From the condemnation of Nazism to the salvation of the unbaptized: how the popes changed the Church. Details

About 130,000 people came to St. Peter's Cathedral on April 26 to say goodbye to Pope Francis. The 266th Pope, known internationally as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, left a great contribution to the history of the Vatican. And almost two weeks later, the conclave of cardinals elected a new pope, Cardinal Robert Prevost from the United States. How the Catholic Church has changed over time and what its future looks like is in the Izvestia article.

How the Vatican came into being

• The Vatican City state formally appeared in 1929 after Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Agreements with the Italian government on February 11. This is how the smallest state in the world was formed, which occupies only 44 hectares. For the first time, the Pope became not just a spiritual leader, but the head of a sovereign state.

• Pius XI, who was on the Holy See until 1939, condemned the totalitarianism, racism and nationalism characteristic of the rule of Benito Mussolini in Italy. His 1937 encyclical, written in German and secretly distributed in the Third Reich, became a fierce attack on Nazism. In the same years, he also condemned communism.

Pius XI introduced the feast of Christ the Tsar in response to the rise of secularism and personality cults. He promoted missions around the world, created institutes for the study of the East and Africa, and promoted the idea that the church should not lag behind science, but should walk alongside it. Pope Pius XI died in 1939, just a day before he was due to deliver another thunderous speech against fascism.

The social struggle of the Church

• Since 1929, the Catholic Church has been paying much more attention to social issues than before. In the first half of the 20th century, her position still retained a conservative bias. The Church condemned Marxism, socialism, and any form of class struggle, considering them a threat to divine order and hierarchy. Along with this, the Vatican initially opposed nationalism and fascism. At the same time, the church could no longer ignore the growing inequality, poverty and injustice in society, especially against the background of the Great Depression.

• During the Second World War and immediately after it, the Vatican took a difficult and cautious position. On the one hand, Pius XII condemned Nazism and communism, on the other, he tried to maintain neutrality in order not to lose influence. But already in the post-war years, a turn towards more active participation in social discussions began.

• The Church increasingly emphasized the need for a just world, supported workers' rights, and opposed dictatorships. The real watershed was the Second Vatican Council, initiated by John XXIII in 1962. This council not only renewed the practice of worship, but also opened the door to a deep dialogue with the modern world. His documents spoke about the dignity of the human person, human rights, freedom of conscience, and the importance of fighting poverty and social exclusion. All this has become the new language of the church. She wanted not just to show the way, but to be a part of it.

• In the second half of the 20th century, the Vatican increasingly emphasized the topic of poverty, especially in Latin America, where liberation theology was developing. Among other things, this theology emphasized that poverty is the source of sin. Although the Vatican was officially wary of her, disapproving of her Marxist accents, the very fact that the social revolution was being discussed within church circles spoke of a shift.

Getting closer to science and working on mistakes

• John Paul II (Pope from 1978 to 2005), a Pole and the first non—Italian pontiff, focused on human rights and personal dignity, especially in Eastern European countries. He emphasized the need for solidarity between nations, economic justice, and the protection of traditional moral values, while creating an image of the church as a moral compass in the global world.

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• Under John Paul II, an important step was taken to reconcile the church with science. The beginning of this path was laid by his predecessors in the middle of the century, recognizing that the theory of evolution can accurately describe the biological origin of man. The soul was created by God. But under Pope John, the Vatican went further, rehabilitating Galileo Galilei. In 1633, the scientist was convicted by the Inquisition for maintaining the heliocentric theory (the doctrine according to which the Earth revolves around the Sun). It contradicted the official doctrine of the church at that time, which affirmed the geocentric model, according to which the Earth is the center of the universe.

He also asked for forgiveness for all the other sins committed by the church over the course of two thousand years. John Paul II noted that "Christians, whose whole lives should be imbued with bright love for their neighbor, have repeatedly violated this gospel covenant in the past, asserting the greatness of their faith with cruelty and violence that are incompatible with the teachings of Christ." Among other things, he repented on behalf of the church for the actions of the Inquisition and for the extermination of French Protestants during St. Bartholomew's Eve in 1572.

