Fascism and the Catholic Church

Question 1

Why did M not seem particularly committed to his ambitions for fascism to penetrate every aspect of society?

Answer 1

M wanted to see fascism penetrate every aspect of Italian society, but he was neither systematic in his ideas nor prepared to force through policies that might make him unpopular.

Question 2

What was his willingness to cooperate with the Church evidence of?

Answer 2

His realisation that fascism must compromise in order to secure support was particularly evident in his dealings with the church

Question 3

Why did M want to reconcile with the Church despite not being a Christian?

Answer 3

M never lost the anti religious attitudes of his youth, but he was aware that the Church occupied in an important place in the lives of millions of Italians. He recognised that accomodating the Catholic Church could bring him great public support and increase the international prestige of his regime

Question 4

How was M attempting to appeal to the Church by the time he became PM?

Answer 4

By the time he became PM in 1922, M was positioning himself as an alternative to the anticlerical liberals and the godless socialists

Question 5

How would fascism appease the Church during the early years and why was this just a sign of things to come?

Answer 5

Restoring Catholic education in state schools and increasing government payment to the Priests won the support of the pope who, in 1923, withdrew his support for the Popolari. These moves, at least temporarily, neutralised the church as a source of opposition. However, fascism would only gain the active support of the Vatican with the 1929 Lateran Agreements

Question 6

What were the Lateran Agreements?

Answer 6

These comprised a treaty and a deal, known as a concordat, which officially ended the debate over the role of the Catholic Church in the Italian state. This debate had existed since the founding of the Italian Kingdom 60 years earlier

Question 7

Why did the Pope resent the Italian state?

Answer 7

The Pope resented the Italian state for its seizure of Rome and the papal states

Question 8

Describe the compromise made in the Concordat

Answer 8

In 1929, the Pope agreed to recognise the Italian state and its possession of Rome and the old papal states. In return, the state recognised the Pope’s control over the Vatican City, part of Rome but independent of the Italian state

Question 9

What is the Vatican City?

Answer 9

It is the area of Rome comprising of St Peter’s, the papal apartments and the offices of the papal bureaucracy, which is ruled over directly by the Pope and is completely separate from the Italian state

Question 10

How did the Concordat enhance the position of Catholicism in Italy?

Answer 10

It made it the new official state religion

Question 11

What did this change mean in practise?

Answer 11

The Pope would appoint all bishops, but the government could veto any politically suspect candidates

The state would pay clergy salaries

Clergy could not belong to political parties

Religious education (Catholic) would be compulsory in state schools

There would be no divorce without Church consent

Couples wishing to marry would no longer have to attend a civil ceremony in a register office – Church services would now give full legal recognition to marraiges

Question 12

What did exiled intellectual GA Borgese say about the relationship between Church and state in 1931?

Answer 12

‘There was no reason why Pope and Duce should not come together: no reason except in Christ, but Christianism was by no means the decisive factor in the Pope’s mind. He was sure that he loved Italy; he was sure that he hated democracy and socialism, the ruthless anti-Christianity of fascism was nothing to him. The Church became a collaborator with atheistic tyranny, and tyranny rewarded it by making it supreme in the family. Marriage and divorce became a monopoly of the Vatican, and the priest lent his hand to the fascists in the purpose of national violence and international anarchy. Over her new black shirt Italy donned her old black gown (clothes worn by the Catholic clergy)’

Question 13

Why were the Lateran Agreements not decisive in solving the Roman Question?

Answer 13

Although the Lateran Agreements were hailed a triumph by both M and Pope, the relationship was not a smooth one and it cooled as M tried to shape society into a more fascist mould

Question 14

Describe the first open dispute in 1931

Answer 14

The first open dispute came in 1931 when the government attempted to suppress Church sponsored Catholic Action. This organisation provided a rival to fascism own youth and leisure bodies, having 250,000 members. A compromise was reached banning Catholic Action youth groups from any political activities. However, the Church remained determined to maintain its influence over the young. The Church therefore made it clear that the state must not attempt to suppress Catholic schools or interfere with the Catholic University of Milan and the Federation of Catholic University Students. The church even had the confidence to declare the fascist Ballila blasphemous

Question 15

What else displayed Church resistance to fascism’s totalitarian ambitions?

Answer 15

This resistance to fascism’s totalitarian ambitions to control every aspect of life was also shown by Radio Vatican broadcasting alternative news and information

Question 16

Describe Church support for fascist foreign policy in the late 1930s

Answer 16

In the mid and late 1930s, senior clergy did support Italian involvement in Ethiopia or Spain, as they saw them as ‘Christian crusades’ spreading and defending faith

Question 17

How did tensions begin to rise again in 1938?

