 243–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inboden, William (2010) Religion and American foreign policy, 1945‒1960. The soul of containment, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Invernizzi-Accetti, Carlo (2018) ‘Catholic Social Doctrine and Human Rights: From Rejection to Endorsement?’, Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development 9(2): 271–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivereigh, Austen (2015) The Great Reformer. Francis and the making of a radical pope, New York: Atlantic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • John XXIII (1963) Pacem in Terris, Vatican.

  • Juergensmeyer, Mark, ed. (2003) Global Religions. An Introduction, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kent, Peter C. (2002) The lonely Cold War of Pope Pius XII. The Roman Catholic Church and the division of Europe, 1943‒1950, Montréal, Que: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

  • Kent, Peter C. and John Pollard (1994) ‘A Diplomacy Unlike Any Other. Papal Diplomacy in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, in Peter C. Kent and John Pollard, eds, Papal diplomacy in the modern age, 11–21, Westport, CT: Praeger.

  • Kerr, Pauline and Geoffrey Wiseman (2013) Diplomacy in a globalizing world. Theories and practices, New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kratochwil, Friedrich (2018) Praxis. On Acting and Knowing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kratochwil, Friedrich (2013) ‘Politics, law, and the sacred. A conceptual analysis’, Journal of International Relations and Development 16(1): 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kratochvíl, Petr and Thomás Dolzal (2015) The European Union and the Roman Catholic Church. Political theology of European integration, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kratochvíl, Petr and Jana Hovorková (2017) ‘Papal Geopolitics. The World According to Urbi et Orbi’, Review of Faith & International Affairs 15(4): 79–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laudy, Mark (2000) ‘The Vatican Mediation of the Beagle Channel Dispute. Crisis Intervention and Forum Building’, in Melanie C. Greenberg, John H. Barton and Margaret E. McGuinness, eds, Words Over War. Mediation and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conflict, 293–320, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

  • Levine, Daniel H. (2012) Politics, religion & society in Latin America, Boulder, CO: Rienner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luciani, Rafael (2017) Pope Francis and the theology of the people, Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, Cecelia (2009) ‘A Neo-Weberian Approach to Religion in International Politics’, International Theory 1(3): 381–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, Cecelia (2020) Wrestling with God. Ethical precarity in Christianity and international relations, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

  • Lyon, Alynna J. (2018) ‘Pope Francis as a Global Policy Entrepreneur. Moral Authority and Climat Change’, in Alynna J. Lyon, Christine A. Gustafson and Paul C. Manuel, eds, Pope Francis as a Global Actor. Where Politics and Theology Meet, 119–41, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Mallon, Florencia E. (1994) ‘The Promise and Dilemma of Subaltern Studies. Perspectives from Latin American History’, American Historical Review 99(5): 1491–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manuel, Paul C. (2018) ‘How the Theological Priorities of Pope Francis inform his Policy Goals’, in Alynna J. Lyon, Christine A. Gustafson and Paul C. Manuel, eds, Pope Francis as a Global Actor. Where Politics and Theology Meet, 23–40, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Marchetti, Raffaele (2009) ‘Mapping Alternative Models of Global Politics’, International Studies Review 11(1): 133–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, Katherine (2013) Global institutions of religion. Ancient movers, modern shakers, London, New York: Routledge.

  • Martens, Kurt (2006) ‘The Position of the Holy See and the Vatican City State in International Relations’, University of Detroit Mercy Law Review 83(5): 729–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massaro, Thomas S. J. (2018) ‘The First Jesuit Pope. The Contribution of his Jesuit Charism to his Political Views’, in Alynna J. Lyon, Christine A. Gustafson and Paul C. Manuel, eds, Pope Francis as a Global Actor. Where Politics and Theology Meet, 41–57, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Matlary, Janne H. (2007) ‘The just peace. The public and classical diplomacy of the Holy See’, Cambridge Review of International Affairs 14(2): 80–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mattern, Janice B. and Ayşe Zarakol (2016) ‘Hierarchies in World Politics’, International Organization 70(3): 623–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mavelli, Luca and Fabio Petito (2012) ‘The postsecular in International Relations. An overview’, Review of International Studies 38(5): 931–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • May, Samantha, Erin K. Wilson, Claudia Baumgart-Ochse and Faiz Sheikh (2014) ‘The Religious as Political and the Political as Religious. Globalisation, Post-Secularism and the Shifting Boundaries of the Sacred’, Politics, Religion & Ideology 15(3): 331–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazo, Jeffrey (2015) ‘The Pope’s Divisions’, Survival 57(4): 203–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCormick, S. W. (2020) ‘The Populist Pope? Politics, Religion, and Pope Francis’, Politics and Religion: 1–23.

