The International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago (1926): Perceptions from the Vatican and Italian Catholics

The Twenty-Eighth International Eucharistic Congress (Chicago, June 20–24, 1926) was an unprecedented celebration: hundreds of thousands of participants from thirty-seven nations attended, one and a half million penances were performed, and about six hundred journalists covered the event. Such an impressive outcome was far from guaranteed, considering the predominantly Protestant population in the US, the lack of diplomatic relations between the US and the Holy See, and the significant doctrinal differences between Catholics and Protestant churches regarding the Eucharist. The Congress, along with the organizational effort that made it possible, greatly impressed Pope Pius XI, his representatives, and the Italian Catholic hierarchy. Drawing on Vatican archives and published documents to reconstruct the organization and development of the Congress, this article sheds light on how the Vatican and Italian Catholic hierarchy perceived American society’s ability to conceive and execute a religious event of unprecedented proportions. This reconstruction also helps to illuminate the broader European fascination and anxiety toward the vision of the future emerging in American society and presented to the Old World after the Great War