Political Catholicism
Encyclopedia
Political catholicism is a political and cultural conception which promotes the ideas and social teaching of the Catholic Church (Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state...

) in public life. (See also Christian democracy
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...

.)

The beginning of the political catholicism in 19th century

As a program and a movement, political catholicism was started by Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n Catholics in the second half of the 19th century as a response to secular social concepts. The main reason was the attempt by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

 to limit the influence of Catholic Church, first in Prussia, and then in united Germany. That struggle is known in history as the Kulturkampf
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...

.

From Germany, political Catholic social movements spread in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

, especially in today's Austria, Ukraine
Christian Social Movement in Ukraine
The Christian Social Movement in Ukraine was a political movement that existed in Western Ukraine from the end of the 19th century until the 1930s.-Ideals:...

, Slovenia and Croatia
Croatian Catholic movement
Croatian Catholic movement is the name for the gathering of organized Catholic lay initiatives and associations, who acts in the first half of the 20th century in Croatia, as a response on increasing liberalism, with a new, aggressive approach, and on the phenomena of Church and religion lost the...

. Catholic Action
Catholic Action
Catholic Action was the name of many groups of lay Catholics who were attempting to encourage a Catholic influence on society.They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries that fell under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Italy, Bavaria, France, and...

 was the name of many groups of lay
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...

 Catholics who were attempting to encourage a Catholic influence on political society.

After the 1891 encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...

 Rerum novarum
Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. It was an open letter, passed to all Catholic bishops, that addressed the condition of the working classes. The encyclical is entitled: “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour”...

("Of new things") by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...

, political Catholic movements got a new impulse for development, and they spread the area of their involvement. With this encyclical, the Catholic Church expanded its interest in social, economical, political and cultural issues, and it called for a drastic conversion of Western society in the 19th century in the face of capitalist influences. Catholic believers, both lay and clergy alike, had a desire for active social and political engagement in order to deal with acute social problems according to Catholic Christian principles, as opposed to a purely secular approach.

Catholic movements in the 20th century

In the 20th century, Catholic political movements became very strong in Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Ireland, France and Latin America. What these movements had in common was a defense of the acquired rights of the Catholic Church (attacked by anticlerical politicians) and a defense of Christian faith and moral values (threatened by increasing secularization
Secularization
Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...

). Members of opposing schools of thought called such attempts clericalism
Clericalism
Clericalism is the application of the formal, church-based, leadership or opinion of ordained clergy in matters of either the church or broader political and sociocultural import...

.

These Catholic movements developed various forms of Christian democratic ideology. Many criticized unrestrained capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

 and instead promoted concepts of Christian socialism
Christian socialism
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology and the doctrine of the social gospel...

. Freemasons were seen mainly as enemies and vehement opponents of political catholicism. Special situation happened in Mexico, where rigid atheists ruled in 1920s and completely oppressed Church and Catholics, what led to open Christian revolution of 1926 to 1929, known as Cristero War
Cristero War
The Cristero War of 1926 to 1929 was an uprising and counter-revolution against the Mexican government in power at that time. The rebellion was set off by the strict enforcement of the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 and the expansion of further anti-clerical laws...

.

Some of the earliest important political parties were:
  • Conservative Catholic Party of Switzerland – 1848,
  • Catholic Party (Belgium)
    Catholic Party (Belgium)
    The first Catholic Party in Belgium was established in 1869 as the Confessional Catholic Party .-History:In 1852 a Union Constitutionelle et Conservatrice was founded in Ghent, in Leuven , and in Antwerp and Brussels in 1858, which were active only during elections...

     – 1869,
  • Centre Party (Germany)
    Centre Party (Germany)
    The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...

     – with origins in 1870,
  • Christian Social Party (Austria) – 1893,
  • Popular Liberal Action
    Popular Liberal Action
    The People's Liberal Action was a French political party during the French Third Republic that represented Catholic supporters of the Republic....

     in France - 1901,
  • General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses
    Algemeene Bond van RK-kiesverenigingen
    The General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses was a Dutch Catholic political party...

     (Netherlands
    Netherlands
    The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

    ) - 1904, transformed into the Roman Catholic State Party
    Roman-Catholic State Party
    Roman-Catholic Political Party was a Dutch Catholic Christian-Democratic political party. The party was founded in 1926 as a continuation of the General League. In 1945 the party became the Catholic People's Party .-History:...

     in 1926,
  • Slovak People's Party
    Slovak People's Party
    The Slovak People's Party was a Slovak right-wing party and was described as a fascist and...

     - 1918,
  • Italian People's Party
    Italian People's Party (1919–1926)
    The Italian People's Party was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy.It was founded in 1919 by Luigi Sturzo, a Catholic priest. The PPI was backed by Pope Benedict XV to oppose the Italian Socialist Party...

     – 1919,
  • Polish Christian Democratic Party
    Polish Christian Democratic Party
    Polish Christian Democratic Party , was a political party of Polish right wing christian democracy faction existing in the first year of the Second Polish Republic. It leader and main activist was Wojciech Korfanty....

     - 1919,
  • Bavarian People's Party
    Bavarian People's Party
    The Bavarian People's Party was the Bavarian branch of the Centre Party, which broke off from the rest of the party in 1919 to pursue a more conservative, more Catholic, more Bavarian particularist course...

     - 1919,
  • National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty
    National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty
    National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty or National League for the Defense of Religious Freedom was a religious civil rights organization formed in March 1925 in Mexico which played a crucial role in the Cristero War of 1926-1929...

     in Mexico - 1924.


Most of these parties in Europe joined together in White International (1922).

