I have decided to make available on this blog a old book that has long been out of print. It is called "The Vatican in World Politics," and was written in 1949 by Baron Avro Manhattan. Over the course of the next few weeks, I am going to be posting this book--chapter by chapter--on The Vatican Lobby so that my readers can get a panoramic view of how Rome operates in the international realm.
Unlike his profile on Wikipedia (which, very professionally, describes him as a "kook"), Avro Manhattan was a brilliant and accomplished figure. Here I have pasted a short description of him from a Serbian website.
"Poet, artist, philosopher and writer on religious, historical and allied themes, Baron Avro Manhattan was known for his forthright and uncompromising views. He was born in Milan, Italy on April 6, 1914, to wealthy American/Dutch parents. His aristocratic roots meant that he was a Knight of the House of Savoy as well as a Knight Templar and a Knight of the Order of Mercedes.
"He was educated at the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics. He was jailed in Italy for refusing to serve in the Fascist dictator Mussolini's army. While imprisoned in the Alps he wrote his first book on astronomy. Once free Mr. Manhattan moved to London.
"During World War II he operated a radio station called "Radio Freedom," broadcasting to occupied Europe. He also wrote political commentaries for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). For this service he was made a Knight of Malta.
"Strikingly handsome in his youth, Manhattan was a member of the H.G. Wells set (and of the British Interplanetary Society), knew Bernard Shaw (whom he beat at bowls) and lived with Picasso for a while in Paris. He was a close friend of scientist Marie Stopes in the early 1950s.
"By then he had made a name with his book The Vatican in World Politics (1949) which ran to fifty editions. The book was one of the best-selling books of all time. It was translated into most major languages including Chinese, Russian and most recently, Korean.
"In all, he wrote some sixty books and published several during his South Shields period, including works on Vietnam and Ireland, the prophetic Terror over Yugoslavia in 1986 and The Dawn of Man, the fruit of 40 years of deliberation on evolutionary themes.
"His other books include:
- The Rumbling of the Apocalypse, Airoldi, 1934;
- Towards the new Italy (Preface by H.G. Wells), Lindsay Drummond, 1943;
- Latin America and the Vatican, C.A. Watts, 1946.
- The Catholic Church Against The Twentieth Century, C.A.Watts, 1947, 2nd edition, 1950;
- The Vatican in Asia, C.A. Watts, London, 1948.
- Religion in Russia, C.A.Watts, London, 1949.
- Catholic Imperialism and World Freedom, C.A. Watts, London 1952, 2nd edition, 1959;
- Terror Over Yugoslavia, the Threat to Europe, C.A. Watts, London, 1953;
- The Dollar and the Vatican, Pioneer Press, London, 1956, 3rd edition, 1957.
- Vatican Imperialism in the 20th Century, Zondervan, Michigan, 1965.
- The Vatican Billions, Chick Pub., Los Angeles, 1983.
- Catholic Terror in Ireland, Chick Pub., Los Angeles, 1988.
- Vatican Moscow Washington Alliance, Chick Pub, 1982.
- Vietnam . . . why did we go?, Chick Pub, Los Angeles, 1984.
- The Vatican's Holocaust, Ozark Books, Springfield, MO.1986.
- Murder in the Vatican, American Russian and Papal Plots, Ozark Books, Springfield, MO. 1985.
"Mr. Manhattan was a member of the Royal Society of Literature, Society of Authors, Ethical Union, P.E.N., British Interplanetary Society, etc."
I think it is obvious that Manhattan was far from being a "kook," and that he was in fact an extremely acute observer of international affairs.
I believe that you will enjoy reading this book, and that you will learn a great deal about Vatican politics in its global sense. The chapters are admittedly somewhat long, but Manhattan's style is easy to read and chock full of eye-opening facts.
While I certainly do not agree with every single statement that he makes (more specifically, his general attitude toward religion and his assertion that religion is "losing ground"), I do find his political analysis on point and extremely convincing. Perhaps a bit dated, but still very relevant.
So, without further ado, I present the author's preface to the book.
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Within the last few decades, amid the rumblings and the ruins of two World Wars, the United States of America has emerged paramount and dynamic on the stage of global politics.
From across the great land mass of Eurasia, Russia---the bastion of Communism, equally dynamic in its struggle to build up new political structure---is challengingly waiting for the tumbling of the old pattern of society, confident that time is on her side.
At the same time, the Catholic Church, seemingly preoccupied only with its religious tasks, is feverishly engaged in a race for the ultimate spiritual conquest of the world.
But whereas the exertions of the U.S.A. and of the U.S.S.R., are followed with growing apprehension, those of the Vatican are seldom scrutinized. Yet not a single event of importance that has contributed to the present chaotic state of affairs has occurred without the Vatican taking an active part in it.
The Catholic population of the world----400 millions [blogger's note: now about 1 billion]----is more numerous than that of the United States and Soviet Russia put together. When it is remembered that the concerted activities of this gigantic spiritual mass depend on the lips of a single man, the apathy of non-Catholic American should swiftly turn to keenest attention. His interest, furthermore, should increase when he is made aware that the United States is intimately involved in the attainment of both the immediate and the ultimate goals of the Vatican.
These goals are:
1. The annihilation of Communism and of Soviet Russia.
2. The spiritual conquest of the U.S.A.
3. The ultimate Catholicization of the world.
Do these goals seem fantastic?
Unfortunately they are neither speculation nor wild and idle dreams. They are as indisputable and as inextricably a part of contemporary history as the rise of Hitler, the defeat of Japan, the splitting of the atom, the existence of Communism. Indeed the inescapable alternative by which mankind today is confronted is not whether this will be the American or the Russian Century, but whether this might not after all become the Catholic Century.
Surely, then, the nature, aims and workings of the Catholic Church deserve some scrutiny. The American citizen, perturbed by the past, bewildered by the present and made increasingly anxious about the future, would do well to ponder the exertions of the Vatican in contemporary American and world politics. His destiny as well as the destiny of the United States, and indeed of mankind, has been and will continue to be profoundly affected by the activities of an institution which, although a church, is nonetheless as mighty a political power as the mightiest nation on the planet.
------------Avro Manhattan London, 1949
