La Santa Sede di fronte alla prima guerra del Golfo (1990-1991)

This paper concerns the attitude shown by the Holy See towards the Gulf crisis (1990-1991). The UN reaction against the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces, was an important demonstration of the new international order, after the collapse of the communist bloc. The crisis involved the whole Middle East: a very important area in the Holy See’s strategy, due to the desire to preserve the ancient Arab Christian communities. These two issues determined the policy of Vatican diplomacy to seek a political solution to the crisis. This effort was connected to the search for a global solution to all the regional problems: not only the Gulf crisis, but also the Palestinian question and the Lebanese civil war. This perspective remained at the center of the Vatican’s attitude during the conflict. After the end of the war Vatican diplomacy tried to renew the dialogue with the Arab and Muslim world, underlining that the conflict had been only political and that it would not involve the religious communities.