Christian Democracy

CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY CAN be defined as a political philosophy, founded on Christian principles that inspire movements and political parties. Although Christian Democracy is a worldwide movement, it is in Europe that the philosophy has been the most successful: Christian Democratic parties have frequently been in power in five major European countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and, until recently, Italy), while the European Popular party (the European federation of Christian Democratic parties) dominates the European parliament together with the socialists.

Usually described as a pragmatic and opportunistic catch-all party, ideologically located between liberalism and collectivism, Christian Democracy is instead characterized by peculiar elements that define its distinctiveness from other political ideologies. The most distinctive feature of Christian Democracy is its endless tension toward integration, compromise, accommodation, and pluralism between social and interest groups with possibly opposed interests. The central concept of Christian Democratic ideology not only reflects a multidimensional approach and flexibility but also facilitates the coexistence of such a plurality of views and interests. In particular, an element common to all European Christian Democratic parties has been their capacity to successfully conjugate the Christian notion of equality and redistribution of wealth among individuals with the precepts of modern capitalism.

In what has been defined as social capitalism, European Christian Democratic parties have been able to synthesize a basic commitment to capitalist market relations with the need to correct its detrimental effects. In this perspective, Christian Democratic ideology can be considered a religiously inspired model of social reform which is both social and capitalist, that is, recognition of liberal values, such as private property, but subject to social obligations. European Christian Democratic parties traditionally support religious values, stress the special place for the family in society, and are generally in favor of extending privileges to churches, particularly in the realm of education. At the international level, Christian Democratic parties have been enthusiastic supporters of economic and political regional integration in Europe, laying the foundations for the establishment of the European Union.

Historically, Christian Democratic parties and movements trace their ideological origins to the response of Catholics to 19th-century liberalism. Liberalism attacked the prerogatives of the Catholic Church in areas such as education, marriage, and official state recognition. In Italy and France, liberals traditionally perceived the Catholic Church as an obstacle to the formation of the modern democratic state. In France, the church was associated with reactionary forces for its long-standing alliance with the Bourbon monarchy. In Italy, hostility toward the church was mainly based on the Vatican's opposition to the process of national unity carried out by Piedmonts. In Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, after the German unification in 1871, started a campaign against Catholicism, called Kalturekampf, forcing Catholics to organize themselves to defend the church and its institutions.

In reaction to liberal attacks, the church counterattacked, moving in two directions. On one hand, the church reaffirmed its position against democracy, rejecting the foundations of political modernity, such as representative democracy and modern liberties, as clearly stated in the 1864 pontifical encyclical, The Syllabus of Errors, in which Pope Pius IX condemned the doctrines of liberal democracy. On the other hand, the church started to mobilize Catholics and organize them in mass organizations in order to counterbalance liberal forces. In particular, the church was able to take advantage of those Catholic institutions, such as parishes, confraternities, and other devotional societies of Catholics that, although already in existence since the end of the French Revolution, never became a decisive political force because they had never been arranged in one, organized movement.

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