Small codimension subvarieties in homogeneous spaces

We prove Bertini type theorems for the inverse image, under a proper morphism, of any Schubert variety in an homogeneous space. Using generalisations of Deligne's trick, we deduce connectedness results for the inverse image of the diagonal in X² where X is any isotropic grassmannian. We also deduce simple connectedness properties for subvarieties of X. Finally we prove transplanting theorems à la Barth-Larsen for the Picard group of any isotropic grassmannian of lines and for the Neron-Severi group of some adjoint and coadjoint homogeneous spaces.