Fascism and the Catholic Church Flashcards
What was the first programme of the PNF which put them at odds with the Catholic church?
the Confiscation of all Church Property (1919)
What made Mussolini want to work closely with the Catholic church?
Mussolini saw that fascism must compromise in order to secure support and religion was an important pilar in Italian society
How did the Pope Benedict XV dying facilitate the rise of fascism?
His successor Pope Pius XI was very concerned abput the rise of Communism and wanted to work to stop Communism from becoming a mainstream movement in Italy.
What laws did Mussolini bring in that were beneficial to the Catholic Church?
Reintroducing religious education in schools and restoring crucifixes to public buildings
What other laws did Mussolini pass in order to appease the Catholic church?
He banned freemasonry, anticlerical journals and dropped proposed policies on taxing church property
How did these laws pay off for the PNF and Mussolini?
Pope Pius XI endorsed the PNF rather than his own party and asked the PPI leader Sturzo to resign
What were key aspects of the Lateran Pact?
- The Pope agreed to recognise the Italian state and its possession of Rome and the old Papal states and in return the state recognised the Pope’s control over the Vatican City and the Pope received £30 million for surrendering his claim to Rome
- Catholicism was recognised as the sole religion in Italy
- Catholic youth groups were able to to continue as long as they did not carry out any political activity and Catholic Action was the only non-fascist group allowed to continue
- the state would pay the salary of the clergy
- there would be no divorce without the consent of the church
How did Mussolini financially help the church?
he saved the nearly bankrupt Bank of Rome from going into liquidation
How did the church oppose to the Fascist ideas of gender roles?
The Church did not like the involvement of girls in fascist youth organisations and did not like the fascist attitude to prostitution
How did the Pope feel about Mussolini
s antisemitic rhetoric?
The Pope was openly critical of Mussolini in 1938 when the Fascists banned marriage between Jews and ‘pure’ Italians as this went against the Churches right to allow jews to convert to Catholicism.
How did the Church endorse the Fascist regime?
It promised that that it would mobilise support for the Fascists in a plebiscite called by Mussolini in 1929 and Catholic Action appealed to voters to vote ‘yes’ in support of the Lateran Pact
How much did Catholic youth organisations grow?
They grew in the 1930s and had 388,000 members by 1939
How did the Church respond to Mussolini’s ideas about how the state should be run and how people should be in relation to them?
The church felt strongly enough to assert its position on the Non Abbiamo Bisogno and the Pope condemned fascism’s attempt to steal children from Christ so that they could worship the state alone
How did the church feel about the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935?
the church supported the invasion