• John Paul II continued the tradition of defending traditional Catholic family values, but at the same time he began to talk about the need for social protection of families, combating discrimination against women and improving conditions for raising children. He also emphasized the importance of supporting the family as a unit of society.

However, against the background of a changing social agenda, John Paul II also actively defended the traditional position of the Catholic Church on abortion, euthanasia and contraception. These issues remained for him the most important moral guidelines in the relations of the church with society.

Unbaptized children and the pedophile scandal

• With the advent of Benedict XVI (Pope in 2005 — 2013), the church somewhat returned to a more restrained, intellectual approach: he spoke about the "dictatorship of relativism" (with only the "I" and personal needs taking precedence), defended the Christian roots of Europe and talked about the moral foundations of the market.

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Benedict XVI has stirred up the public with his stance on unbaptized infants. Traditionally, they were perceived as having no way of escape. However, Benedict XVI expressed the hope that their fate is in the hands of God's mercy. He noted that God is love, and he cannot be limited only by a certain form of salvation. This approach to the issue was perceived as a symbol of caring for innocent children who had not had time to be baptized.

• During the service of Benedict XVI, accusations of pedophilia began to pour in one after another against Catholic priests. In 2010, the Pope acknowledged that the church had failed to act decisively and quickly against priests convicted of molesting minors and other sexually motivated crimes.

• Benedict XVI's position on the family remained quite rigid, especially in the context of issues of marriage and family values. He opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage, abortion and euthanasia, supporting traditional views of the family as based on marriage between a man and a woman. However, his approach was more focused on the spiritual component of these issues. He called for a return to Christian ideals and the importance of spiritual education in order to support and strengthen families.

The most liberal approach

• However, already with Pope Francis, the Vatican's social agenda has greatly softened. His encyclicals raised issues of ecology, global inequality, migration, digital injustice, and exclusion.

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• With the arrival of Francis, the perception of the role of women in the church has also changed. He appointed them to important administrative posts in the Roman Curia, which previously seemed unthinkable. On the issue of abortion, he maintained a line of intransigence towards the phenomenon itself, but in every possible way called for mercy, forgiveness and pastoral delicacy.

• Francis immediately emphasized a more open approach to LGBT issues (the movement is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia). He allowed people of non-traditional orientation to be baptized and to be godparents. It was allowed to bless those entering into same-sex unions, but not to enter into such marriages and not to bless the unions themselves. At the same time, he called for an apology to the members of the banned movement "for the previous attitude towards them." In 2025, the Vatican also allowed non-traditional priests to be admitted to the seminary.

• Francis announced the fight against pedophilia in the bosom of the church. In particular, he announced the abolition of the rule of "papal secrecy" in cases of sexual crimes against children. The Pope explained his decision by saying that this way the police and legal authorities will be able to request information from the church. Previously, such crimes were investigated in absolute secrecy, because the priority was to protect the reputation of the accused. Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict, refused to cooperate with the investigation during the scandal precisely on the basis of the "papal secrecy" he introduced for this purpose.

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• Francis renounced luxury and spoke on behalf of the underprivileged, suggesting a rethinking of the very concept of power as service. In general, his papacy became a kind of manifesto in favor of ethical globalization based on charity and social responsibility.

What is the future of the Catholic Church

• Since 1929, the opinion of the Catholic Church on social issues has gone from cautious distancing and protection of the traditional order to an open, sometimes even bold dialogue about the most pressing problems of our time. The Vatican, while remaining a small state, has become a huge moral player in the global conversation about justice.

• Now the church stands at a fork in the road. On the one hand, there are many who seek to return the Vatican to rigor and dogma. They think this is the best scenario for the development of religious life in times of global chaos. On the other hand, there are many who would like to preserve the legacy of Pope Francis, who called for acceptance, dialogue and the search for God in difficult situations.