Origins of Christian Democracy (Catholic non-papal tradition) II.

Introduction

Most of the literature concerning Christian democracy focuses on the movement’s rise, from the end of the Second World War until the 1980s. They are right in claiming that this period is worth deep investigation, including the political leaders, political parties, and political concepts. Nevertheless, while most representatives of Christian democratic leaders and parties gained power after 1945, the political ideas which became influential in shaping their worldview were already grounded by the middle of the 20th century. Following the line of thought with our former article entitled the Forgotten Origins of Christian Democracy published in the Hungarian Conservative, the intellectual foundations of Christian democracy will be highlighted.[1] The focus will be on the Catholic non-papal tradition in the first half of the 20^th century. After some general remarks on the status of the Christian democratic movement in this era, I introduce some significant concepts established by the Italian Catholic priest and politician Luigi Sturzo and the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain.

Fundamental changes, authors, and concepts

Initially, the papal encyclical, Rerum Novarum, issued by Leo XIII in 1891, is considered the first systemic and powerful answer of Roman Catholicism to the social question. Also, it was a significant step towards Christian democracy. Yet, as we have suggested before[2], at the beginning of the 20th century, it was not clear whether it was a political or a Church movement. While the Vatican – in the papal Non Expedit - rejected giving a political meaning to the term “Christian democracy” and forbade Italian citizens to exercise some of their political rights (e.g., voting and being elected), several movements around Europe began to evolve.

In Italy, it was Luigi Sturzo who founded the Partito Popolare Italiano (Italian Popular Party), while in France, Marc Sangnier led the Young Republic. In Germany, the Centre Party became a significant element of the Weimar government, while in Austria, the Christian Social party thrived. Margot Lyon writes that “Czechoslovakia, Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary all had Christian-democratic parties, as did Switzerland and Spain”.[3] Lyon also emphasises that Christian democratic parties were in relative isolation; they only began to coordinate activities (and later called attention to the dangers of freedom and democracy) after the International Secretariat of the Democratic Parties of Christian Inspiration was founded in 1925, in Paris. The member parties were from all around Europe, and the initiative later became the base of a now worldwide organisation, the Centrist Democrat International (between 1982 and 1999, it used to be called Christian Democrat International).[4] 

Naturally, between the two wars, there were significant differences between the proponents of political Catholicism: for instance, in Portugal, Austria, and Spain, authoritarian tendencies gained support from European Catholicism,[5] while it was only in France, Belgium and the Netherlands where Christian democracy could freely survive until the end of the 1930s. Christian democracy had already become a democratic phenomenon by these years, a political movement mainly based on the working class.[6] While this gradual change resulted from complex historical events we cannot investigate in-depth, two authors will be introduced who significantly influenced the Christian democratic ideology and movement: Luigi Sturzo and Jacques Maritain.   

Luigi Sturzo (1871-1959)

Sturzo was born in 1871 in Sicily. Like most of his brothers and sisters, he chose ecclesial life and was ordained a priest in 1894. The young Sturzo had taught philosophy and theology in seminary first, then went to Rome to acquire a doctorate in Divinity from the Gregorian University in 1898 and an equivalent diploma in Thomism at the Academy of Thomist Philosophy. First, he was more interested in theoretical questions and Christian authors like Thomas Aquinas than practical, social questions.[7] However, while studying in Rome, he “became caught up in the cultural fervour of young Catholics of the time and was an enthusiastic supporter of Pope Leo XIII, author of Rerum Novarum.”[8] He criticised the concept of the liberal state, its centralism and the lack of representing South Italy in policy-making.[9]

It is also clear that Sturzo followed the grave quarrel between Pope Pius X and the young Christian democrats, which finally led to the papal dissolution of the Opera Dei Congressi and Romolo Murri's excommunication in 1905. Sturzo knew Murri and the new movement and was disappointed by the pope’s decision. He gave voice to it in a letter[10] written from his hometown, Caltagirone, where he took a local political position as Vice-Mayor from 1905 to 1920. By this time, Sturzo was already socially attentive towards the lower classes and began to organise the community. He established associations like the Workers’ and Farmer’s Association, more like a practical organisation aiming at solving everyday problems, educating members on their rights, and how to exercise them. However, in his view, these rights stemmed from being a human and a Christian and not from being a particular class member; class consciousness and class opposition were not stressed.[11] Sturzo also fought against a government order that aimed at disbanding La Croce di Constantino, a newspaper founded and edited by the Catholic and Socialist Workers’ Association to spread their social views and educate the masses.

