If the majority of Catholics are found in the countries of the South, the influence of Westerners remains predominant within the Church, despite a Vatican will to distinguish itself from the Western world, underlines the historian Jean-Baptiste Noé in Geopolitis.
The interest manifested around the election of the new pope shows how the influence of the Catholic Church carries far beyond its community, with 1.4 billion believers.
>> Read also: In his first mass, Leon XIV deplores the decline in faith in favor of “money” et First American pope, Leon XIV calls “all peoples” to peace and to advance “without fear”
A community that evolves. In a century, the share of Catholics in the world remained relatively stable, around 18%. In 1910, the vast majority of the faithful (65%) were European, while they only represent a quarter of the Catholics 100 years later. The Center of Gravity of the Church has gradually moved south. Today, Brazil is the country with the most Catholics and sub -Saharan Africa is the region where their number is growing the fastest.
African population growth
“It is normal for Catholic demography to follow global demography and demographic growth in the world today is in Africa,” recalls Jean-Baptiste Noé, guest in the program Geopolitis. Specialist in the Vatican, he puts the impact of this evolution on the institutions of the Holy See. “Indeed, we have a demographic shift that means that Africa, Asia, Latin America have a new role. But influence, training, money or finance, all of this remains in Europe and in the Western world,” notes the geopolitologist.
“The great faculties of theology that form the priests, which form the future bishops are still in Europe, especially in Rome. Many African, Asian priests come to train in Rome, Paris or the United States. The mainstream Catholic media are also in the Western world,” he said.
“The United States is the leading financier of the Holy See. They also have priests, bishops, cardinals who have a world aura.” First economic and military power, the United States “also has more and more religious power”, continues Jean-Baptiste Noé.
The Catholic Church is not the armed arm of the West for spiritual affairs.
The Catholic Church is not aligned with Western interests, it “seeks its own way”, affirms the historian. “There has always been a desire of the Holy See, although based in Rome, to distinguish itself from the Western world,” he added, notably by evoking Pope Francis’ positions on the war in Ukraine and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which move away from the American line. “The Church is not the armed wing of the West for spiritual affairs.”
A voice in the world
The Vatican is the smallest state in the world, but his voice relates to all continents, his peace diplomacy has been trying to weigh for centuries in all conflicts around the world. “It is a power that counts. We saw it, moreover, during François’ funeral. There are nearly 120 delegations which were present, with monarchs, presidents, heads of government. So there was an image of the influence of the Vatican,” says Jean-Baptiste Noé.
The expert returns to the long tradition of the Church in the history of world diplomacy. “This is the first state to have created a school to train diplomats,” he recalls, adding that it then served as a model for the training of European diplomats.
In 1965, in the midst of Vietnam War, Paul VI imposed this singular voice of the Vatican for the first time in the UN gallery: “Never more against each other. It is never more the war. It is peace that must guide the fate of peoples and all humanity.” His successors will continue in their own way this path of appeasement.
As an ardent adversary of communism, John Paul II plays a key role in the fall of the Berlin Wall. It also avoids a war in 1980 by negotiating an agreement between Argentina and Chile on the Beagle Canal. The patient mediation of the Catholic Church also participates in the thaw of relations between the United States and Cuba, thanks to the good offices of Benoît XVI, chased by Pope Francis. It promotes the peace process with FARC in Colombia or the release of Ukrainian children selected in Russia.
>> The subject of 7:30 p.m. on the challenges of the new Pope:
A unique network in the world
The Pope is both a spiritual leader and a head of state. Its influence is relayed by a hundred apostolic nonces (ambassadors), more than 5,000 bishops and more than 400,000 priests, present both in capitals, as in the most remote rural areas.
The Holy See has official diplomatic relations with almost all countries of the world, 184 states, with the notable exception of Saudi Arabia, North Korea and China.
“By this specificity of being present in all countries of the world, including non-Catholic countries, the Church has an open look towards all the tensions and the difficulties that the world knows,” comments Jean-Baptiste Noé. An asset specific to the Catholic Church, which allows it, indirectly, to cultivate one of the most important intelligence networks in the world. The historian also believes that “time plays in his favor”. “It has been announced for years since we announced her disappearance and yet she continues to have an influence. (…) Popes and the Church know how to rely on time to make it an ally.”
External contents
This external content cannot be displayed because it is likely to collect personal data. To see this content you must authorize the category Services Tiers.
Accept More info
Mélanie Ohayon
Interview by Raphaël Grand
