The Italian state: no longer Catholic, no longer Christian

Church--state relations in Italy have concerned the role of the Catholic Church in the failure of successive regimes to consolidate themselves and a triangular relationship involving the Christian Democrat (DC) party between 1943 and 1994. Despite a historic ambivalence about Christian Democracy, the church supported the party not least because of its concern about the challenge of the Communist Party. By the 1970s, the church was engaged in redefining its position vis-a-vis the state, leading to the renegotiation of the 1929 concordat in 1984. The demise of the DC in 1994 finally broke the myth of Catholic political unity.
The church-state relationship has been a central theme of Italian historiography. Two themes in particular can be highlighted: the role played by the Catholic Church in the failure of successive [...]