This book entitled “The Protestant Peril.” The Church and Italian Catholics on the Issue of Religious Freedom, 1922–1955, is the English version of a study I published in Italian in 2019, Il “pericolo protestante”. La Chiesa e i cattolici italiani e la questione della libertà religiosa (1922–1955). The text and especially the bibliographical references and notes have been revised for English readers. At the same time, references to Italian history and the contextualization of the various episodes have been expanded. As explained in this Introduction, the bibliography has also been updated in light of studies published in the meantime. In particular, the third chapter now includes numerous references to Vatican documents relating to the pontificate of Pius XII, which have since become available to scholars. The basic interpretation, however, remains unchanged and is confirmed by the new historiographical findings.
The Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to all aspects of the Protestant Reformation has been a given for many centuries. Only recently has this frontal opposition begun to wane. Thanks to the openings of the Second Vatican Council, large sectors of the Catholic hierarchy have become involved in ecumenical and intra-Christian dialogue.1 In recent years, Pope Francis and the leadership of the Catholic Church have shown an unprecedented openness to Protestant traditions.2 This process has culminated in the re-evaluation, at least in part, of Luther himself, who has been cited as the initiator of a process of “reform” that has also benefited the Catholic Church.3 In spite of this great progress, misunderstandings, closures and polemics on both sides continue to flare up from time to time.4 These disagreements, however occasional and temporary, show how difficult it is to erase centuries of opposition in a few decades. The anti-Protestant polemic, based on apologetics and religious controversy, was a constitutive element of Catholic thought between the sixteenth and the second half of the twentieth century. It has only recently been abandoned, giving way to a dialogue that the more conservative sectors of the Catholic Curia and episcopate have had difficulty accepting.5 Over a chronological span of five centuries, Catholic anti-Protestantism, while maintaining great continuity in its main motifs, has inevitably taken on different meanings at different stages.
Catholic anti-Protestantism experienced a revival in the aftermath of the French Revolution as part of a conspiratorial, anti-modern philosophy of history. During the nineteenth century, it became one of the defining elements of the ideology of intransigent Catholicism. In Italy, it was further strengthened after the revolutions of 1848. Anti-Protestantism thus became one of the recurrent motifs of Catholic and reactionary polemics against the Risorgimento and Italian unification, exacerbated by the spread of Protestant denominations that followed unification. Partially diminished in the last quarter of the century, the anti-Protestant mobilization of Italian Catholicism resumed at the turn of the twentieth century, in the face of the rise of American power and the modernist crisis. Certainly, it grew after the First World War, in response to increasing Protestant proselytism on a global scale. Between the early 1920s and the mid-1950s, the Catholic Church’s hostility toward Protestant denominations and their missionary efforts took on particular importance in Italy. Anti-Protestantism was no longer limited to verbal or popular opposition but profoundly affected the Italian State’s attitude toward minority denominations and religious legislation.
The interwar period and the first decade of the Republic were two historical periods characterized by a profound continuity in the anti-Protestant polemic and, above all, in the policies promoted by the Italian government on this issue. Therefore, these two periods form the chronological arc on which this volume focuses. The period between the Risorgimento and the First World War contributed to the development of modern anti-Protestant pastoral preaching in Italy. However, it was not until the advent of Fascism that Catholic forces, with the help of the public authorities, began to take action against Protestants. This situation continued, despite the profound changes that had taken place, even in the first decade of the Republic. This was especially the case during the first legislature (1948–1953), a period in which anti-Protestant policies were like those of the Fascist regime in the 1930s. Several factors contributed to the resumption of Fascist anti-Protestant policies: the unaltered position of the Holy See and the Italian episcopate; the influence they exerted on Italian politics thanks to the very close relations they had with the leaders of Democrazia Cristiana (henceforth, Christian Democracy);6 and finally, the profound continuity that characterized the central and peripheral apparatuses of the Italian State in the transition from Fascism to the Republic.7 It is precisely the enforcement of anti-Protestant legislation that seems to be one of the most striking examples of this continuity between Fascism and the early Republican era, which has been repeatedly emphasized by historians.8 Only very slowly, beginning in the mid-1950s, did the formal guarantees of religious freedom included in the 1948 Republican Constitution begin to truly protect religious minorities. At the same time, the Catholic Church began to revise its aversion to religious pluralism during these years. In fact, the second half of the 1950s, between 1955 and 1958, saw the dismantling of the most illiberal aspects of the legislation on “Admitted Cults,” thanks to several rulings by the newly appointed Constitutional Court. At the same time, this period marked a crucial watershed in the history of the Catholic Church. The final crisis of Pius XII’s pontificate and of his assumptions about the Catholic “reconquest” of Italian society favored the changes of John XXIII: a Pope who promoted a different and less conflictual relationship between the Catholic Church and modernity. This is why it seems reasonable to choose the three-year period 1955–1958 as the endpoint of our research.