The Sicilian priest expanded his knowledge during this time by reading and hearing several sources, yet one of the most critical impacts came from Guiseppe Toniolo, professor of economics from Pisa. The perspective of Toniolo was to replace mediate and incidental solutions with a radical one related to Christian democracy. He proposed that “the mass-movement of modern society, in all its dimensions, economic, social, political is a Christian phenomenon and only upon a Christian basis can the problems of modern society be met and its constitutive forces directed. Integration, consistency, and unity were marks of his thought.” Sturzo explicitly called himself a “true disciple” of Toniolo.[12] 

Yet, the significant breakthrough, the emergence of a serious Christian democratic political party on the Italian national level, came just after the First World War. The influence Sturzo exerted before and during the War in withdrawing the Non Expedit had not been in vain. In December 1918, the Pope indicated that he would not prohibit the formation of a Catholic political party.[13] In January 1919, the Partito Popolare Italiano (PPI) was established. Naturally, Sturzo was among the founders and became its first political secretary. The name did not include the label “Catholic”, referring to its independence from ecclesiastical authorities,[14] but also because of distancing themselves from Catholic Clericals and following the idea that “religion should not be made the basis of political divisions”.[15] Sturzo underlined that the term “Catholic” and “party” “are antithetical … Catholicism means religion and therefore universality, whereas the party means politics and therefore division.”[16]

In the first general election, in November 1919, the party received about 20% of the mandates and became the second largest force in parliament. By this, they became the critical components of coalition bargains and government politics. However, since the beginning of the 1920s, Fascists – against whom Sturzo led fierce verbal attacks – started gaining power rapidly. Finally, the PPI was dissolved, Sturzo was exiled first to London, then to the United States in 1940. Although the Italian priest and politician had to experience the common sorrow and loneliness of emigrants, he received attention.[17] Naturally, many aspects could be highlighted from Sturzo’s exile, yet now, only one notion will be mentioned, the idea of popularism.

Researcher of Christian democracy Carlo Invernizzi Accetti underlines that Sturzo “can be considered the intellectual founder of the doctrine of popularism.”[18] Popularism is based on the idea that the human person is intrinsically a social entity.[19] On the first party congress of the PPI, Sturzo proclaimed: “The title ‘popular party’ represents the synthesis of our thought, encapsulating its content and marking its distinctiveness … For, in the concept of the people we find a specific form of substantial integration and national unity, of freedom, joined with organisation, of political strength and moral values, which characterize [our political project].”[20] It is clear that for Sturzo, the well-being of the people – and especially of the lower class – was crucial and he treated the “people” a notion that transcends material aspects. For him, the term was inclusive; the “Popular Party” also meant that they would like to represent the whole society, not just a part of it.[21] Nevertheless, popularism was a distinctive feature of other European Christian democratic parties after the Second World War. This original and moral idea was also practical from a political aspect since from around the 1950/60s, the mass parties were replaced by catch-all parties who began to address all social classes and groups to maximise their votes. 

Sturzo returned to Italy after the War in 1946 and founded the successor of the PPI, the party Democraziana Christiana (DC, Christian Democratic Party), which later became the Italian Popular Party. With Alcide de Gasperi among its members, the DC became one of the vital forces in Italian politics and European integration. Before his death in 1959, Sturzo founded Luigi Sturzo Institute[22] in 1951 and was appointed senator for life in 1952.

