The 'International' and the 'Global' as Complementary Power Strategies within Corporate Roman Catholicism

The putative resurgence of religious belief and its reinvigorated socio-political importance – or at least prominence – has prompted critical reflection on religion, broadly defined, as a new force in politics. This paper examines the ‘global’ and ‘international’ role of Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism has manifested itself as an actor on the international stage and as a trans-national and global ‘community’. Frequently the conceptual dividing line between these is ambiguous. Vatican City and the Holy See have both been accorded international status, the former since the conclusion of the Lateran Treaty by Italy’s fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, in 1929, the latter since the mid nineteenth century following the absorption of the Papal States into the newly unified Italian Republic. The Holy See also enjoys a special status position within the United Nations system as a non-member observer state. Following revelations of clerical child abuse the Holy See was put on the defensive in several national contexts in a public controversy that resonated much more widely. This trans-nationally organised religion has mobilised both nationally and internationally to defend its institutional interests. Through an examination of empirical instances the study sidesteps the question of whether religions are ‘global’ or ‘international’ phenomena, and draws attention to the distinct power modalities operative at the level of both international politics and in transnational or global organisation.