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Christian democracy is a label that has not been accurately defined, and it sometimes includes the more recent protestant parties of Scandinavia and Christen Demokratisch Appel (CDA) of the Netherlands, but this family of parties is usually assumed to be those of Catholic sensibility. As such, Christian democracy constitutes an influential group of parties with outliers in Latin America and in Asia (the Philippines). However, its heartland is the Old World: One of the main conservative movements in Western Europe at the end of World War II (1939–1945) was Christian democracy. This was not a sudden eruption onto the European stage, but the product of a long gestation and a slow acceptance of representative institutions by the Catholic Church as well as a current of thought that had roots in Catholic social teaching and in papal encyclicals (doctrinal briefs). Christian Democratic parties are not confessional parties, and they are pro-business. However, they are all located on the center left of the political spectrum and claim to be inspired by Catholic social teaching; consequently, they emphasize human dignity for all classes of people.

Roots Of Christian Democratic Parties

After the French Revolution (1789–1799), the Church of Rome found itself in opposition to the radical parties and to the revolutionaries of the left. However, the papacy recognized the plight of the new class of factory workers and, in the encyclical Humanum genus, rebuked the Western governments for stripping the workers of the protection given them by corporations and exposing them to the blast of the free market. These themes were developed, as were those of social Catholicism, by the encyclical from Pope Leo XIII in 1891, Rerum Novarum—seen as the founding document of the Christian Democrat movement, although it is differently interpreted. Rerum Novarum reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to revolution, to socialism (which promoted rancor and resentment and attacked property), and to free market ideology. The capitalism attacked was of the sort propounded by J. S. Mill and Spencer that idealized the free market and regarded greed and avarice (akin to usury in Catholic thought) as the central motive in society. This encyclical promoted social welfare and trade-union protection for the workers and developed a positive view of the state. In Catholic political thought, the state had a big role in the way a community’s interests can be legitimately defended and promoted. This encyclical also encouraged the development of Catholic social organizations, such as trade unions, and participation in secular Western institutions.

Early Parties

The impact of the encyclical Rerum Novarum was not immediate or dramatic, but it did inspire a number of movements, and the process of party-building, that was to come to fruition in the mid-century, was under way. Early experiments in Catholic Democratic Parties included Marc Sagnier’s Sillon (founded in 1899) in France and the Zentrum in Germany (which polled 16.4 percent in 1914). In Italy, the Catholic dispute with the papacy prevented progress, and the pope condemned the Sillon in France in an authoritarian turn of policy that saw democracy and the nation as a threat in many cases.

French Christian democracy was not a force after the World War I (1914–1918), but the Zentrum emerged as one of the major governing parties of Weimar Germany, and in Italy, Don Luigi Sturzo founded the Partito Populare Italiano (PPI). Don Sturzo’s PPI was influential in its teaching, and it polled 20 percent in 1919. In 1920, the PPI supported Mussolini before moving into opposition and being dissolved in 1926. Perhaps the most successful electorally was the Belgian Parti catholique, which polled 37 percent before World War II and was the major party in the country. In much of Europe, however, the main conservative or center-right perception was of a threat from communism and atheistic movements.

Post–World War Ii Success And Contemporary Decline

Many Catholics found themselves in resistance movements during the war, and the Vatican itself retreated from direct political involvement after 1945. During the reconstruction of Europe, the Christian Democrats emerged as a distinct force and as mass parties with a popular base. They were the main parties in France (Mouvement républicain populaire or MRP), Germany (Christlich Demokratische Union or CDU), Italy (Democrazia Cristiana), and Austria (Österreichische Volkspartei). One reason for this success is that they were seen as a bulwark against communism (Pius XII excommunicated Communist voters), but they also embraced the Atlantic Alliance and NATO as well as supporting the European welfare states and social protection. Christian Democratic ideas of the social market economy were influential and the slogan, “yes to a market economy, no to a market society” (often thought to be socialist in origin) sums up their outlook. Three Christian Democrats, Alcide de Gasperi of Italy, Konrad Adenauer of Germany, and Robert Schuman of France were seen as the founding fathers of European institutions (although others, notably the socialists, were equally involved). Although the MRP in France foundered under the impact of competition from de Gaulle’s movements, it was one of the governing parties of the Fourth Republic contributing ministers to most governments. In Italy, the Christian Democrats were the principal governing party until 1992, and in Germany the CDU was in government from 1949 to 1998 (1969–1982 excepted). Likewise, in Benelux countries, Christian Democrats participated in governments from 1945 onward and in Austria, the Christian Democrats were the first party for most of the postwar period. There has, however, been a decline is support for Christian Democratic parties in Europe since the 1990. In Italy in 1993 to 1994, the Christian Democrats split four ways after successive party funding scandals and there is only a small center-left remnant. CDA has declined in the Netherlands, as have the Belgian French and Dutch-speaking Christian Democrats, although in France, the tradition is maintained within François Bayrou’s small MoDem Party. No Christian

Democrats emerged as forces in Portugal or Spain after the fall of the dictatorships, and there is no Irish Party (although Fine Gael is affiliated). Christian Democrats are the dominant force in the European People’s Party, and there is a Christian Democratic World Union movement (the Centrist Democrat International) with almost as many affiliates as the Socialist International. However, the movement is not homogenous and has decidedly different orientations on left-right issues in separate countries with the strongly Catholic countries being relatively conservative in inclination but with family and “church” issues, although generally conservative, also being prioritized differently. Rerum Novarum was celebrated by Pope John Paul II, who published the encyclical Centisimus annus in 1991, reiterating many of the same themes.

Bibliography:

Gilson, Etienne. The Church Speaks to the Modern World: The Social Teachings of Pope Leo XIII. New York: Doubleday, 1954.
Hanley, David, ed. The Christian Democratic Parties: A Comparative Perspective. London: Pinter, 1994.
Kaiser,Wolfram, and Michael Gehler, eds. Christian Democracy in Europe Since 1945. Routledge, London, 2004.
Kalyvas, Stathis N. The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996.
McCarthy, David Matzko, ed. The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching, Its Origins and Continuing Significance. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos, 2009.
Maritain, Jacques. The Rights of Man and Natural Law. London: Bles, 1958.
Wilensky, Harold L. “Leftism, Catholicism and Democratic Corporatism.” In The Development of Welfare States in Western Europe, edited by Peter Flora and Arnold J. Heidenheimer. London: Transaction, 1981.