Given these chronological limits, this book deals in a unified way with three topics that may at first sight appear to be distinct: the presence of Protestant denominations in Italy, which began in the second half of the nineteenth century and was consolidated in the first decades of the twentieth century; Catholic mobilization against Protestant denominations, studied in terms of its ideological motivations and pastoral practices; and finally, the behavior of the Italian State, analyzed in terms of changes in legislation and policies toward non-Catholic denominations. A unified approach to these three issues is necessary for several reasons. Unlike anti-Semitism, which, as Giovanni Miccoli has pointed out, reveals only the “deep interior of the majority society” in which hostility toward the Jews develops, without telling us anything about the Jews themselves,9 anti-Protestantism has always maintained a predominantly pastoral dimension. Despite the many and varied ideological meanings it gradually came to bear, it arose “in relation to the actual presence and activism of Evangelicals.” This occurred even though the “Protestant peril” was artfully overstated on the Catholic side.10 To understand the chronological and geographical evolution of the main anti-Protestant campaigns promoted by Catholics, it is therefore necessary to examine several subjects: the Catholic Church, of course, in its conflictual encounter with modernity; but also Italian Protestantism, focusing on the development of its denominations and its efforts to evangelize as many Italians as possible.
Catholic hostility toward Protestant denominations and the Italian State’s attitude toward them were significant factors in the evolution of State-Catholic Church relations in Italy. This was true during the liberal period, when small yet significant circles of the Historical Left and liberal elites, influenced by Freemasonry, supported the spread of Protestantism for anti-Catholic purposes.11 An opposite dynamic emerged during Fascism, since Mussolini viewed Protestant denominations as a “bargaining chip” in his dealings with the Vatican.12 Similarly, after the Second World War, anti-Protestant hostility, promoted by Christian Democratic governments became a central aspect of the “confessionalism” denounced by secular observers.13
From a historiographical point of view, two of the aspects examined in this volume – the presence of Protestant denominations in Italy and the significance of Catholic anti-Protestantism – have met with considerable success. The third factor, which concerns the legislation and policies of the Italian State toward religious minorities, has been approached mainly from a legal point of view. Regarding the first area, a turning point was the publication in 1956 of Giorgio Spini’s volume Risorgimento e protestanti. For a long time, this study remained unmatched in its ability to connect the presence of Protestant denominations to the broader transformation of Italy’s political, social and religious framework.14 After Spini’s pioneering work, historians focused for a long time on the events of individual denominations, through studies with a strongly institutional perspective.15 Beginning in the 1990s, however, more comprehensive studies were undertaken once again, led by Spini and Giorgio Rochat.16 In their wake, many other scholars of different generations have made decisive contributions to our knowledge of contemporary Italian Protestantism. They have analyzed the spread of Protestant denominations in specific geographical contexts and time periods or reconstructed the activity of some notable figures who embodied Italian Protestantism.17 Subsequently, essays have explored the post-World War II period and the struggle waged by Protestant denominations and secular parties in defense of religious freedom.18 Other studies, building on Spini’s insights, have revived the theme of the transnational ties of Italian Evangelicalism during the Risorgimento.19 Recently, important multi-authored syntheses have appeared on the history of the Waldensians and Methodists in Italy,20 while the Global History of Italian Protestantism, the second volume of which will be devoted to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, is currently in preparation.21
