Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy
Financing the Vatican, 1850–1950

This the first scholarly study of the finances and financiers of the Vatican between 1850 and 1950.

John F. Pollard (Author)

9780521812047, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 January 2005

288 pages, 15 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.59 kg

Review of the hardback: 'Any scholar with an interest in the modern Church or Italian history should read this book, but even fans of Dan Brown might enjoy it.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History

This is a pioneering study of the finances and financiers of the Vatican between 1850 and 1950. Dr Pollard, a leading historian of the modern papacy, shows how until 1929 the papacy was largely funded by 'Peter's Pence' collected from the faithful, and from the residue the Vatican made its first capitalistic investments, especially in the ill-fated Banco di Roma. After 1929, the Vatican received much of its income from the investments made by the banker Bernadino Nogara in world markets and commercial enterprises. This process of coming to terms with capitalism was arguably in conflict both with Church law and Catholic social teaching and becoming a major financial power led the Vatican into conflict with the Allies during the Second World War. In broader terms, the ways in which the papacy financed itself helped shape the overall development of the modern papacy.

1. Introduction
2. The reign of Pius IX: Vatican finances before and after the fall of Rome (1850–1878)
3. The Pontificate of Leo XIII (1878–1903)
4. Vatican finances under the 'Peasant Pope', Pius X (1903–1914)
5. 'The great charitable lord'?: Vatican finances under Benedict XV (1914–1922)
6. 'Economical and prudent bourgeois'?: Pius XI, 1922–1929
7. The Wall Street crash and Vatican finances in the early 1930s
8. Vatican finances in an age of global consolidation, 1933–1939
9. Vatican finances in the reign of Pius XII: the Second World War and the early Cold War, 1939–1950
10. Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD]