In the “triangular relationship” between Germany, the Vatican and the United States: Bishop Aloysius Muench and the Papal Mission in Kronberg (1945-1951)

• Applicant: Dr. Francesco Tacchi
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 553839356

In November 1945, a permanent Vatican Mission was established in Kronberg im Taunus (Diocese of Limburg), which from the summer of 1946 until its dissolution in 1951 was headed by the German-American Bishop Aloysius Muench. Although the official purpose of the Mission was merely to provide religious and moral assistance to the Catholic "Displaced Persons", it actually became a means by which the Holy See secured a de facto presence on German soil and close contact with the German episcopate after the Apostolic Nunciature had lost its status as a diplomatic representation following the war. In occupied Germany, Muench was also Apostolic Visitator and at the same time Liaison Consultant for Religious Affairs of the US Military Government (1946-1949), then Regent of the Apostolic Nunciature from October 1949 until March 1951, when he was appointed the first Nuncio of the post-war period and shortly afterwards transferred to the new seat in Bad Godesberg. In a decisive turning point in German contemporary history, he was therefore at the centre of a dense network of relationships between Germany, the Vatican and the United States, the contours of which have not yet been adequately reconstructed. The research project examines the significance and role of the papal Mission in the German "Zusammenbruchsgesellschaft" from a church history perspective, focusing on Muench’s mediating function within the aforementioned "triangle". Specifically, three issues concerning the shaping of the German post-war order will be analysed: 1) The contribution of the Kronberg Mission to the material reconstruction and to the goal of “re-Christianising” German society after the Nazi era; 2) Muench’s attitude to the attempts of the German episcopate to influence the drafting of the state constitutions and the Basic Law so to strengthen the Church's position in society, as well as to the problem of the validity of the Reichskonkordat; 3) His role as a liaison figure between the Holy See and the American military and political authorities in the context of the incipient Cold War and the effects of this anti-communist "convergence" on Germany and on the Catholic Church in the country. The aim of the project is to produce a monograph that combines and compares Vatican, American and German archive sources for the first time. Thus, it contributes to the investigation of a still little-known aspect of the pontificate of Pius XII, as well as to the reconstruction of an international complex of relationships between ecclesiastical, political and diplomatic figures, which has had a long-term impact on German society and hence also on German Catholicism.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants