The Church lost the Papal States in 1870 – this made them very bitter towards the state, even though it was not Mussolini who took them away! In 1870 the Pope condemned the State, and encouraged people not to vote (men got the vote in 1919).

    The Church was important to Mussolini, since 99% of Italy was Catholic – a very good method of influencing many Italians if he had the Church on his side. However, Mussolini himself was an atheist.

    The Church and the State had many policies in common, but also clashing ones:
        Fascism - Conquer territory, Military, Matteotti Crisis
        Both - Women + births, Youth, Totalitarian, Strong Italy, Fear of Socialism
        Catholicism - Pope was a rival to Mussolini, Church schools, Catholic Action, Pacifism, Education – secondary schools v. Fascist

    To solve this, Mussolini drew up The Concordat, or the Lateran Treaty.

    This did the following:
        Made the Vatican City a sovereign state
        The Pope recognized Rome as the Capital of Italy
        Church was given 750 million lira, and 1000 million lira in bonds – so if state does well, so do they, so in their interest to make sure Mussolini does well.
        Catholicism was recognized as sole religion of state
        RE in secondary and elementary schools
        Church marriages recognized by state
        State veto over major church appointments – state can control who is in church.
        Church control of divorce
        State accepted Catholic Action

    This also made the church the largest holder of state bonds; therefore it was in their interest now to support Mussolini.

    Relationships: missing diagram here

    1930’s – concordat. 1931 – Quarrels over Catholic Action. 1932 – Compromise reached. 1935 – Abyssinia – supported by church as a ‘Holy Crusade’ but condemned use of gas. 1937 – Quarrel over Catholic Action and Spanish Civil War. 1938 – Anti-Semitism.


source -thestudentroom.co.uk