The archives of the Catholic News Agency (CNA) shed valuable light on the transition of American Catholics from antiwar isolationists to militant anticommunists. Until December 1941 most Catholics opposed American intervention in the European military conflict, but after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor they patriotically supported American troops and silently tolerated the alliance with the Soviet Union. But from the spring of 1943 American Catholics began to speak out openly against the communist ally. The news feeds from CNA shed light on this transformation: they underscore the role of religion (and especially the role of religious repression) in international relations, which to a significant degree explain the shift in Soviet religious policy during the war. The CNA archives also show how ineffective, or even counterproductive, was Moscow’s religious policy on the diplomatic front, above all with regard to Catholics. This article also offers a new perspective on the so-called “silence” of Pope Pius XII—his refusal to name specific countries as perpetrators of war crimes, his willingness to speak only in abstract terms. CNA in effect served as his surrogate: it expressed what the pope himself could not publicly say without violating his neutrality.

The article presents the history of the relationship of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Christian communities of Egypt and Ethiopia. The article is also concerned with the issue of contacts between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church of Egypt in the second half of the 19^th and early 20^th century. The first almost informal contacts between representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Alexandria Patriarchate allowed Egyptian Christians to get acquainted with the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church — with the real state of the religious, political and cultural situation in Egypt. The article also examines the attempts of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church to establish ties with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which was part of the Alexandria Patriarchate until 1959.

The publication introduces into scientific circulation three documents of 1923, identified in the archive of the head of the Papal Mission to help the hungry in Russia, fr. Edmund Walsh, stored in the library of Georgetown University (USA). The central document of the published collection is a letter from the Catholic priest Leonid Fedorov, who in 1921-1935 was the head of the Apostolic Exarchate of Catholics of the Byzantine Rite in Russia. The example of the policy in relation to the Renovationist movement is used in the letter to characterize the policy of the Soviet government in relation to religion. Fedorov emphasizes the falsity of the authorities’ assurances about freedom of conscience in the USSR and concludes that the policy is aimed at eradicating all religion. He backs up his opinion with a letter from one of the leaders of the renovationism Mitr. Antonin (Granovsky) with complaints about the tax policy of the authorities. The documents are published for the first time in the original language and translated into Russian.

This publication is a translation of the original transcript of the public lecture, presented on January, 30, 2021 at Roman Institute of Goerres Society in Campo Santo Teutonico, Vatican. Prof. Dr. Dr. Hubertus R. Drobner (Germany, Paderborn), one of the leading researchers and translators of St Augustine’s homiletic legacy, has presented a perspective of interpretation for some of St Augustine’s sermons containing the most vibrant details of turbulent life of North African Christian community. These sermons filled with everyday details, which were characteristic and important for local community did not draw much attention among mediaeval scribes and were discovered for the scientific research only by the end of 20^th century and had a great impact on the reception of St Augustine’s homiletic and theological legacy. In his interpretation of homiletic part of St Augustine’s heritage, Prof. Dr. Drobner particularly emphasizes the importance of these sermons as a historical and theological source on the history of the Church in the early 5^th century.