The Clerical Response to a Totalitarian Political Religion
La Civiltà Cattolica and Italian Fascism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10074024 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jan Nelis (0000-0002-6876-0036, University of Ghent in Belgium, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 245-270 |
| Publication date | 2011-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022009410392406 |
| OpenAlex | W2049933840 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 1 |
This article offers a close reading of the discourse on Italian fascism within the authoritative Italian Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica. The author shows that, when confronted with the fascist movement, La Civiltà Cattolica made no moves to oppose the regime, instead positioning itself so as to negotiate with and accommodate the fascist rhetoric. This decision was driven in part by the close alignment between the politics of Catholicism and fascism, and further fostered by the absence of a viable alternative political power. The article also illustrates the manner in which Catholic intellectuals intuitively perceived some aspects of fascist totalitarianism and the ‘sacralization of politics’ as threatening, particularly when confronted with manifestations of what was termed ‘political heresy’, along with certain features of fascist associationalism. However, despite their concerns no explicit rupture between Church and regime ever eventuated; on the contrary, some accounts imply an intended merger, however unstable it may have proven, between the ‘religious’ and ‘totalitarian’ goals of both parties
Heresy · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Rhetoric · Sociology · Theology · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2020 (7) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |