University of Münster

Faculty Member, Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics"

Other Affiliations: University of Münster, Exzellenzcluster "Religion und Politik"
University of Münster, Historisches Seminar
University of Perugia, Studi Storici
Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Studi Storici e Geografici

Dr. Dr. phil.

Thesis Title: My actual Projekt: Political Modernity and the Catholic Church in Italy's 'first republic': The Political and Cultural Debate on the Amendment of the Concordat

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*** Extended german Version: http://www.uni-muenster.de/Religion-und-Politik/forschung/projekte/a13.html ***

(A13) Political Modernity and theCatholic Church in Italy’s “First Republic”: The Political and Cultural Controversy about the Amendment of the Concordat


Project A13’s point of origin is the observation that the scientific reception of the prolonged controversy about the amendment of the concordat between the Italian State and the Vatican, as well as the process of coming to terms with it, was lacking a systematic investigation into the diversity of cultural, political, ideological and theological perspectives. Thus, the most recent studies also mainly centre on the legal dimensions of the reform of the concordat or on the parliamentary and diplomatic history of the amendment.

The project, however, focuses research on society’s mesolevel, in particular. The amendment of the concordat (1948-1984) forms the backdrop for the systematic analysis of the issues around “religion and politics” in the Italian Republic from its foundation until 1984.

Apart from investigating the repercussions of the imperfectly devised republican religious-constitutional framework (with regard to, for example, the freedom of religion and conscience), the investigation of the political, theological as well as civil and social reflection on the issue of “amendment of the concordat” is central. Among other things, the investigation is to show how the spectrum between criticism and approval of the concordat changed and differentiated in the 1960s and 1970s in Italy.

In the “post council” years, the reflection on the amendment of the concordat reveals itself as a variation of an existing debate, and one going beyond it, about laïcité both as a civil political and a denominational value. Beyond the institutional political actors, the protagonists of the controversy were not only the activists of the Partito Radicale, the communists, socialists and anticlericals, but also the new social movements of the “long 70s” as well as a range of autonomous (for example, also Catholic) groups which were critical of the parties and church hierarchies.

How is the reciprocal legitimation and influence of the state and the Catholic Church interpreted? How are the Catholic Church’s norm and value requirements and their influence on civil society’s social and legal provisions received? What is the significance of the republican institutions’ laïcité in this?

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