A crucial turning point for twentieth-century Catholic anti-Protestantism was the publication in 1973 of Piero Scoppola’s essay “Fascismo e minoranze evangeliche,” which highlighted for the first time the centrality of anti-Protestant repression in the evolution of relations between the Catholic Church and Fascism between the 1920s and 1930s.22 This perspective was taken up by Andrea Riccardi with regard to Rome;23 by Agostino Giovagnoli with regard to Christian Democratic culture;24 and by Francesco Traniello in relation to the behavior of the Piedmontese episcopate during Fascism.25 Catholic anti-Protestantism has returned to the center of historiographical debate since the second half of the 1990s, thanks to Renato Moro’s studies. Moro’s research has revealed the multiple meanings of Catholic anti-Protestantism between the two world wars, particularly in relation to the definition of power dynamics with the Fascist regime and the need to build an Italian Catholic nationalism, convergent but not overlapping with the Fascist one. At the same time, these studies have defined a precise chronology of the various anti-Evangelical campaigns promoted by Italian Catholics between 1928 and 1935.26 The opening of the Vatican archives relating to the pontificate of Pius XI has made it possible to develop these lines of research further, thanks to studies that have emphasized the role of the Holy See in the elaboration of anti-Protestant policies.27 Much less researched remains the post-World War II period: a time when Catholic anti-Protestantism had a significant weight in determining the policies of centrist governments toward Protestant denominations.28 The opening of the Vatican archives concerning the pontificate of Pius XII has further enriched the picture. The English version of this volume, unlike the Italian version of 2019, also makes use of Vatican documents concerning the pontificate of Pope Pacelli. These documents provide new information of great interest, adding countless details. On the whole, however, they confirm the general interpretation proposed in the 2019 Italian edition. For this reason, the structure of the book has largely remained faithful to the original, while the new documentary findings and the insights they have enabled have been incorporated into the text or footnotes.
Finally, it is necessary to consider one last aspect of anti-Protestantism. Studies of Protestant anti-Catholicism have long recognized a transnational dimension. Particularly with regard to the Atlantic Anglosphere in the nineteenth century, these studies have developed comparisons between different national contexts.29 In contrast, studies of anti-Protestantism have long favored a predominantly national dimension, centering on specific countries such as France, Spain or Italy.30 This is also the approach adopted in the present volume, which focuses on Italy. However, much more than the 2019 Italian edition, it tries to keep together the Italian national context and the global dimension, especially through the analysis of the action of the Holy See, seen as a global player in the promotion of anti-Protestant policies. This is an aspect that is being increasingly investigated and on which I have focused in recent years, particularly with respect to Latin America and the Middle East.31 For the past two years, an active national research network, led by Sante Lesti of the University of Pisa, has been dedicated to the study of An anti-Protestant “International.” Strategies, Networks and Actors of Transnational Catholic anti-Protestantism (1898–1958). The research promoted by this network, of which I am part, although not yet completed, has led to important results, which were revealed during the first three conferences organized: in Pisa in December 2023; in Salerno in February 2024; and, most recently, in Milan in December 2024.
