New Religious Phenomena in Italy. Towards a Post-Catholic Era? / Nouveaux phénomènes religieux en Italie. Vers une ère post-catholique ? - article ; n°1 ; vol.42, pg 97-116

Gustave Guizzardi.

Description

Archives des sciences sociales des religions - Année 1976 - Volume 42 - Numéro 1 - Pages 97-116
L'étude sociologique des mouvements religieux nés en marge de l'Eglise en Italie, depuis une trentaine d'années, en fait apparaître au moins deux traits originaux : leur rapport étroit à l'Eglise catholique institutionnelle et leur ambivalence, qui fait qu'ils se meuvent souvent entre le champ religieux et le champ politique et aboutissent, en grande partie, à l'éloignement radical de la sphère religieuse. Après un bref rappel historique de l'origine de ces mouvements, VA. propose, afin de mieux saisir le phénomène, un schéma théorique général en six points : les changements de la stratification sociale; la sécularisation; le marxisme, dans ses aspects idéologiques et politiques; la protestation des jeunes; l'organisation et les structures de l'Eglise; la diversification historique de la société italienne.
20 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Archives-des-sciences-sociales-des-religions
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1976
• Nombre de lectures: 23
• Langue: Français
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Gustavo Guizzardi
New Religious Phenomena in Italy. Towards a Post-Catholic
Era? / Nouveaux phénomènes religieux en Italie. Vers une ère
post-catholique ?
In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions. N. 42, 1976. pp. 97-116.
Résumé
L'étude sociologique des mouvements religieux nés en marge de l'Eglise en Italie, depuis une trentaine d'années, en fait
apparaître au moins deux traits originaux : leur rapport étroit à l'Eglise catholique institutionnelle et leur ambivalence, qui fait qu'ils
se meuvent souvent entre le champ religieux et le champ politique et aboutissent, en grande partie, à l'éloignement radical de la
sphère religieuse.
Après un bref rappel historique de l'origine de ces mouvements, VA. propose, afin de mieux saisir le phénomène, un schéma
théorique général en six points : les changements de la stratification sociale; la sécularisation; le marxisme, dans ses aspects
idéologiques et politiques; la protestation des jeunes; l'organisation et les structures de l'Eglise; la diversification historique de la
société italienne.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Guizzardi Gustavo. New Religious Phenomena in Italy. Towards a Post-Catholic Era? / Nouveaux phénomènes religieux en
Italie. Vers une ère post-catholique ?. In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions. N. 42, 1976. pp. 97-116.
doi : 10.3406/assr.1976.2100
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/assr_0335-5985_1976_num_42_1_2100Sc soc des Rel. 42 1976 97-116 Arch
Gustavo GUIZZARDI
NEW RELIGIOUS PHENOMENA IN ITALY
Towards Post-Catholic Era
étude sociologique des mouvements religieux nés en
marge de Eglise en Italie depuis une trentaine années en
fait apparaître au moins deux traits originaux leur rapport
étroit Eglise catholique institutionnelle et leur ambivalence
qui fait ils se meuvent souvent entre le champ religieux et
le champ politique et aboutissent en grande partie éloigne-
ment radical de la sphère religieuse
Après un bref rappel historique de origine de ces mou
vements propose afin de mieux saisir le phénomène un
schéma théorique général en six points les changements de la
stratification sociale la sécularisation le marxisme dans ses
aspects idéologiques et politiques la protestation des jeunes
organisation et les structures de Eglise la diversification
historique de la société italienne
This paper deals with the study of extra-ecclesial religious movements
in Italy from the post-war period to the present These phenomena
represent the progressive shattering of Catholic world in which they
have arisen to the point where they both conflict with it and present an
alternative to it This process is not new and it has been studied in several
countries but in Italy there are peculiar features
The Italian case may be regarded as original for two reasons
First the Catholic Church enjoys an almost monopolistic position in
Italy 1) in which it can also control religious expression particularly
Texte une communication présentée en anglais au VHP Congrès Mondial de
Sociologie tenu Toronto en août 1974 N.d.l.R.)
It is reckoned that in Italy 92 of the population is baptized into the Catholic
Church the other religious communities are strictly in the minority am dealing here
with the Catholic movements but similar processes have also occurred in other religious
communities which have great deal of contacts with the Catholic movements and
this also occurs in regard to the organization aspects See GIRARDET SBAFFI dissenso
protestante in Italia in Problemi del socialismo XIV 1972) 7-8 pp 112-124 and also
BüRGALASsi Religiosità comunità ecclesiali in Italia in AA.W. Comunità locale
ed ecumenismo AVE 1973 pp 112-125
97 ARCHIVES DE SCIENCES SOCIALES DES RELIGIONS
group expression This fundamental fact immediately influences the shape
