How the Church Under Pius XII Addressed Decolonization

Marialuisa Lucia Sergio is Associate professor in Contemporary History at Roma Tre University. Her research interests focus on the Christian inspired political movements and on the contemporary Roman Catholic Church. Among her latest publications: The European Union of Christian Democrats and the controversy regarding the Spanish accession to the EC in the 1970s (2022); Il Secondo dopoguerra in Spagna nelle carte italiane e vaticane (2021); Bonaventura Cerretti and the Impossible Missions (2020), Diario di Alcide De Gasperi 1930-1943 (2018).

Introduction 1. The Catholic Church and colonialism in French Africa from the Second World War to Liberation. The beginning of the Algerian question (1939-1945) 2. How the Holy See and the Fourth Republic addressed Colonial Transition (1945-1949) 3. The Holy See and the start of the independence processes in North Africa. The Evangelii praecones encyclical put to the test by decolonisation (1950-1953) 4. The handling of the Algerian crisis by the Holy See and the Faure government (1954-1955) 5. The Holy See and the Mollet government: distrust and adaptation strategy. The Fidei Donum encyclical (1956-1957) 6. The Vatican, the Algiers Putsch, and the advent of the Fifth Republic Conclusions