The situation is different for the studies on the third area analyzed in this volume: the legislation and policies of the Italian State toward minority denominations. This area has been studied from a predominantly legal perspective, often with marginal attention to the social and political framework. A limited number of studies depart from this general tendency and are characterized by an attention to historical data, most notably those by jurists Giorgio Peyrot, Giovanni Battista Varnier and Sergio Lariccia.32
As this review of previous studies makes clear, this volume fits within an established historiographical tradition that has been strengthened in recent years. Nevertheless, it introduces important new elements, particularly with regard to chronology: after an introductory chapter devoted to developments during the Risorgimento and the era of liberal Italy, it addresses, in a unified manner, both Fascism and the first Republican decade. What is also original is the vantage point. A constant effort has been made to integrate the decisions and actions of the Vatican leadership and the Italian government with their concrete repercussions in the periphery – specifically, their consequences on the lives of the Protestant communities scattered throughout Italy and on the relations between the local Catholic leadership and peripheral public authorities. This attempt was made possible by consulting many local archives, both ecclesiastical and civil. Such archival research revealed the real situations in the periphery, namely the ways in which, in the various local contexts, the policies devised by the Vatican and the Italian government were applied.
Catholic anti-Protestantism is a phenomenon that now seems distant, at least in the Italian context. At the same time, the issue of religious freedom in Italy may appear to be a settled matter, no longer capable of influencing society. In many ways, this is undoubtedly true. It seems to me, however, that the difficulties that still exist in Italy today in ensuring real and full religious freedom for citizens stem from the country’s deep history and, in particular, from the approach historically taken in Italy toward relations between the Catholic Church and the State, on the one hand, and between the State and minority denominations, on the other. These relations have always involved the theoretical question of the secularity of the State rather than the religious freedom of its citizens. This has been the case both when relations have been cooperative and when they have been hostile. As a result, the public viability of non-Catholic denominations has depended more on the benevolence of governments than on any clear and unambiguous principle.
Not all cases of religious intolerance in Italy ended in the second half of the 1950s, the endpoint of our research. Other episodes of boycotts by public authorities, smaller in scale but nonetheless significant, continued in the following decades.33 In more recent times, this has been especially true with regard to Muslims. As recently as 2016, for example, the Constitutional Court intervened – via ruling No. 63 of March 24, 2016 – to limit the effects of Lombardy Regional Law No. 2 of February 2015 on the “planning of facilities for religious services.” This law, under the guise of health and safety concerns, imposed improper and excessive constraints on the opening of new places of worship, with a clear anti-Islamic connotation.34
At the same time, Italy still lacks a law on religious freedom, while the Fascist legislation of 1929–1930 on “Admitted Cults” remains partially in force, albeit profoundly modified by subsequent rulings of the Constitutional Court. This paradoxical situation led Valdo Spini, the son of historian Giorgio Spini – repeatedly quoted in this volume – and a long-time Socialist MP, to say: “It is our task or indeed our duty, if we may say so, to replace the legislation on ‘Admitted Cults’ with a law on religious freedom consistent with constitutional principles.”35
The situation of religious freedom in Italy remains different and far from that of more established liberal democracies. This reality leads us to the analysis of a final, related aspect. The origins of Italian Catholic ecumenism are intertwined with the history reconstructed in these pages. This applies both to the development of ecumenism in Italy in the late 1950s and early 1960s and to the leading figures behind it. These factors help to explain why ecumenism in Italy has long been, and continues to be, more fragile than in other countries of Central and Western Europe. In the Italian case, the transition from anti-Protestant campaigns to ecumenical initiatives was particularly rapid, often involving the same figures: individuals who, in the previous years, had developed a special knowledge of the Italian and international Protestant world but had always maintained a prejudicial, polemical stance toward Protestantism and its realities in Italy. Then, in the changed climate, they quickly found themselves involved in the first attempts at dialogue, without having genuinely reconsidered their previous positions. The result was a particularly swift process: a transition that, although understandable given the urgency of the moment and the new perspectives opened by the pontificate of John XXIII, seems rather ambiguous.