In addition to political parties, Catholic/Christian trade unions were created, which fought for worker's rights: the earliest include:
  • Typographic Workers Trade Union
    Typographic Workers Trade Union
    Typographic Workers Trade Union was a trade union of typographers in Spain. Founded in 1897, it was the first Catholic trade union in the country.-Sources:...

     in Spain (1897);
  • Solidarity
    Solidarity (South African trade union)
    Solidarity is a South African trade union that negotiates on behalf of its members and attempts to protect workers' rights. Although the union is often involved in issues of policial import, it does not align or formally affiliate itself with any political party. Solidarity is a trade union within...

     in South Africa (1902);
  • Confederation of Christian Trade Unions
    Confederation of Christian Trade Unions
    -External links:* Official site....

     in Belgium (1904);
  • Catholic Workers Union in Mexico (1908);
  • International Federation of Christian Trade Unions (IFCTO), in The Hague in 1920 (which was preceded by the International Secretariat of Christian Trade Unions
    International Secretariat of Christian Trade Unions
    The International Secretariat of Christian Trade Unions was an international organisation of Christian trade unions. It was formed in Zürich August 2-5, 1908, by representatives of 8 European countries. The Secretariat was the fore-runner of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions....

     founded in Zürich in 1908, led through the World Confederation of Labour
    World Confederation of Labour
    The World Confederation of Labour was an international labour organization founded in 1920 and based in Europe. Totalitarian governments of the 1930s repressed the federation and imprisoned many of its leaders, limiting operations until the end of World War II...

     (WCL) to today's International Trade Union Confederation
    International Trade Union Confederation
    The International Trade Union Confederation is the world's largest trade union federation. It was formed on November 1, 2006 out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour...

     (ITUC));
  • French Confederation of Christian Workers (1919);
  • Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions
    Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions
    The Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions , abbreviated to LCGB, is a Luxembourgish trade union confederation. As its statutes state, it abides by the 'principles of Christian social teachings'....

     (1921);
  • Young Christian Workers
    Young Christian Workers
    The Young Christian Workers is an international organization founded by Rev. Joseph Cardijn in Belgium as the Young Trade Unionists; the organization adopted its present name in 1924. Its French acronym, JOC, gave rise to the then widely-used terms Jocism and Jocist...

     in Belgium (1924);
  • Catholic Worker Movement
    Catholic Worker Movement
    The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities of Catholics and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ." One of its guiding principles is hospitality towards those on...

     in the USA (from 1933).


After World War II, more unions were formed, including:
  • Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions
    Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions
    The Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori is an Italian trade union association representing various Roman Catholic-inspired groups linked with Christian Democracy....

     (from 1950);
  • Christian Trade Union Federation of Germany (from 1959);
  • Christian Workers' Union
    Christian Workers' Union
    The Christian Workers' Union is a trade union in Belize. It was founded in 1963. As of 2006, CWU claimed a membership of 2,500. It was a member of the International Trade Union Confederation, but withdrew in November 2009....

     in Belize (from 1963);
  • Solidarity in Poland (from 1980).


Until the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

, the Church did not tend to completely accept the model of modern democracy and its expansion into social and economic realms because it was wary of anticlerical socialistic tendencies. When Catholic social activists became too extreme in social conflicts, the Church hierarchy tried to stop their excesses; occasions of this included the Worker-priest
Worker-Priest
Worker-priest was a missionary initiative by the French Catholic Church in particular for priests to take up work in such places as car factories to experience the everyday life of the working class...

 movement in France in the 1940s and 1950s, and liberation theology
Liberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...

 in Latin America in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. But some movements were strongly supported by the Church, likewise Catholic Social Studies Movement in Australia in the 1940s and 1950s, from which National Civic Council has developed.

Catholic clergy and lay activists, prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, often tended to support far-right leaders such Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

 and António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...

, as well as the military regimes in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

. As a result, many workers involved in the labor movement joined social democratic and communist parties, which were sometimes secular and called for revolution against "old" values, including religion and the Church.

In the newest time, after Second World War, Christian engagement in politics became weaker and even "Demo-Christian" parties by name lost some of their Christianity. Stronger Christian involvement in Europe on the beginning of 21st century show some new and small parties, such are for example those joined in the European Christian Political Movement
European Christian Political Movement
The European Christian Political Movement, abbreviated to ECPM, is a political party at European level that unites national parties from across Europe that share Christian democratic politics. The member parties are generally more socially conservative and Eurosceptic than the European People's...

.

Sources

  • Political Catholicism in Europe 1918-45, New York 2004 / London 2005, ISBN 0-203-65539-7, ISBN 0-203-61906-4
  • Catholic politics in Europe, 1918-1945, "Routledge" 1997, ISBN 0415064015, ISBN 9780415064019

See also

  • Distributism
    Distributism
    Distributism is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Catholic thinkers as G. K...

  • Third way (centrism)
    Third way (centrism)
    The Third Way refers to various political positions which try to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of right-wing economic and left-wing social policies. Third Way approaches are commonly viewed from within the first- and second-way perspectives as...

  • Christianity
    Christianity
    Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

  • Social justice
    Social justice
    Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...

  • Christianity and politics
    Christianity and politics
    The relationship between Christianity and politics is a historically complex subject and a frequent source of disagreement throughout Church history, and in modern politics between the Christian right and Christian left.-Foundations:...

  • Corporatism
    Corporatism
    Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...

  • Solidarity
    Solidarity
    Solidarity is a Polish trade union federation that emerged on August 31, 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first non-communist party-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country. Solidarity reached 9.5 million members before its September 1981 congress...

  • Catholic Church and politics in the United States
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