Relationship
Between Vatican and
Mussolini
• He needed to forge strong relationships with the church, as
the church was very big in Italy, and he could not afford to
anger the Roman Catholic Church
• Although he disliked the Church, a view shared by his father,
he recognized that RCC represented not only millions in Italy
but 400 million people all over the world
• Once Mussolini came into power, he tried to forge a good
relationship with the pope, by baptising both of his children in
1926 and 1923, as well a renewing his marriage in a church
(his initial marriage was just a civil one)
• He also stood by the church’s stand against divorce and
contraception, as well as their notions that women should not
work and should stay at home.
• They often clashed on who would take control of education,
as both felt that they needed a strong influence on the young.
• This led to the Lateran Treaties, this ended the ‘Roman
Question’, essentially creating the Vatican City State.
• The Roman Catholic Church had lost all it’s land in the
unification of Italy
• The Roman Catholic Church received £30 million in
compensation in 1929 and the Church was given 109 acres in
Rome to create a new papal state - the Vatican. The pope was
allowed a small army, police force, post office and rail station.
Concordat
• This treaty made Catholism the national state religion and was
mandatory for primary and secondary education,
• he Roman Catholic Church was given full control of marriage
• When all of these treaties were signed and agreed on,
Mussolini’s popularity rose to an all time high, he had got
what he wanted by gaining the support of both the church and
people.
• He also got the support from the members of the public who
may not have supported the Fascists but who saw the Roman
Catholic Church working with the Fascist government, and
that by itself created a tacit acceptance of Mussolini’s
government.
Charter of Race
• There were many minor squabbles between the Church and
State, however nothing major grew from these, except for one
major occurrence
• In 1938, Mussolini introduced the Charter of Race, taking
away Italian Jews of Italian nationality. They also weren’t
allowed to teach, or have state jobs or be allowed into the
Fascist Party. Additionally no Jews were allowed to work for
banks or insurance, they were also not allowed to marry nonJewish Italians or join their army.
These laws were so unpopular that it led to the pope
protesting these laws against Mussolini.
Overall
• The creation of the Papal states went by very smoothly
• The church and state often got together well because of
Mussolini getting on the bandwagon on many of the Church’s
stance on certain issues, even though he didn’t necessarily
believe in them.
• Both Church and State ended up with a very strong impact on
Italy.