The Vatican's Ostpolitik and the "German file", 1958-1968

The pontificate of John XXIII and the Council Vatican the II put an end to Pius XII's vision of a "Vatican Europe" and paved the way for the Vatican's Ostpolitik towards the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe. In turn, this shift in the Vatican policy undermined the converging view on the future of Europe developed until then, in the aftermath of World War II, by the Vatican and the German Federal Republic. The Holy See's Ostpolitik gave a new tone to the diplomatic relations between Bonn and the Vatican, a tone that would span Paul VI's pontificate, while increasingly enhancing the role of Mons. Casaroli in the making of the Vatican diplomacy. The relevance of the "German file" marked the beginning of a long period of diverging diplomatic interests between the Vatican and the Federal Republic of Germany.