Answer 17

Tensions began to surface again over the issue of anti semitism in 1938. As the regime brought in a raft of anti semitic laws, Pope Pius XI voiced his feelings of worry and unease

Question 18

What had happened to the relationship by 1939?

Answer 18

By 1939, the alliance between fascism and Catholicism was over, and the Pope openly regretted the Church’s earlier eagerness to accept the Duce

Question 19

Give a quote from Pope Pius XI made about M in 1929

Answer 19

‘He is a man sent by providence. He has brought God back to Italy, and Italy back to God’

Question 20

Why does it seem odd that the Pope would be so complementary about a man like M?

Answer 20

The fact that the Pope said this about M seems odd when we consider the fact that he was a former revolutionary socialist who described religion as ‘a malaise on the brain’, remained an atheist throughout his life, glorified war and used violence to achieve and maintain his power

Question 21

Why did M’s atheistic background not matter?

Answer 21

Despite this, M recognised the importance of the Church and saw it as important to gain its support

Question 22

What did many Italians see the settling of the Roman Question as?

Answer 22

M’s greatest achievement

Question 23

What was the major downside of the compromise with the Church?

Answer 23

However, the compromise with the church also limited M’s ability to attempt to create a new nation of committed fascists

Question 24

Give some statistics to show the extent of the influence the Church had on Italian people

Answer 24

Although over 90% of Italians claimed to be Catholic, their actual level of commitment varied. In the 1930s, it is estimated that only 5-10% of Italians took communion regularly: another 20% attended Church at least every Sunday and a further 50% considered themselves good Catholics

Question 25

Describe the impact it had on social life

Answer 25

The Church was deeply involved in most aspects of Italian life, influencing everything from high culture to morality. It contolled a network of strong educational, financial and welfare institutions

Question 26

Where was the Church especially influential and why?

Answer 26

The Church was especially influential in the countryside, where the peasants relied to their priest for new and his opinion of outside events

Question 27

Describe the relations between church and state when M first came to power

Answer 27

M made concilatory moves towards the Church at the beginning of the regime. This was part of his initial policy of favouring the social, economic and administrative elite to consolidate his regime. This can be seen as a continuation of the improvement of relations between church and state that had begun before WWI

Question 28

What is the major problem with fascism supporting the church and why did this not matter to M?

Answer 28

The big contradiction here is that a totalitarian regime by definition should not allow an alternative belief system. However, M saw winning the support of the incredibly powerful church as being worth this downside

Question 29

Why did M think settling the RQ would bring international prestige?

Answer 29

He also knew that the RCC encouraged people worldwide to look to Rome for leadership, which was a source of pride for Italians

An agreement with the Pope would boost the internation reputation of fascism

Question 30

Why was the Church willing to accept fascism despite ideological differences?

Answer 30

Although the Church worried about some aspects of fascism, its primary concern was socialism. M seemed preferable to the previous liberal state

Question 31

Describe the similarities between the Church and the regime

Answer 31

Fascism and Catholicism shared some attitudes, such as their desire for order, their views on women, discipline, respect for hierarchy, their acceptance of an infallible leader and their disdain for socialism, liberalism and materialism. Corporativism seemed similar to the Church’s stress on social harmony

Question 32

Why did the Church perhaps think that the regime would help its position?

Answer 32

If the regime could provide a stable authoritarian state, then there was reason to believe that Catholicism could flourish

Question 33

Describe the process of reconciliation up to 1929

Answer 33

Early progress on reconciliation was slow, but after three years of negotiations a formal agreement was reached

Question 34

Describe the early measures to gain Church support in 1923

Answer 34

Increased clerical salaries

Religious education reinstated in elementary schools

Crucifix restored in schoolrooms and courts

Question 35

Describe the main compromise within the 1929 Lateran Agreements

Answer 35

The Vatican City, made up of 109 acres in Rome, was made a sovereign state

The Pope recognised Rome as the Italian capital

Question 36

Describe the financial compensation received by the Church

Answer 36

The church was given around £30 million pounds plus £40 million pounds in state bonds as compensation for the land lost during unification. This made the Church the largest holder of state bonds

Question 37

List the main things that the Concordat did

Answer 37

Catholicism was recognised as the sole religion of the state

State veto over major church appointments

RE compulsory in secondary schools

Church marriages recognised by the state

Church control of divorce

The state accepted the existence of Catholic Action

Question 38

Briefly describe the post 1929 difficulties

Answer 38

1931 quarrel over Catholic Action

The Pope condemned some of M’s statements as heretical

In 1931, the Pope issued a critical encyclical

The Church criticised the state for its anti semitism in 1938

Question 39

What was CA?

