Il prestito della pace. Un progetto vaticano elaborato durante la grande guerra / ‘The loan of peace’: a Vatican project devised during World War I

During the First World War, Carlo Santucci was invited, on behalf of the Holy See, to elaborate a project for the creation of a single international bond, named ‘The Loan of Peace’. Its aim was twofold: i) to shift the control of war debts from the national level to an international committee, in order to reduce costs by increasing warranties; ii) to foster the return of the Holy See on the world diplomatic scene, after some years of isolation, through the presence of a pontifical representative in this committee. Possible reasons for the abandonment of the project include the United States’ intervention in the war, which reduced the effectiveness of eurocentric enterprises, and the failure of pontifical peace diplomacy.