Toniolo, il diritto internazionale e la pace

The essay takes its cue from the proposal made by Giuseppe Toniolo to Pope Benedict XV to establish in Rome an Institute of international law for peace. I analyze with particular attention the relationship between law and morality. In the first part I consider the political and social impact of the Great War, which the pope described as "senseless slaughter", although in Italy it was perceived as a war of independence, wrapped in patriotism and sense of Christian forbearance. I assume that the position of the Holy See was politically influenced by the loss of temporal power, which put it in a new position within the context of the international community. The Italian opposition to his participation in the Hague Conventions forced the pope to use his potestas indirecta in temporalibus. Toniolo proposal arises in that context. He wanted to consolidate a network of Catholic intellectuals supporting the pope in promoting Christian ideals in the field of law, especially in the international law. Toniolo conceived jus gentium subaltern to the moral authority of the Pope, thus recovering the idea of law subordinated to religious ethics. I suppose that the project failed because it was contrary to the contemporary secular idea of international law, which in the meantime developed and finally has been established as an instrument of peace. For this reason, I consider the proposal outdated. Both for the final fall of the neo-Guelph project, and because the idea that the base can be affected by cultural elite has waned. The Church, especially with Pope Francis, is increasingly characterized by a bottom-up approach, which it is the inverse of the one imagined by Toniolo