Abstract
On the basis of a plurality of archival and printed sources, the Author explores the role played by the Holy See in the assistance and pastoral care of the Italian emigrants abroad in the period from the second half of the nineteenth century to the Second Vatican Council and the post-council season. The Author documents how, at least until the second half of the eighties of the nineteenth century, the actions promoted by the Italian Church for the protection of the emigrants were very limited and had, on the whole, an episodic and marginal character. The situation changed significantly during Leo XIII's and Pius X's pontificates. The latter, in particular, was committed not only in charitable initiatives and activities and in the centralization of the politics supporting the pastoral care of emigrants but also in the decisive field of the recruitment and cultural and spiritual education of the clergy intended to animate the religious life of the communities of Italian emigrants abroad. The commitment in favour of the refugees and the prisoners of war of the Holy See during the Second World War contributed to the development, within the Church, of a greater sensitivity and to the gradual shift of the focus from the Italian emigration to the more comprehensive and universal problem of all those who, not only for economic reasons, but also for reasons related to armed conflicts, natural disasters and persecution, were, and still are, forced to abandon their places of origin and live away from their country: asylum seekers, prisoners of war, refugees.
Keywords:
Catholic Church; emigration; Roman Curia; Italy; Europe; Latin America; United States