Jacques Maritain (1882-1973)

Maritain was born in 1882 in Paris as a descendant of a protestant family. He studied philosophy and natural sciences at the Sorbonne, where he met his later wife, Raïssa Oumansoff. After being disappointed by the limits of scientism, they took a vow to commit suicide in a year if they cannot find answers for the meaning of life. Famous French poet and religious thinker Charley Péguy advised them to attend the lectures of Henri Bergson.[23] The lectures opened their eyes to the sense of the “Absolute”; they decided not to commit suicide and married in 1904; two years later, they converted to Catholicism.[24]

Although Maritain began to study biology in Heidelberg, the significant shift was triggered by another source. In 1907, Raïssa fell ill, and during her recovery, their spiritual advisor, a Dominican friar, recommended St. Thomas Aquinas for her to read. She was so pleased that she recommended it then to her husband. This “meeting” changed Maritain’s life; he wrote: “Thenceforth, in affirming to myself, without chicanery or diminution, the authentic value of the reality of our human instruments of knowledge, I was already a Thomist without knowing it…When several months later I came to the Summa Theologiae, I would construct no impediment to its luminous flood.”[25] In short, Maritain became not just a follower of Aquinas and a researcher of his work for decades but also an influential representative of Neo-Thomism (or Neo-Scholasticism), an immense tradition in Christian thought. This wave of thought has been crucial since they established a ground for natural right thinking and personalism; both are essential features in Christian democratic thought.[26] 

According to Maritain, “Natural law, or natural right, is nothing more than... an order or disposition that human reason can discover, and according to which the human will must act in order to attune itself with the necessary ends of the natural order.”[27] In this order, humans have a unique role and a special characteristic, a human dignity which stems from the fact that they were made to the image of God. The existence of human dignity also results in the fact that human beings possess natural and inalienable rights, such as the right to life, freedom of religion and conscience and political rights. It is not by accident that, after the Second World War, Maritain played a crucial role in the making of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although the French philosopher was striving to find a proper role for Catholicism in the modern world and politics and made serious efforts to trace back values which are the basis of democracy (like human dignity, equality, separation of Church and state, and the notion of progress) to its Christian roots[28], it should not be forgotten that – as Almond underlines – he shared the view that “salvation of souls and the glory of God are the highest ends, and worldly values have a secondary and instrumental importance.”[29]

From 1913, Maritain began teaching modern philosophy at the Institute Catholique in Paris; and from around the 1920s, he became interested in social issues. The range of topics Maritain dealt with is extensive; it contains, among others, Thomas Aquinas, religion and culture, Christian philosophy, Descartes, philosophy of science and epistemology, and political philosophy. The latest includes Christianity and Democracy and the Man and the State.[30] From the 1930s until 1960, Maritain taught at several American universities (including Princeton University, University of Chicago, Notre Dame, and Columbia University). After the War, from 1945 to 1948, he was appointed French ambassador to the Vatican. After his wife died in 1960, Maritain lived in Toulouse with the religious order called the Little Brothers of Jesus. He died in 1973 at the age of 90.

Maritain’s circle of influence could hardly be overestimated in philosophy, Church issues and politics. The New York Times necrology recalls that one observer said that in the Catholic Church, he was “a pressure group of his own”.[31] Maritain’s impact, including his humanist views, on the Ecumenical Council Vatican II in 1962 and Pope Paul VI is also acknowledged; the latter once said, “I am a disciple of Maritain.” and “I call him my teacher”.[32] In 2016, Pope Francis also called Maritain a great French thinker.^[33] Beyond the relevance of his thought presented above, John Madeley underlines the political one, referring to Maritain’s book written in 1951 entitled the Man and the State, he says, “the book was quoted by Christian Democrats in many of the debates around key decisions on European integration – for example, by Theo Lefevre during the final debate in the Belgian Parliament on the European Defence Community in December 1953.”^[34] In our former article on Schuman, we have already emphasised Maritain’s influence on the French prime minister, one of the most significant leaders of European integration.

