VATICAN CITY. When on the evening of July 13, 1949 the Vatican made official the decree of the Holy Office of excommunication for the Communists, the surprise was great. In fact, not only the communist doctrine, which has always been condemned by the Catholic Church and the Holy See, was attacked, but also and above all those who professed it, defended it, spread it. And this was happening for the first time.
Various interpretations were given immediately and in the following years. But they were only hypotheses. Today, however, 73 years later, thanks to a targeted research conducted in the Vatican Archives, of the Holy Office in particular, it is possible to answer many questions. Thanks to the new book by Cesare Catananti «The excommunication of the communists. Protagonists and background in the declassified papers of the Holy Office “(Edizioni San Paolo, 384 pages, 25 euros), with a preface by Andrea Riccardi.
Catananti, a doctor, former director general of the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome and professor of History of Medicine, has always oriented his research and related publications on the issues of health organization and historical reflection. Among his essays we remember the volume «Medicine: values and interests. Declared and hidden “(Vita e Pensiero, 2002). In more recent times, his interests have turned to contemporary history and on this trend, in 2017, together with Sandro Barbagallo, he published for the San Paolo Editions “The Vatican Gendarmerie: from its origins to the present day”. “The Vatican in the storm” it was born from years of research in the Archives of the Papal Gendarmerie, to which the author had access in a completely exceptional way.
In this new volume, presenting unpublished correspondence relating to the pontificate of Pius XII, it traces the salient phases of the decision-making “process”, revealing the protagonists, background and internal dynamics of the Holy Office and at the same time offering a new perspective with which to analyze both the context historical in which the “decretum” matured, both the application phase of an “excommunication” which, between reactions and clarifications, deeply engraved in the Italian social and political fabric. Both ecclesiastical and layman. Riccardi in the preface defines it as «a strong and lacerating step».
The research behind the work, the author explained to the Adnkronos agency, arises «from the need to understand the profound reasons for that act which was really strong. Because if it is true that the Church, since the time of Pius IX, had repeatedly condemned the communist doctrine, now, and for the first time, individuals who, scienter et libere (consciously and freely, ed), professed it were hit. , they spread it, they propagated it ». With the opening of the archives of the pontificate of Pius XII «it was finally possible to reconstruct on a documentary basis what really happened. Thus overcoming the hypothesis phase and reconstructing the entire decision process ».
From the papers it emerges that «the excommunication was the result of the confluence of several flows of events which over the course of a century have crossed the Church of Rome. Certainly the original need was to give guidelines to the clergy in the “management” of the cases in which a Communist wanted to participate in certain rites or had asked for access to the sacraments ». Between bishops and parish priests “there was no uniformity of approach. Far from it. But there was – Catananti points out – something much more relevant behind that decree: the reaction, felt as obliged, to what was happening in the East. at the service of the Regime “.
Beyond the Tiber there was “clear awareness that Bolshevism aimed at the heart of the Catholic Church”. And the aim would have been «not only to reduce it but to cancel it. The struggle against communism was therefore experienced as a war for survival ”. There was also the fear that in Italy the Communists would take up arms: «The information available to the Holy See showed this danger as real and not just theoretical. And the documents of the Moscow Archives and the PCI confirm that there was a risk ». A danger that would have made the Vatican «a possible enclave of an Italian beyond the Curtain. This was the reality. And this was the scenario that weighed on the decisions of Pius XII and the Holy Office ».
And then, there was the Christian Democracy question: «Communism and the PCI were clearly opposed. And consequently there was support for the DC. In this context we must also see the intolerance and irritation of the Holy Office and the Pope towards the Communist Catholics considered as fifth columns of the PCI. The controversy with this group, although not decisive in the decision that would be taken, acted as an additive in warming the hearts of the cardinals “.
The decree, however, would not have achieved the desired results: «The application cases proved to be particularly intricate and complex and the confusion was great. And so every bishop went his way. The specificity of the Italian social fabric was underestimated, even by the communists themselves. That homegrown mix of secularism and religiosity ». Even if they were members of the PCI, it became “difficult for many to renounce religious rites and traditions such as baptism, funeral, confirmation, church wedding which were part of their roots. And the controversies, and in the book there are many examples, were not lacking ». In fact, many episcopates “followed different routes”. The “scienter et libere” with which, according to the same decretum, “the intimate adherence to communist theories was to be evaluated was the escape route for many”. Finally, as regards “the weight exerted in electoral competitions, it is a fact that in the following years there was a decrease in the consensus of the DC and an increase for the PCI”.
Catananti also highlights how “that decree with a strong religious caliber can also be seen in a” spiritual “path that in 1950 was enriched by the ceremonies of the Holy Year, the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary and the announcement of the discovery of the tomb of St. Peter ».
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