Polish and Portuguese Bishops and the 1971 Synod: criticism of the Vatican’s Ostpolitik and anti-colonial policy

The late 1960s saw the emergence of a new Vatican foreign policy under Pope Paul VI. This combined an anti-colonial agenda with a policy towards the communist countries of Eastern Europe, the Vatican Ostpolitik (1966-1972). Both aspects of the new policy were opposed by the Polish and Portuguese episcopates, judging that the political dynamic resulting from Vatican II and Pope Paul VI’s anti-colonial and Ostpolitik foreign policies weakened the Vatican’s commitment to the Cold War. A parallel critique of the Vatican’s Ostpolitik and of anti-colonial policies emerged during the discussions on "Justice in the World" at the 1971 Synod of Bishops. The Portuguese bishops opposed both policies, arguing that the new foreign policy diverted attention from the existential struggle against communism and the Soviet Union.