Abstract: Drawing on archival materials from the Vatican and Belgrade, this paper explores the unsuccessful attempt to appoint Jovan Dučić as Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes/Yugoslavia to the Holy See in 1929. The proposal, initiated by Minister Kosta Kumanudi, acting as Foreign Minister in the absence of Vojislav Marinković, was met with resistance from the Vatican. Based on reports from Nuncio Pellegrinetti who cited Dučić's bad reputation following several scandals, the Holy See rejected his appointment. Following this setback, Dučić resumed diplomatic service in Egypt. He later went to Rome in 1933 as a diplomat, not the Holy See but to the Quirinal.

Keywords: Jovan Dučić, Holy See, Vatican-Yugoslav relations, Ermenegildo Pellegrinetti, Jevrem Simić, Josip Smodlaka, Lujo Bakotić, Pietro Gaspari, Jan Šeba

Summary

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was represented at the Holy See by three diplomats: Lujo Bakotić (1920–1923), Josip Smodlaka (1923–1926) and Jevrem Simić (1926–1929). In the fall of 1929, exactly at the time when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (about which Nuncio Pellegrinetti gives interesting comments and information), a change of deputies to the Holy See was also considered. That initiative was spearheaded by Minister Kosta Kumanudi, who was acting in place of Foreign Minister Vojislav Marinković. The Vatican, through several of its diplomatic missions, began collecting information about Dučić. The most relevant information was sent to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Gasparri by the Nuncio in Yugoslavia, Pellegrinetti. Drawing on reports compiled from multiple sources - chiefly the Czechoslovak representative in Belgrade, Jan Šeba, and the politician Anton Korošec - the Vatican declined to issue credentials to the renowned poet. After returning to the country, Marinković met with the nuncio, who told him that Dučić was not well received as a diplomat at the Holy See due to the scandals associated with his name, whereupon Marinković decided to express his view to the King Alexander that the proposed candidate was not adequate for that place and to withdraw the proposal in this way in order to avoid the inconvenience of a formal rejection. Thus, the issue of Dučić’s appointment was officially withdrawn. After that, the famous poet was returned to active diplomatic service by being appointed as the envoy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to Cairo