The Popes Against the Protestants by Kevin Madigan;

Author:Kevin Madigan;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Resistance, Respite—and Retreat (1935)

Sometime in 1935 or 1936 the Sacred Congregation of the Council compiled a document entitled Proselitismo Protestante in Italia.1 Although this pamphlet had the same title as that written by Borgongini-Duca, its purpose and tone were much different from those of the one put out by the Apostolic Nuncio. The aim of the document was to assess the impact of defensive actions taken by the Catholic church over the course of four years. It is divided into twenty chapters, one for each province of the country, and it evaluates every parish in every diocese in the country. By the date of its publication, the anti-Protestant campaign had begun, from the point of view of the Sacred Congregation, to show impressive, encouraging results. In general, the author of the pamphlet is, while occasionally cautious, pleased and at times upbeat. The document is valuable not only as an accurate portrayal of the situation of Protestant communities in Italy, showing which were losing numbers (in dimunizione) and which few were gaining (in aumento). It also opens a window into what means of resistance to Protestantism were used and with what effectiveness. The document gives a glimpse as well into which provinces seemed quiet and which still had active proselytizing; and, finally, which social groups were being especially aggressively recruited. Many modes of resistance were adopted, according to recommendations put out by Borgongini and others at the Vatican. Cumulatively, they had, if ephemerally, quite a devastating effect on Protestant presence and proselytizing in Italy. At the same time, as this news, heartening to the Sacred Congregation, was being received, disheartening reports on popular ignorance, priestly poverty, and priestly defections were arriving at the Vatican. This reflected a pattern that persisted throughout the 1930s: cheering news was rarely unmixed with reports that demoralized many Vatican clerics and dejected the pope.

The crisis of Catholic Action having passed, the compilers of the report were, without question, most pleased with the impressive achievements of Catholic Action. This gratified Pope Pius. As is well known, the negotiations pertaining to the Lateran Accords and the history of the three years that ensued were dominated by conflict over Catholic Action. Though organized primarily for “recreational and educational activities having a religious purpose,” Catholic Action was a willing and indeed eager instrument of the pope. De Felice probably went too far in suggesting that Catholic Action had imagined that its own ruling class would become successors to the fascist leaders.2 Nonetheless, there is no doubt but that Pius’s vision of the Catholic restoration of Italy included the revival of Catholic influence in the domains of public morality, education, youth, labor, and, as Scoppola has put it, helping the pope to Catholicize and clericalize the fascist regime.3 In the 1930s this meant that the Christian army that Catholic Action imagined itself to be would be used as a bulwark against Protestant penetration—in the same way that Italian politicians would use it, after the war, against the threat of communism.

Catholic Action is credited with having been effective from north to south.

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