  • McGrew, Anthony G. (2017) ‘Globalization and global politics’, in John Baylis, Steve Smith and Patricia Owens, eds, The globalization of world politics. An introduction to international relations, 15–32, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • McLarren, Katharina and Bernhard Stahl (2015) ‘“Hybrid Actors” – Religion and the Shift towards a World Society’, Paper for the ECPR General Conference in Montreal.

  • Milbank, John (2006) Theology and social theory. Beyond secular reason, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, Pankaj (2018) Age of anger. A history of the present, New York: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morss, John R. (2016) ‘The International Legal Status of the Vatican/Holy See Complex’, European Journal of International Law 26(4): 927–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moyn, Samuel (2018) Not Enough. Human rights in an unequal world, Cambridg, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

  • Moyn, Samuel (2015a) Christian human rights, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moyn, Samuel (2015b) ‘Pope Francis has given up on human rights. That’s a good thing’, Washington Post, 2015, available at https://goo.gl/51vZ5f (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Moyn, Samuel (2012) The last utopia. Human rights in history, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

  • Napolitano, Valentina (2017) ‘“The Globalization of Indifference”. On Pope Francis, Migration and Global Acedia’, in Daromir Rudnyckyj and Filippo Osella, eds, Religion and the Morality of the Market, 263–84, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Navari, Cornelia (2009) ‘Introduction. Methods and Methodology in the English School’, in Cornelia Navari, ed., Theorising International Society. English School Methods, 1–20, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Neale, Palena R. (1998) ‘The Bodies of Christ as International Bodies. The Holy See, Wom(B)an and the Cairo Conference’, Review of International Studies 24(1): 101–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noel, Gerard (2009) Pius XII. The hound of Hitler, London, New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill, Eoin (2016) ‘The Pope and the environment. Towards an integral ecology?’, Environmental Politics 25(4): 749–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paipais, Vassilios (2019) ‘Introduction. Political Theologies of the International-the continued relevance of theology in international relations’, Journal of International Relations and Development 22(2): 269–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peppard, Christiana Z. (2015) ‘Pope Francis and the fourth era of the Catholic Church’s engagement with science’, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 71(5): 31–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, Andrew (2011) War, Religion and Empire. The Transformation of International Orders, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Philpott, Daniel (2009) ‘Has the Study of Global Politics Found Religion?’, Annual Review of Political Science 12: 183–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Philpott, Daniel (2004) ‘The Catholic Wave’, Journal of Democracy 15(2): 32–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Politi, Marco and William McCuaig (2015) Pope Francis among the wolves. The inside story of a revolution, New York: Columbia University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pollard, John (2014) The papacy in the age of totalitarianism, 1914‒1958, Oxford, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2004) Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pope Francis (2019) Address of his Holiness Pope Francis to the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See for the traditonal exchange of New Year greetings, available at https://goo.gl/swQht4 (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Pope Francis (2017) Address of his Holiness Pope Francis to the Members of the Diplomatic Corps Accredited to the Holy See for the traditional exchange of New Year Greetings, available at https://goo.gl/AHrqhv (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Pope Francis (2016) Address to the members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See for the traditional exchange of New Year greetings (11 January, 2016), available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2016/january/documents/papa-francesco_20160111_corpo-diplomatico.html (last accessed on 21 September, 2016).

  • Pope Francis (2015a) Apostolic Journey – United Nations. Meeting with the members of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization (New York, 25 September, 2015), available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/september/documents/papa-francesco_20150925_onu-visita.html (last accessed on 27 September, 2016).

  • Pope Francis (2015b) ‘Laudato si’. Encyclical letter: Vatican.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pope Francis (2015c) To Members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See (12 January, 2015), available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/january/documents/papa-francesco_20150112_corpo-diplomatico.html (last accessed on 21 September, 2016).

  • Pope Francis (2014) To members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See (13 January, 2014), available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2014/january/documents/papa-francesco_20140113_corpo-diplomatico.html (last accessed on 21 September, 2016).

  • Pope Francis (2013a) ‘Evangelii Gaudium. Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World’, Vatican.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pope Francis (2013b) To the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See (22 March, 2013), available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2013/march/documents/papa-francesco_20130322_corpo-diplomatico.html (last accessed on 21 September, 2016).

  • Pope Francis (2013c) Holy Mass in the ‘Arena’ sports camp. Visit to Lampedusa. Homily, available at https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130708_omelia-lampedusa.html (last accessed on 2 March, 2018).

  • Pope Pius XI (1937) Mit brennender Sorge [With burning concern]. Encyclical, available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_14031937_mit-brennender-sorge.html (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Posner, Eric A. (2014) The twilight of human rights law, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston, Andrew (2012) Sword of the spirit, shield of faith. Religion in American war and diplomacy, New York: Anchor Books.

