The Italian Social Catholics

Italian politics is in the news again, this time over the Italian parliament’s confidence vote in favor of the embattled Silvio Berlusconi and the accompanying protests. Italian politics is often the subject of ridicule by Italians themselves and by people outside the country. From lecherous and greedy politicians to shadowy connections with the criminal world, Italy is often portrayed as a nation with one foot in modernity and the other in a culture that is still beset by old woes. However, there was a time when Italy produced an energetic and important strain of Catholic social thought, combining the traditional religiosity of the country with a concern for the problems posed by modernity. Not satisfied with the idea that Christianity could just lock itself away from the problems of the modern world, the Italian Social Catholics were instrumental in developing ideas that helped to influence the post-war settlement in Italy through their involvement with the powerful Christian Democratic Party.

Arguably the most famous Social Catholics of the post-war period where the “Little Professors,” centered on Giuseppe Dossetti and including Amintore Fanfani, Giorgio La Pira, and Giuseppe Lazzati. Other politicians, such as Aldo Moro, could also be included within the Christian Democratic “Left.” While there were important differences between these men, in general they shared a commitment to Christian thought as a potent antidote to atheist Marxism as well as to the injustices of capitalism that often led people to embrace anti-Christian ideologies.

While they arguably failed to achieve the just Christian society they sought to create, the Italian Social Catholics are important because they understood that if religion was simply reduced to a personal eccentricity as opposed to an active force in the world there would be little hope of it succeeding in a modern world increasingly dominated by materialist ideologies. With the end of the Cold War and the ascendancy of neoliberalism, the message of the Italian Social Catholics is as important as ever. Over time, I will try my best to write about the various Italian Social Catholics, their strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, and what they can teach us today.