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Between 1921 and 1925, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs sought to obtain ecclesiastical autonomy for the Territory of the Saar from the German dioceses, in order to use the clergy as a support of French political influence with a view to the referendum scheduled for 1935. This point was one of the Ministry’s main objectives as the diplomatic relations with the Holy See were restored (1920-1921). The Holy See’s refusal gave rise to a controversy that revealed the misunderstandings between the two parties as far as the relationships between political and religious spheres were concerned: while France stood by a policy of control over Catholicism, which was considered a medium of influence, the Holy See now defended its full autonomy from the state in religious matters.