  • Princen, Thomas (1992) ‘Mediation by a Transnational Organization. The Case of the Vatican’, in Jacob Bercovitch, ed., Mediation in International Relations. Multiple Approaches to Conflict Management, 149–75, Basingstoke: Macmillan.

  • Princen, Thomas (1987) ‘International Mediation – The View from the Vatican. Lessons from mediating the Beagle Channel Dispute’, Negotiation Journal 3(4): 347–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rennie, Kriston R. (2013) The foundations of Medieval papal legation, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenboim, Or (2017) The emergence of globalism. Visions of world order in Britain and the United States 1939‒1950, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  • Rowlands, Anna (2015) “‘Laudato si’. Rethinking Politics”, Political Theology 16(5): 418–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryall, David (2001) ‘The Catholic Church as a Transnational Actor’, in Daphne a. W. W. Josselin, ed., Non-State Actors in World Politics, 41–58, New York: Palgrave.

  • Ryall, David (1998) ‘How Many Divisions? The Modern Development of Catholic International Relations’, International Relations 14(2): 21–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, Tanya B. (2018a) ‘Challenging the Ontological Boundaries of Religious Practices in International Relations Scholarship’, International Studies Review 20(1): 30–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, Tanya B. (2018b) Faith-based organizations in transnational peacebuilding, London, New York: Rowman et Littlefield International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Second Vatican Council (1965) Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes.

  • Sheikh, Mona K. (2012) ‘How does religion matter? Pathways to religion in International Relations’, Review of International Studies 38: 365–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shelledy, Robert B. (2004) ‘The Vatican’s Role in Global Politics’, SAIS Review 24(2): 149–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sodano, Angelo (2000) ‘The Holy See’s Presence in International Affairs’, Seton Hall Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations: 87–91.

  • Spadaro, Antonio (2014) ‘“Wake up the World!”, Conversation with Pope Francis about the Religious Life”, La Civiltà Cattolica, available at https://goo.gl/dkKqBU (last accessed on 1 November, 2020).

  • Stummvoll, A. A. (2017) Living tradition. Catholic social doctrine and holy see diplomacy, Eugene: Cascade.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, Scott M. (2010) ‘A Globalized God. Religion’s Growing Influence in International Politics’, Foreign Affairs 89(6): 93–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Troy, Jodok (2019) ‘The Papal Human Rights Discourse. The Difference Pope Francis Makes’, Human Rights Quarterly 41(1): 66–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Troy, Jodok (2018) ‘“The Pope’s Own Hand Outstretched”. Holy See diplomacy as a hybrid mode of diplomatic agency’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 20(3): 521–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Troy, Jodok (2017) ‘Two “Popes” to speak for the World. The Pope and the United Nations Secretary General in World Politics’, Review of Faith & International Affairs 15(4): 67‒78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Troy, Jodok (2010) ‘Die soft power des Heiligen Stuhls. Legionen auf unsichtbarer Parade zwischen internationaler Gesellschaft und Weltgesellschaft’ [The soft power of the Holy See. Legions on invisible parade between international society and world society], Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik 3(4): 489–511.

  • Turina, Isacco (2015) ‘Centralized globalization. The Holy See and human mobility since World War II’, Critical Research on Religion 3(2): 189–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, Michael (2000) ‘Catholicism and International Relations. Papal Interventionism’, in John L. a. M. W. Esposito, ed., Religion and Global Order, 100–18, Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

  • Weigel, George (1992) The Final Revolution. The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism, New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whyte, Jessica (2019) The morals of the market. Human rights and the rise of neoliberalism, London and New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilde, Alexander, ed. (2016) Religious responses to violence. Human rights in Latin America past and present, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.

  • Wilson, Erin K. (2012) After secularism. Rethinking religion in global politics, Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Wolf, Hubert (2010) Pope and devil. The Vatican’s archives and the Third Reich, Cambridge, MA, London: Harvard University Press.

  • Wolfers, Arnold (1962) Discord and Collaboration. Essays on international politics, Baltimore: Johns Hopkings University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Austrian Science Fund project J3906-G16. I would like to thank Daniel Levine, Erin Wilson, Scott Thomas, Timothy Byrnes, Cecelia Lynch, Dustin Gamza, Mariano Barbato, Robert Joustra, Ron Hassner, Gregorio Bettiza, Tanya Schwarz, Pasquale Ferrara as well as the journal’s anonymous reviewers who have been supportive and helpful in commenting on earlier versions of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Innsbruck, Universitätsstraße 15, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Jodok Troy

Authors
  1. Jodok Troy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jodok Troy.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Troy, J. International politics as global politics from below: Pope Francis on global politics. J Int Relat Dev 24, 555–573 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-020-00202-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-020-00202-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation