Transformations of the Papacy’s Relation towards the Project of European Integration: from Pius XII to Benedict XVI

Abstract

This article deals with the European integration policy of the Holy See
from the 1950s until the resignation of Benedict XVI at the beginning of
2013. The goal of the study is to describe the integration policies of
individual popes in the context of political science theories. In the first half
of the study we will briefly introduce the major typologies of political
science for the study of integration policies of political parties. From the list
of the existing approaches, we choose the typology of Petr Kaniok as the
most appropriate for this study. In the second half of the study, individual
popes are classified according to the framework of Kaniok’s typology. The
goal of the study is not only to investigate the major moves in the
integration policy of the Holy See, but also to utilize a theoretical approach
traditionally used for the study of political parties on the issue of the Holy
See.