HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

560 ReviewsThe book has three main sections. The first section traces the evolution of Vaticanpolicy toward the Soviet Union. Two strands are evident in this policy. On theone hand, Pius XI vehemently denounced religious repression by the new Sovietregime even as, on the other hand, he sought to establish better relations with it.Floridi deplores the second of these two strands, which culminated in an Ostpolitikunder Pope Paul VI that traded the loyal collaboration of Catholics for a little morereligious freedom. Though Floridi briefly delineates Vatican policies towardEastern Europe in this section, his discussion is too sketchy and disjointed to contributeto our understanding of the role of the Catholic church in these countries.The second section of the book describes the rise of the dissident movement in theSoviet Union, examining in separate chapters the situation of the Catholic and Uniatechurches in the Ukraine and Belorussia. The third section chronicles the increasingrepression of the post-detente period and evaluates the less accommodating policiesof the new Polish pope toward Communist regimes.The central question Floridi poses is whether the quest for world peace, the purportedaim of the Vatican's Ostpolitik, justifies the church's concessions to fundamentallyrepressive and atheistic regimes. Is it better to have a church driven underground,a catacomb church, that lacks a firm ecclesiastical structure but possessesthe fervor of the early Christian communities? Or is it better to have a church inwhich the Vatican retains some authority to fill ecclesiastical positions albeit onlywith so-called peace priests who accommodate themselves to a regime ultimatelybent on diminishing the church's power? By endorsing the latter vision, Floridiargues, the church has alienated its adherents and diminished its own authority.What the religious in Communist countries need is an institution that will protecttheir rights and give those who languish in jails and psychiatric hospitals the solaceand encouragement they desperately need. Instead, under its Ostpolitik, the Vaticanhas foresaken these people who must turn for support to other dissidents, often Jewsor the nonreligious. Floridi laments this "paradoxical situation" in which nonbelieverssuch as Sakharov, Bukovsky, and Amalrik defend their Christian compatriotswhile the Holy See abandons them to their fate. What good, he asks, is theVatican's goal of strengthening peace by negotiating with the Soviet Union if itcomes at the expense of today's living and suffering Christians?Although Floridi testifies convincingly to the need to respond to the suffering ofreligious individuals (adding his voice to the chorus of those who do not see negotiationproducing reform in the Soviet Union), his focus on dissidents hinders hisanalysis of Vatican policies toward the Soviet Union. Referring to the views ofSoviet dissidents provides an important perspective on the impact of Vatican policieson their lives, but it often leads the reader away from the purported topic of thisbook, especially since many of the Soviet dissidents for whom Floridi speaks are notreligious dissenters or even religious people. Moreover, in his attempt to emphasizethe aid dissidents have given to the religious in the Soviet Union, he overlooks theconsiderable disagreement among them about their attitude toward religiousdissenters and overestimates the strength of the dissident movement as a whole.Finally, as Floridi sees it the Vatican has only two choices: either to collaborate andbecome corrupt, or to remain faithful to the church's true mission and implacably