In presenting the English version of this book, the result of research that began in 2013 and has continued until today, I have many people to thank. First of all, those whom I already thanked in the Italian version of 2019: Daniela Saresella, who has followed this work from the very beginning with important suggestions; Renato Moro, who has made a valuable contribution to this research, as well as to the more general field of studies on Catholic anti-Protestantism; Luigi Bruti Liberati, with whom I discussed the structure of the text; Grado Merlo and Marina Benedetti, for suggestions on the history of religious minorities; Gianfranco Armando, on this and other occasions my valuable guide in the Vatican archives; Silvio Ferrari and Alessandro Tira, who helped me understand the legal aspects; Donato Verrastro, who helped me with my research in the archives of Basilicata; Gabriella Ballesio, an invaluable guide to the Waldensian archives; Paolo Trionfini, for the information about the archives of Catholic Action groups; Riccardo Bottoni and Tommaso Russo, for their important bibliographical suggestions; Mark Hutchinson, for showing me the transnational dimension of contemporary Evangelicalism; friends and colleagues Marco Soresina, Marco Cuzzi, Nicola Del Corno, Luigi Vergallo, Emanuele Edallo, Giulia Bassi, Max Livi and Raffaella Perin, for their stimulating comments and constant discussion; finally, Fulvio Cammarano and Antonino De Francesco, who made possible the publication of the Italian volume.
To these friends and colleagues I would also like to add, in this English version, Alfonso Botti, Daniele Menozzi, Matteo Caponi, Nanni Ceci, Marco Novarino, Chiara Rioli and Alessandro Santagata for their important methodological advice; Sante Lesti, Luca Castagna, Claudia Baldoli, Cristiana Cianitto and David Bernardini, with whom I have had ongoing discussions on these issues; Kevin Madigan, with whom I explored these topics in the fall of 2019 during my stay at Harvard; and Charlie Gallagher, for his assistance in connecting me with this prestigious publishing house.
Finally, I wish to pay a heartfelt tribute to the memory of Giovanni Miccoli and Giovanni Battista Varnier, with whom I had the privilege of engaging in extended discussions about this research.
See Fouilloux (1994); Cerreti (1997), 385–395.
For the recent papal teaching, see the homilies and addresses in “Iter apostolicum in Suetiam occasione commemorationis communis lutheraneae-catholicae reformationis.” Acta Apostolicae Sedis 108.11 (2016), 1251–1262. On the renewed vitality of Catholic ecumenism after Bergoglio’s election, see Ceciliot (2015), 451.
Kasper (2016), 71.
For example, see Ricca (2014), which refers to Bergoglio (2014).
See Miccoli (2011), 37.
Baget Bozzo (1974), 61–64.
On this continuity, see Cassese (1990); Pavone (1995), 70–184; Melis (1996), 414–415; Crainz (2003), 3–30.
Zanini (2019 and 2024b).
Miccoli (2000), 607.
Moro (1998), 26.
Spini (2002), 221–224.
Rochat (1990), 41.
On this political and religious climate, see Verucci (1988), 232.
Spini (1956).
Spini (1971); Maselli (1974, and 1978); De Meo (1980); Viallet (1984), Armistead (1987).
Rochat (1990); Spini (1994, 2002, and 2007).
Chiarini and Giorgi (1990); Novarino (2004, and 2021); Ferrara (2007); Contini (2010); Gagliano (2013).
Palmieri (2009); Gagliano (2014, and 2016).
Raponi (2014).
Naso (2024); Garrone, Naso, and Nitti (2024).
Hutchinson, Saresella and Zanini (forthcoming).
Scoppola (1973).
Riccardi (1979), 103–119.
Giovagnoli (1991), 49–55.
Traniello (1979), 116–117, 134–136.
Moro (1997, 1998a, 2002, 2003, 2009).
Perin (2010, 2011, 2013); Paiano (2010, 2011, 2015); Zanini (2017); Madigan (2019, 2021).
Scatena (2000, 2011); Zanini (2015b, 2016)
Drury (2001); Wolffe (2011, 2013, 2015); Werner and Harvard (2013).
On France, see Hause (1989); Sacquin (1998); Baubérot and Zuber (2000); Baubérot (2017); on Spain Hernández Figueiredo (2011).
Zanini (2021; 2022).
Peyrot (1967); Lariccia (1975); Varnier (1991).
Maori (2015).
Spini V. (2007).