If the Vatican had had to move location during the 1st World War?

Question

which country would the Pope have moved to ?

Which country would the Pope have moved to?

Update: please note the question refers to the move, not whether there would be a move - so answers along the lines of "it wouldn't happen" aren't answering the question. Given that the move MUST happen (for whatever reason) where will the Pope move to ?

Answer 1

Nowhere. The pope always arranged for the safety of Vatican City, in WWII, Pius XXII even arranged for some Jews and latin americans to be deported to Auschwitz, thus buying Mussolini and Hitler's respect.

They did not mess with Switzerland either.

Answer 2

I am not sure why you wonder particularly about if the Vatican had had to move in World War I.

The Pope was effectively a prisoner in the Vatican from the time in the nineteenth century when Italy took over the Papal States (from recollection I think 1870) until the Pope signed a Concordat with Mussolini in 1929. Italy could have taken over any time in terms of military force, but the consequences in terms of Catholic reaction would have been intolerable.Similarly, in the Second World War neither the Germans nor the Americans could possibly have taken over the Vatican, Remember Stalin's question "How many divisions has the Pope got?". The answer was not what Stalin wanted.

When there was a schism in the Papacy in the Middle Ages, the Pope moved to Avignon. But in the early twentienth century France was a secular Republic and many politicians were anti-clerical. So that would not have been a good option.

Whilst the matter never needed considering, Spain would have been a possibility. Alternatively, if the Pope had had to flee the nearest Catholic state he would have reached would have been the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, then on its last legs of Habsburg rule. But before fleeing abroad the Pope would probably have looked for somewhere in Italy outside Rome.

Answer 3

Interesting question (I love "what if"s).
Maybe Spain or Ireland or even to Quebec in Canada.
Other Catholic states around the world were either embroiled in the war or just not condusive at the time such as Mexico or other parts of Latin America.

Answer 4

Interesting question. I think Spain is most likely. It was a neutral country and of course has a huge Catholic population.

oops. I thought you meant WW 2. For WW 1... I have no idea.

Answer 5

The swiss gaurd would defend the Vatican, and any fool leader who'd dare attack it would have to face the dissent of some hundreds of millions of Catholics worldwide.

Answer 6

San Marino.