Conclusion

In our former article, entitled the Forgotten Origins of Christian Democracy, we investigated the historical roots of Christian democracy by looking at the lives and works of Félicité de Lamennais, Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, and the pontificate of Leo XII, Pius X, and Pope Benedict XV. We continued our analysis with two significant personalities of the first half of the 20th century, Luigi Sturzo and Jacques Maritain. Both Catholic authors were crucial in the ideological development of Christian democracy; the Italian priest outlined the idea of popularism while the French philosopher contributed to the idea of personalism and the revival of natural right thinking. Yet, not just their thought and their influence, but their lives also prove that they lived according to their Christian standards; both of them are in the process of canonisation by the Catholic Church.

Bibliography

ALDEN, Whitman: A Powerful Mind In: New York Times (Print) April 29, 1973. p. 60. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/29/archives/jacques-maritain-dies-at-90-a-powerful-mind.html Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

AGÓCS, Sandor: Christian Democracy and Social Modernism in Italy during the Papacy of Pius X. In: Church History, 42/1, 1973, pp. 73–88.

ALMOND, Gabriel Abraham: The Political Ideas of Christian Democracy In: The Journal of Politics, 10/4, 1948, pp. 734–763.

BRITANNICA, The Editors of Encyclopaedia: Jacques Maritain. In: Encyclopedia Britannica Website (2021, November 14). https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacques-Maritain. Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

CAPONIGIRI, A. Robert: (1952). Don Luigi Sturzo. In: The Review of Politics, 14/2, 1952, pp. 147–165.

IDC-CDI: History. In: IDC-CDI Website. https://www.idc-cdi.com/history/. Accessed: 2022. 02. 11.

INSTITUTO STURZO. IN: Sturzo Website. https://www.sturzo.it/en/luigi-sturzo-istitute/luigi-sturzo/ Accessed. 2022. 02. 11.

INVERNIZZI ACCETTI, Carlo: What is Christian Democracy? Politics, Religion and Ideology. Cambridge - New York, Cambridge University Press, 2019., 385 pp.

JANCSÓ, András; DARABOS, Ádám: Forgotten Origins of Christian Democracy. In: Hungarian Conservative, 1/3, 2021. Available Online: https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/culture-society/forgotten-origins-of-christian-democracy/. Accessed. 2022. 02. 11.

KALYVAS, Stathis N.: The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1996), 301 pp.

LA CROIX: Interview with Pope Francis (translated by Stefan Gigacz, interviewed by Guillaume Goubert and Sébatien Maillard) In: La Croix Website. 2016. 05. 17. Available: https://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Pape/INTERVIEW-Pope-Francis-2016-05-17-1200760633. Accessed. 2022. 02. 11.

LYON, Margot: Christian Democratic Parties and Politics. In: Journal of Contemporary History. 2/4, 1967, pp. 69-87.

MADELEY, John: Grit or Pearl? The religious factor in the politics of European integration. Paper for the ECPR 35th Joint Session of Workshops, Helsinki, 7-12 May 2007, Workshop 22: Religion and Politics: Conflict or Cooperation? directed by Jeffrey Haynes

MOOS, Malcolm: Don Luigi Sturzo--Christian Democrat. In: The American Political Science Review, 39/2, 1945, pp. 269–292.

NEW WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA: Jacques Maritain. In: New World Encyclopedia, (6 November 2021) https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jacques_Maritain. Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

SWEET, William: Jacques Maritain, In: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/maritain/. Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

Endnotes

[1] Ibid.

[2] Ibid.

[3] LYON, Margot: Christian Democratic Parties and Politics. In: Journal of Contemporary History. 2/4, 1967, pp. 69-87.

[4] IDC-CDI: History. In: IDC-CDI Website. https://www.idc-cdi.com/history/. Accessed: 2022. 02. 11.

[5] ALMOND, Gabriel Abraham: The Political Ideas of Christian Democracy In: The Journal of Politics, 10/4, 1948, pp. 734–763.

[6] LYON, Margot: Christian Democratic Parties and Politics. In: Journal of Contemporary History. 2/4, 1967, p. 74.

[7] CAPONIGIRI, A. Robert: (1952). Don Luigi Sturzo. The Review of Politics, 14/2, 1952, pp. 149.  

[8] INSTITUTO STURZO. IN: Sturzo Website. https://www.sturzo.it/en/luigi-sturzo-istitute/luigi-sturzo/ Accessed. 2022. 02. 11.