Answer 39

Internation body set up by the RCC in 1863 to organise Catholic laity to defend Catholics and the Church

It had various sections, the most important of which were concerned with the youth

With the end of Catholic TUs, Catholic boy scouts and the PPI by the mid 1920s, CA was the only lay Catholic organisation left. Its position was formally recognised in the Concordat and it was declared apolitical

Question 40

How did the CA pose a problem for church regime relations?

Answer 40

However, its existence continued to be a source of tension with the regime due to its totalitarian ambitions

Had a membership of over one million by the 1930s and remained an obstacle to the full fascist mobilisation of Italians

Question 41

Describe the acts of superficial alliance between church and state

Answer 41

The basis of the Concordat was not challenged. The Church took part in the everyday life of Fascism. The Priests participated in ONB activities. For example, at the 1938 Campo Dux meeting, the mass began with the Fascist anthem, Giovinezza, then a call for the divine being to help M in his quest for an empire. The PNF secretary served as alter boy and at the elevation of the host 15,000 youths drew their bayonets. The ceremony ended with a prayer for the Duce

Question 42

What did Priests and party officials cooperate on?

Answer 42

Priests and party officials cooperated in campaigning against modern dancing, short skirts and decadent films

Question 43

What slogan stressed the unity between church and state?

Answer 43

‘for Pope and Duce’

Question 44

How did the Catholic hierarchy encourage support for the regime?

Answer 44

A Catholic journal urged Catholics to ‘go to the polls and give your vote to the government of M’

Question 45

How did the clergy support the regime?

Answer 45

Clergy gave fascist salutes, and their pastoral letters praised M

Question 46

What foreign policy campaign did the church support?

Answer 46

The Church welcomed the fascist crusades against heathenism and bolshevism in Abyssinia and Spain

Question 47

Why is all this official conciliation misleading?

Answer 47

However, beneath the official conciliation, there was some criticism on both sides. Some radical fascists considered the Concordat a betrayal of their aims. Some Priests were concerned with the Church’s close identity with the Fascist state

Question 48

What happened when the Archbishop of Milan

Answer 48

When the Archbishop of Milan openly praised fascism in 1930, 300 of his Priests circulated on open letter of protests saying good Catholics could not accept fascism

Question 49

Describe the first quarrel between church and state

Answer 49

. The regime thought that CA was extending its role into areas reserved for the state, and therefore closed down several of its branches. The Pope responded by criticising the regime in an encyclical printed in the papal newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, and in foreign newspapers. A compromise was reached that CA would just run strictly religious, educational and recreational activities (though not support) and would become more decentralised

Question 50

Describe the second quarrel

Answer 50

The second quarrel, over anti semitism, developed into a broader challenge of the nature of fascism. The Pope and the Priests publicly criticised the regime for infringing upon Christianity by banning marriage between Jews and Italians, as many of these Jews had converted to Christianity

Question 51

Why can it be argued that the 1929 Lateran Agreements were actually more helpful for the Church?

Answer 51

Although M politically benefitted from the agreement, which helped establish the broad consensus of the early 1930s, the church ultimately made more lasting gains. The church continued in its mission in its network of welfare, social and cultural institutions based on Christian rather than fascist principles, undermining the impact of fascist propaganda

Question 52

Describe the growth of the RCC in the 1930s

Answer 52

In the 1930s there was a considerable religious revival, with the numbers of church marriages, church schools and priests all increasing. The circulation of the Vatican newspaper ‘L’Osservatore Romano’, and the activities of CA also grew

Question 53

What did the CA provide for its members?

Answer 53

CA provided an alternative social environment for its one million members

Question 54

Describe the impact of FUCI

Answer 54

Its student’ federation, FUCI, helped the church emerge as a major political force with a new generation of leaders after the collapse of fascism

Question 55

Give an extract from a fascist text which equivocates the infallability of M with the Pope

Answer 55

Extract from a 1928 official text on fascist culture: ‘As there is only one official state religion which is the Catholic faith so, too, must their only be one political faith. Just as religious dogmas are not to be discussed because they are the revealed truths of God, so Fascist principles are not to be discussed because they have come from the mind of a genius: M

Question 56

What did M write about the respect the regime had for the Church?

Answer 56

Extract from fascism, doctrine and institutions by M (1934): ‘The fascist state is not indifferent to religious phenomena in general, nor does it maintain an attitude of indifference to Roman Catholicism, the special positive religion of Italians. The fascist state sees in religion one of the deepest spiritual manifestations, and for this reason it not only respects religion, but defends and protects it. The Fascist state does not seek, as bolshevism did, to efface God from the soul of man. Fascism respects the God of ascetics, saints and heroes, and it also respects God as conceived by the innocent and primitive heart of the people, the God to whom their prayers are raised

Question 57

List the things that M stood to gain the Concordat

Answer 57

Could present the Church and the regime as allies

Regime could gain international prestige

Catholic political youth organsations dissolved

Church helped the regime reach the Catholic rural masses

Church joined the consensus behind the new regime

Question 58

What did the Church stand to gain?

