Mussolini and the Catholic Church

1
Mussolini and the Catholic Church
Mussolini at the Lateran Palace for the signing
of the accord with the Vatican. Feb 20, 1929

• A marriage of convenience?

2

• Mussolini had to foster good relations with the
  Roman Catholic Church simply because, regardless
  of his dictatorship, the Roman Catholic Church
  was such a powerful institution in Italy.
• While Mussolini governed the political side of
  Italy, the Roman Catholic Church governed the
  spiritual side. In this sense, Mussolini could
  not afford to anger the Roman Catholic Church.

3
Early opposition

• As a young man, Mussolini had shared his fathers
  opinion of the Roman Catholic Church. Mussolini
  senior, disliked the power of the Church and the
  young Mussolini referred to priests as "black
  germs".
•  However, once in power after 1922, he had to be
  more guided. Mussolini had recognised this as
  early as 1920 when the fledgling future leader of
  Italy had said that the pope "represents 400
  million men scattered the world over.(this was)
  a colossal force."

4

• Once leader, Mussolini had to decide on whether
  to take on the power of the Roman Catholic Church
  in Italy or to work with it. He chose the latter.
  In this way, Italians did not have to have
  divided loyalties. Therefore, Mussolini worked to
  get the Roman Catholic Church to accept a Fascist
  state while he planned to offer the Roman
  Catholic Church what it wanted

5
Gaining credibility

• To gain credibility with the Roman Catholic
  Church, Mussolini had his children baptised in
  1923. In 1926, he had a religious marriage
  ceremony to his wife Rachele. Their first
  marriage in 1915 had been a civil ceremony.
  Mussolini closed down many wine shops and night
  clubs. He also made swearing in public a crime.

6
Family values

• One of the reasons why Mussolini pushed the idea
  that women should stay at home and look after the
  family while their husbands worked, was because
  this was an idea pushed by the Roman Catholic
  Church. Mussolini voiced his disapproval at the
  use of contraception - an identical stance to the
  Roman Catholic Church. Like the Roman Catholic
  Church, Mussolini also wanted divorce banned in
  Italy. By doing all of this, Mussolini was trying
  to bring the Roman Catholic Church onto his side
  to get its support and give added credibility to
  his government. However, the relationship was not
  always harmonious.

7
Education

• In particular, Mussolini and the Roman Catholic
  Church clashed over who should control education.
  To ensure that children grew up as good Fascists,
  Mussolini wanted the state to control this - as
  it did. However, the Roman Catholic Church felt
  that it should have this power. Both sides worked
  for a compromise. The attempt to settle this
  dispute started in 1926 and it took until 1929
  for agreements to be signed. These were the
  Lateran Treaties. They covered areas other than
  education.

8
Papal States

• The Papal States (the name given to land
  previously owned by the Roman Catholic Church in
  Italy) had lost all its land in the 1870
  unification of Italy. The Roman Catholic Church
  received 30 million in compensation in 1929 and
  the Church was given 109 acres in Rome to create
  a new papal state - the Vatican. The pope was
  allowed a small army, police force, post office
  and rail station. The pope was also given a
  country retreat called Castel Gandolfo.

9
Concordat

• Another part of the treaty was called the
  Concordat. This made the Roman Catholic faith the
  state religion - this was a fait accompli anyway.
  The pope appointed his bishops, though they had
  to receive the governments blessing. Religion
  had to be taught in both primary and secondary
  schools. The Roman Catholic Church was given full
  control of marriage.

10

• When these agreements were signed in 1929,
  Mussolinis popularity was at its highest. He had
  got what he wanted - the support from the members
  of the public who may not have supported the
  Fascists but who saw the Roman Catholic Church
  working with the Fascist government, and that by
  itself created a tacit acceptance of Mussolinis
  government.

11
Disagreement

• The major disagreement between Mussolini and the
  Church was in July 1938, when Mussolini
  introduced the Charter of Race which took away
  the Italian Jews right of Italian nationality.
  Italian Jews were not allowed to teach, they were
  not allowed to have state jobs, they were not
  allowed to be in the Fascist Party (though a
  number had since 1922!) and no Jew could work for
  a bank or insurance company. Jews were forbidden
  from marrying non-Jewish Italians and they were
  not allowed to join the army. These laws were so
  unpopular that the pope sent a letter of protest
  to Mussolini.

12
What steps did Mussolini take to secure the
support of the Church in the years 192125?

•  In this descriptive question you might
  consider
• 1. the abandonment of plans to confiscate Church
  lands,
• 2. anti-socialist rhetoric and activities,
• 3. and after his appointment into government, his
  measures on divorce, abortion, religious
  education, clerical salaries and the promise of a
  solution to the Roman question.

13

• Candidates can also refer to changes in his
  personal life, such as attending Church and the
  baptism of his children. In levels 1 and 2
  progression will be based on range and depth of
  relevant material, but for level 3 there will be
  explanatory links about how his actions secured,
  or were intended to secure the support of the
  Church.