Christian World | A two-day conference opening October 28 at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University will examine how popes and Vatican diplomacy dealt with 20th-century totalitarian regimes

ACW | October 28, 2026 — Vatican News reports that a two-day conference, "The Holy See and Totalitarian Systems in the 20th Century," opens on October 28 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and runs through October 29, 2026.

According to Vatican News, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, opens the event on October 28. Entry is free with no advance registration, and sessions are held in Italian, English and Polish.

The organizers are Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences and the Pontifical Gregorian University. Researchers will assess how reliable Vatican information was, whether its diplomatic and Church networks helped people in need, and how Holy See policy affected world events, Vatican News says.

Topics run from early clashes with Bolshevism and extreme nationalism through World War II to communist regimes. They include religious sisters helping persecuted people in Italy, Vatican diplomacy and Hungarian Jews, and John Paul II's approach to Poland's communist government.

Organizers received more than 65 proposed topics from around the world. An exhibition marks the 1966 Millennium of the Baptism of Poland.

Background: Describing Poland's history, Vatican News writes that the country "experienced the violence of more than one totalitarian regime."

Why it matters: Vatican News says the conference grew out of questions about how the Holy See responded to systems that oppressed societies. It will study the Holy See's record under totalitarian systems.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Source: Vatican News — Rome event to explore Holy See's relations with 20th-century totalitarian regimes

Photo: Vatican News