Answer 58

New Vatican state with full sovereign rights

An automous sphere, a virtual state within a state where it could develop its own institutions, provided they were non political

The would be a role for Catholic doctrine in the curriculum and on basic questions of morality

Question 59

What did Time Magazine say about the Concordat?

Answer 59

American Time Magazine assesses the Concordat, 1929: Talked about how it was obvious that the Pope was grateful to M. Pollsters estimated that Church supported for the regime had swung an extra one million votes in favour of the fascists, and that this had helped the regime achieve a 98% approval rating at the polls

Question 60

Give an extract from the 1931 encyclical by the Pope which explained why the RCC and fascism were incompatible

Answer 60

Extract from the June 1931 encyclical: Said that the conception of a state which monopolises the youth up until adult life cannot be reconciled by Catholic doctrine or the natural rights of the family. It is not possible for the Church to acccept that it must limit itself to the external practises of religion and that the rest of education belongs to the state. The Church has a universal and divine mandate to educate the young and oppose the regime’s efforts to monoplolise them for the sole benefit of a party based on an ideology that clearly resolves itself into a truly pagan worship of the state

Question 61

How can the Church be seen as complicit with the regime?

Answer 61

In some respects, the Church collaborated with and aided fascist rule. The Concordat greatly boosted the popularity of M

Question 62

How was the Concordat a double edged support for fascist rule?

Answer 62

However, although it may have helped consolidate his position as leader, it hindered his attempts to form a new nation of fascists. The strengthening of Catholicism in schools and the growth of CA meant that Italians encountered another perspective, which was sometimes similar to fascism’s (women, the family and anti-bolshevism) but sometimes different (respect for human life and militarism)

Question 63

What happened when the tension between church and state flared up?

Answer 63

At times this tension became public, with the Church criticising the regime and resisting its pressure

Question 64

What has been the consequence of this complexity for historians’ opinion?

Answer 64

This complexity has led historians to come up with different ideas about the extent of rivalry and collaboration

Question 65

What does Pollard stress?

Answer 65

Some, like Pollard, stress ‘the fundamental and philosophical incompatability between Catholicism and Fascism’

Question 66

What does Miccoli stress?

Answer 66

Others, like Miccoli, stress how their alliance was not ‘merely tactical’ but reflected an ‘essential agreement’

Question 67

Clark’s opinion

Answer 67

The pacts were a triumph for M. Negligable cost, huge benefits. By solving the Roman Question, he could count on admirations and international prestige

The Catholic Church was the greatest obstacle to setting up a totalitarian regime. All other forms of opposition (parliament, opposition parties, pressure groups and the media) could be smashed or weakened, but not the Church

Although the Church undoubtedly contributed to the 1926-38 fascist consensus, she was also a rival who was building up her strength

Question 68

Duggan

Answer 68

C Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, 1994

Resolving the Roman Question was a great political coup for M. Increased his personal prestige domestically and internationally. More importantly, it allowed fascism to realise what had previously been the liberal dream of using the Church as an instrument for creating mass public consent (Gentilini pact). However, reconciliation with the Church was bought at a high price. By conceding independence to CA, the regime surrendered any serious claim to monopoly of ideology

Question 69

Koon

Answer 69

Substantial collaboration, punctuated by periodic confrontations and continual tension. Church proved to be as tenacious a competitor as M had feared. Both sides paid the price for the 1929 conciliation. The regime had been forced to accept the church position in education and social life. The Lateran Agreements guaranteed the position of the Church in education and youth groups. These Catholic youth groups provided an alternative to fascist conformity. The most serious dispute in 1931 didn’t even lead to an open break. Fascism never succeeded in totally coopting the Church, but the Lateran Agreements at least stopped the Church from being a rallying point of organised anti-fascism

Question 70

Pollard

Answer 70

J Pollard, The Vatican and Italian Fascism, 1985

Given the ideological convergence between the Vatican and Italian Fascism, it is not surprising that the in the 1930s the Church was very active in its role as part of the bloc of consensus underpinning the regime

Question 71

Grew

Answer 71

To opponents of fascism, the Church seemed implicated in fascist policy, particularly during the Ethiopian War, where it expressed unrestrained support. Even the denunciations of particular fascist policies were expressed in temperate tones that seemed in significant contrast to the angry outbursts against the liberals. However, the Church did resist the persistent attacks on CA and formally denounced M’s anti-semitism in 1938. No opposition to complete totalitarianism was more formidable