[9] Ibid.

[10] AGÓCS, Sandor: Christian Democracy and Social Modernism in Italy during the Papacy of Pius X. In: Church History, 42/1, 1973, pp. 73–88.

[11] CAPONIGIRI, A. Robert: (1952). Don Luigi Sturzo. In: The Review of Politics, 14/2, 1952, pp. 152.

[12] CAPONIGIRI, A. Robert: (1952). Don Luigi Sturzo. In: The Review of Politics, 14/2, 1952, pp. 153.

[13] MOOS, Malcolm: Don Luigi Sturzo--Christian Democrat. In: The American Political Science Review, 39/2, 1945, p. 271.

[14] INSTITUTO STURZO. IN: Sturzo Website. https://www.sturzo.it/en/luigi-sturzo-istitute/luigi-sturzo/ Accessed. 2022. 02. 11.

[15] Quotes Moos, MOOS, Malcolm: Don Luigi Sturzo--Christian Democrat. In: The American Political Science Review, 39/2, 1945, p. 272.

[16] Quotes INVERNIZZI ACCETTI, Carlo: What is Christian Democracy? Politics, Religion and Ideology. Cambridge - New York, Cambridge University Press, 2019., p. 102.

[17] CAPONIGIRI, A. Robert: (1952). Don Luigi Sturzo. In: The Review of Politics, 14/2, 1952, p. 161.

[18] INVERNIZZI ACCETTI, Carlo: What is Christian Democracy? Politics, Religion and Ideology. Cambridge - New York, Cambridge University Press, 2019., p. 92.

[19] In our former article, entitled Principles of Christian Democratic Ideology, we summarized – among other – popularism, based on Invernizzi Accetti’s book.

[20] Quotes INVERNIZZI ACCETTI, Carlo: What is Christian Democracy? Politics, Religion and Ideology. Cambridge - New York, Cambridge University Press, 2019., p. 80.

[21] Ibid. p. 103.

[22] INSTITUTO STURZO. IN: Sturzo Website. https://www.sturzo.it/en/luigi-sturzo-istitute/luigi-sturzo/ Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

[23] SWEET, William: Jacques Maritain, In: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/maritain/. Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

[24] BRITANNICA, The Editors of Encyclopaedia: Jacques Maritain. In: Encyclopedia Britannica Website (2021, November 14). https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacques-Maritain. Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

[25] Quotes: NEW WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA: Jacques Maritain. In: New World Encyclopedia, (6 November 2021) https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jacques_Maritain. Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

[26] In our former article, entitled Principles of Christian Democratic Ideology, we summarized – among other – personalism, including natural rights though, based on Invernizzi Accetti’s book.

[27] Quotes: INVERNIZZI ACCETTI, Carlo: What is Christian Democracy? Politics, Religion and Ideology. Cambridge - New York, Cambridge University Press, 2019., pp. 55-56.

[28] Ibid. 39-40.

[29] ALMOND, Gabriel Abraham: The Political Ideas of Christian Democracy In: The Journal of Politics, 10/4, 1948, pp. 749.

[30] SWEET, William: Jacques Maritain, In: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/maritain/. Accessed 2022. 02. 11

[31] ALDEN, Whitman: A Powerful Mind In: New York Times (Print) April 29, 1973. p. 60. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/29/archives/jacques-maritain-dies-at-90-a-powerful-mind.html Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

[32] Ibid.  

[33] LA CROIX: Interview with Pope Francis (translated by Stefan Gigacz, interviewed by Guillaume Goubert and Sébatien Maillard) In: La Croix Website. 2016. 05. 17. Available: https://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Pape/INTERVIEW-Pope-Francis-2016-05-17-1200760633. Accessed 2022. 02. 11.

[34] MADELEY, John: Grit or Pearl? The religious factor in the politics of European integration. Paper for the ECPR 35th Joint Session of Workshops, Helsinki, 7-12 May 2007, Workshop 22: Religion and Politics: Conflict or Cooperation? directed by Jeffrey Haynes