taken by the rising movements Although these movements display many
characteristics peculiar to the Underground Church as described by Stee
man in Italy the most important aspect is missing the disregard for
traditional authority Catholic Hierarchy Central Govemement of the
Church Nor has the modem stage of religious development occurred
as described by Bellah man as Church in himself No religious
movement can leave its relations with Catholic Church out of consideration
even if this were possible in theory 4)
In the second place there is in Italy continuous often contradictory
confusion between religious and political themes leading eventually to the
supremacy of the political dimension over the religious without however
eliminating the In this sense we cannot draw the
line as Osborne does between ecclesiastical reform movements and religious
reform movements In Italy the two levels of change are not alien to
each other as Osborne suggests is the case in the united States Nor are
there only two variables involved that is to say there is no simple alter
native between the Church and the Underground movement As matter
of fact there is third essential component the trend towards political
action or better attention to the political and social component of action
KEY-POINTS OF THE ITALIAN SITUATION
The two key-points of the Italian situation are the relation between
religion and Church and the relation between religion and politics My
concern here is with the second of these relations and to comprehend it
fully it is necessary to review recent history The Italian ruling class
come out of the second world war with huge social and political problems
to solve They can be synthetized as the attemps on the one hand to be
included in system of international alliances military economic and
political with the Great Powers of the West and on the other hand to
control the working and peasant classes desire for profound social reforms
agrarian reform for example which would have been disadvantageous
for economic reconstruction and industrial development of the capitalistic
type Anticommunist action control of the working and peasant classes
limitation of social reforms to the minimum consistent with the preser
vation of power were the fundations of the political activity of the
STEEMAN The Underground Church The Forms and Dynamics of Change in
Contemporary Catholicism in D.R CUTLER ed. The World Yearbook of Religion
The Religious Situation London Evans 1970 Vol II 718
R.N BELLAH Religious Evolution in American Sociological Review XXJLX
1964) pp 358-374
Cfr also ALBERONI Carisma ufficio movimenti spontanei in F.C GAVAZZA
and S.R GRAUBARD II caso italiano Garzanti 1974 pp 470-477 the Author rightly
emphasizes an essential cause 475 the concept through which charism is monopolized
by the authority that holds an office so that in Italy there are not really five civil
religions as proposed by R.N BELLAH Le cinque religioni Italia moderna ibidem
pp 440 ss.) but only one civil religion which defines the relationship with the institution
and makes the institution something sacred 473)
W.A OSBORNE Catholic Reform in the United States Too Late? IDOC 1967
14
98 RELIGIOUS PHENOMENA IN ITALY NEW
Italian ruling class in the postwar period To all this the Catholic
Church offered effective support in variety of ways From an ideological
point of view the Church offered as system of ideas defending the Christian
civilization and severely condemning Communism and the class struggle
and upholding private property From strategical point of view under
the Ideology of the Christianization of society the Church has been an
effective bar against possible alliance of the lower classes it created
and controlled Christian trade unions and peasant associations in oppo
sition to those of the Communists and Socialists it has also contributed
to the perpetuation of the corporative division of various social groups
Moreover the Church has supported the Catholic party the most impor
tant Italian party officially directly and indirectly
Although many conditions have changed this situation has persisted
in Italy until very recently and in many respects it continues still even
though the Catholic Church has suffered real decline in political power
THE NEW éï MOVEMENTS AN OUTLINE OF THEIR HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
Although there existed in Italy from the end of the First World War
religious movements formed by limited groups of intellectuals 8) comple
tely disconnected from the Catholic hierarchy until the mid fifties there
was no massive opposition to the axiom that in order to give full expression
to his religious leaning the layman must be an active member of Catholic
Action that is of the associations that depend directly on the ecclesiastical
bodies and are part of the organization of the Church 9)
From the mid fifties onwards there appeared the first phenomena that
foretold the coming crisis of Catholic Action which was to erupt about ten
years later and the beginning of differentiation in religious movements
This process appears to me to be connected with the birth in those