Mussolini's relationship with the catholic church

Question 1

Why was mussolini’s anger towards the church furthered by the events of the First World War?

Answer 1

• Pope Benedict’s XV’s attempts to end the first world war through the peace note of aug 1917 as made mussolini believe it helped spread pacifism and defeatism

Question 2

What did the first programme of fasci call for?

Answer 2

• it called for the consfication of all church property

Question 3

How did the programme change?

Answer 3

may 1920: mussolini declared that Catholicism could be used as a political force that would drive Italian unity

Question 4

Who was Benedict XV replaced with?

Answer 4

Cardinal Achille ratti

Question 5

How did ratti view fascism?

Answer 5

• he was concerned with the communist threat in italy and believed that the fascsits would was the only means by which italy could be saved

Question 6

How did mussolini respond to ratti’s positive views?

Answer 6

• religious education was reintroduced into italian state schools
• crucifixes were restored to public buildings
• priests had an increase in their pay
• banned freemasonary and other anticlerical journals
• baptised his three children in a Catholic Church

Question 7

How did this close relationship with the church help to undermine the ppi?

Answer 7

pope pius xi put his support behind the pnf
- 1923 pope ordered the ppi leader Luigi sturzo to resign and called on the party to support the pnf

Question 8

When was the lateran pact signed and what were the three sections?

Answer 8

• 11 feb 1929
• three sections: treaty, a financial convention and a concordat

Question 9

list the key aspects of the treaty

Answer 9

• a solution to the territorial problems by providing a sovereign state of 44 hectares of land the state of the Vatican City to be controlled by the pope
• a financial convention - provided the pope with 750 million lire and 1000 state bonds as compensation for the loss of his territories
• catholicism recognised as the sole religion of italy and granted privileges to the church
• catholic youth groups allowed to continue as long as they did not carry out any political activities

Question 10

Why was the lateran pact a success for mussolini?

Answer 10

• the man who had finally solved Italy’s troubling problem that had plagued church-state relations for over 50 relations
• cemented his consolidation of power

Question 11

Why was it a success for the catholic church?

Answer 11

• they could now extend their role and influence throughout Italian life
• re-entry into education - religious revival as the number of catholic marriages and school increased

Question 12

What was a plebiscite used for and when was it held?

Answer 12

• a means for mussolini to claim a broad consensus for his rule as Italian citizens could simply approve or reject a list of candidates from the pnf
• 12 march 1929

Question 13

How did the Catholic Church show its support?

Answer 13

Catholic action appealed to voters to vote yes in the plebiscite

Question 14

How many voters participated in the plebiscite and by what percent was the fascist list of candidates approved by?

Answer 14

8.63 million
98% of the vote

Question 15

What was the main area of confrontation between catholic and the state?

Answer 15

catholic action’s youth organisation
- rival youth organisation for the fascists that has 250,000 members

Question 16

Why did the conflict between the youth groups became a political issue?

Answer 16

• changes in pnf leadership with Giovanni giurati becoming party secretary and Carlo scorza given responsibility of the fascist youth organisations

Question 17

What did the new leaders accuse the catholic action of?

Answer 17

• organising sport that were prohibited under the concordat and attempting to form trade unions

Question 18

How were the catholic action groups shut down and how did the pope react?

Answer 18

• shut down using police violence and police raids
• pope responded with a strong encyclical entitled ‘we have no need’ - in it the pope argued that fascism’s ideal that youth belonged entirely to the state could not be reconciled with being a catholic

Question 19

What was the deal that mussolini and the pope came to in the summer of 1931?

Answer 19

• catholic action youth groups could be reinstated but were not allowed to organise sporting activities and had to confine themselves to recreational and educational aspects that were strictly religious

Question 20

When did mussolini visit the pope and what did they agree on?

Answer 20

feb 1932
- confirmed their mutual view on societal and gender values and foreign policy towards the Soviet Union and communism

Question 21

What elements did the church and state disagree on?

Answer 21

• girls involvement in the physical activities of the fascist youth organisations which the church worried to contrary to public decency
• fascist attitude to prostitution - viewed visits to the brothel as a natural part of young male culture

Question 22

What was a more serious issue that caused tension between the church and the state?

Answer 22

• 1938: church was concerned with mussolini’s growing attacks on Italy’s Jews population and the adoption of the anti-semetic legislation –> conflicted with the concordat as jews could convert to catholicism through marriage