• Producer(s):

    ARTE FRANCE, AUDIOVISUEL MULTIMEDIA INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION, COMITE FRANCAIS DE RADIO-TELEVISION

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2010

  • Language(s):

    German, French

  • Rights:

    NON-THEATRICAL, TV, VOD, DVD, INTERNET

Is serving God compatible with worldly power? Does the Pope have political power? Can we recognise the Devil? And can we resist him? What can be done to counter the power of weapons? How many divisions within the Vatican? What can words do to counter the power of weapons?

The Vatican State is the most concentrated and long-lasting power in the world. Since its creation in 1929, seven popes and nine secretaries of state have continued its diplomacy. Eight of them have carried considerable weight. They have in turn been confronted with fascism, Nazism, Soviet totalitarianism, civil war, two world wars, the extermination of Jews, purges under Stalin, the Cold War and the atomic threat. At the same time, the Church has taken on a universal socio-political dimension.

This 2-part documentary recounts the secret history of Vatican diplomacy over the course of the last century. Based on very recently opened secret archives, with additional research by historians and accounts by members of the Roman Curia, it reveals many little known or totally unknown aspects.