Stéphane Mourlane

 

The Lateran accords, signed on February 11, 1929 by Cardinal Gaspari, State Secretary of the Holy See, and Mussolini, the Italian head of government, were now both the legal framework and the symbol of the straight relationships between the Church and Italy.

Since the Unification of Italy to which the Pope IX opposed, and in 1870, the annexation of Rome that became the capital of the new kingdom in 1871, relations between the State and the Holy See worsened terribly. The Holy See rejected "Law of Guarantees" that was adopted in 1871 by the Italian Parliament, and which made the Pope an Italian subject while recognizing some of his privileges. The papal wrath was expressed in particular through the Non Expedit which urged Italian Catholics not to participate in the political life of their country. Despite some relaxation, the Roman question prevented the normalization of relations between the two States in a country where the population had a deep commitment to the Church.

 

Before coming to power, Mussolini, whose socialist past was fiercely anticlerical, understood that to attend his political purpose, he had to make a reconciliation with the Church. In order to attach Catholics to Fascism and to profit his nationalist and imperialist policy of universality of Rome, the religious capital, he strenghtened the relaxed relations, after his accession to power in 1922, and adopted measures in the advantage of the Italian church, such as the introduction of the Catholic religion in schools in 1923. As for the Holy See, Pope Pius XI, who watched the rise of Fascism without opposing as Archbishop of Milan, considered the regime of Mussolini a useful bulwark against Bolshevism, the main enemy of the Church. Since 1923, secret talks were therefore made to achieve the signing of an agreement.

The Lateran Accords had three aspects. It was first of all a political treaty that regulates definitively the problematic Roman issue: Italy recognized the independence and sovereignty of the Holy See and the Vatican State was officially founded. Its territory covered an area of 0.44 km2 and a number of buildings in Rome had an extraterritorial status. A second aspect concerned a financial agreement which provided that the State payed 750 million Italian Liras in cash and one billion Liras in an Italian annuity of 5% to compensate the dammages done to the Holy See. Finally, the third aspect was the arrangement that regulated the civil and religious relations between the Church and the Italian State. Catholicism became the official religion. Catholic marriages and Church’s judgments in matrimonial matters took civil effect while ecclesiastical juridictions were recognized as spiritual and disciplinary. The apostate priests could not apply for public employment. Another key aspect of the agreement was that the Catholic religious education became mandatory in all school levels. In return, the bishops must take an oath of allegiance to the Italian State, while the rules of delimitation of dioceses were negociated. These agreements, particularly well received by the public, were certainly serving the popularity of Mussolini who was awarded the status of providential man by the pope. Only the question of the management of the institution remained a stumbling block. The goal of totalitarian Fascism could not indeed be satisfied with the influence of the Church through the Catholic Action among the youth in particular. However, the measures taken during the 1930s to contain the activity of Catholic Action never questioned the Conciliation again.

 

The Lateran accords even survived the fall of the Fascist regime. The political domination of the Christian Democracy in Republican Italy has obviously offered a favorable environment. Christian Democrats supported the integration of the agreements in the Constitution which came into force in 1948 (Article 7). The approach was supported by the Communist Party that was aware of the need to respect the public opinion (and its electorate) and that was keen not to threaten the democratic process. Even while proclaiming the equality of all religions before the law (Article 9), the constitution, under "the Catholic hegemony" over the political life, promoted a confessionalisation of the State that remained particularly silent in the 1950s. Since then, the secularization of society has led to consider a revision of the Concordat relations. The Constitution provided that the revision of the Article 7 did not require a constitutional revision but only an agreement between the Church and the State. No less than seven proposed revisions were developed between 1967 and 1983. It was not until the Socialist Bettino Craxi came to power that negociations were achieved in 1984. The new agreement signed on February 18 at the Villa Madama in Rome recognized freedom of worship: the Catholic religion became no longer the only religion of the Italian State, the teaching of the Catholic religion became optional and the exclusive jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts of marriage came to an end. In addition, the remuneration of the clergy was provided partly by the tax in a portion of 8/1000, for which the taxpayer choosed the assignment in the social and humanitarian field. Despite the sacrifices of the Church in this Agreement, the very majority share of this tax (between 80 and 90%) it received proved it had maintained its influence on the Italian society.

 

Gabriele De Rosa (a cura di), Storia dell’Italia religiosa, vol. III : L’età contemporanea, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1995.

Carlo Arturo Jemolo, Chiesa e Stato in Italia dalla unificazione ai giorni nostri, Torino, Einaudi, 1977.

Franco Garelli, Religione e chiesa in Italia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1991.

Sergio Romano, La foi et le pouvoir. Le Vatican et l’Italie de Pie IX à Benoît XVI, Paris, Buchet-Chastel, 2007.