La Santa Sede di fronte al proselitismo protestante in America Latina nei primi anni Venti : L’inchiesta del 1923-1924

This article aims to analyze the Vatican effort to contrast protestant proselytism in South America during the Early 1920s. During the inter-war period the Catholic Church conducted an intensive campaign to contain Protestant proselytism in many Catholic countries and in particular in the areas where Anglo-Saxon influence was growing. The Catholic Church responded to the advance of Protestantism everywhere. Its campaign was particularly intense in the Latin American world which was a traditional stronghold of Catholicism. Documents kept in the Vatican Secret Archive show that the Holy See conducted a specific and uniform policy in that region to combat Protestant proselytism, involving in this effort the American Catholics.The Holy See tried to oppose Protestant proselytism with a coordinated campaign, able to guide actions taken by local Catholic hierarchies, which often seemed unable to face the Protestant infiltration on their own. On this point the correspondence between Cardinal Gasparri and the various Vatican Nuncios is illuminating: many Nuncios emphasized the necessity of gaining the support of American Catholics and American Religious Orders to prevent the march of Protestantism, which was being promoted by American Protestant Churches.