Diplomacy of the Holy See in solving the Caribbean crisis

Ivan Danyliuk, Graduate Student Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract

The article considers the role of the Holy See and the Catholic Church in solving the Cuban crisis of 1962 through the activities of Pope John XXIII.

The article considers the reasons and the beginning of the Caribbean crisis. A short chronology of the events which led to the crisis is presented: from the break of the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and intensifying relations between Havana and Washington to the sharpening thereof between the USA and the USSR in the Caribbean region during October 1962.

The article analyzes the activities of Pope John XXIII in solving the Caribbean crisis of 1962 and presents the message and his appeals to the leaders of the USA and the USSR during the peak of the Caribbean crisis. The assessment of Pope’s actions during the crisis and their role in solving thereof are described.

The article lists feedbacks of the world’s leaders towards the activities of Pope John XXIII, namely, the response to the message and appeals of Pope for peace from Nikita Khrushchev, John Kennedy etc.

The article provides the analysis of the Encyclical «Pacem in terris» published in April 1963. It emphasizes that the Encyclical is the answer to the crisis of war and is the first one covering the questions of war and peace.

In less than five years of pontificate, John XXIII was more than a reformer who convocated the Second Vatican Council and determined the face of the Catholic Church nowadays, but also a fighter for peace, therefore he was granted the name of «The Pope of Peace». John XXIII is also an example of the ability of a man of humble origins to execute huge moral influence on the most powerful men of the earth: for his actions during the missile crisis in Cuba, one of the biggest tension in the history of the Cold War, during which in the course of thirteen days — from October 16 till October 28, 1962 — the world came to the brink of nuclear disaster.

Key words: the Cuban missile crisis, peace, war, diplomacy, Holy See, Cuba, the USA, the USSR.

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DOIhttp://doi.org/10.17721/2521-1706.2018.05.153-163