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May 19, 2013  |  About the Berkley Center  |  Directions to the Center  |  Subscribe
 
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COUNTRY

Italy

POPULATION

61,261,254 (July 2012 est.)

GDP PER CAPITA

$30,900 (2011 est.)

RELIGIONS

Christian 80% (overwhelming Roman Catholic with very small groups of Jehova Witnesses and Protestants), Muslims NEGL (about 700,000 but growing), Atheists and Agnostics 20%


Italy

Italy

People (6)

Italy is a secular republic with a national identity rooted firmly in Roman Catholicism. Throughout its history, the Catholic Church has been based in Rome, with most popes being Italian, and has played a primary role in shaping Italian social and political developments over the last 1,600 years. The unification and independence of Italy was achieved over the second half of the 19th century against the wishes of the Vatican. Catholicism was disestablished as the state religion in 1984 but remains a hallmark of Italian society, and the Church is influential in most political parties. While the constitution guarantees religious freedom, the Church receives nearly all the taxes collected under a law in which taxpayers choose what organization will receive 0.8% of their annual income. However, Italian society and government do not always abide by Catholic teachings: divorce and abortion have been legalized in recent decades.

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  • Berlusconisilvio Silvio Berlusconi
    Silvio Berlusconi served as Prime Minister of Italy on three occasions since 1994, making him the second longest-serving Prime Minister in Italy's history. He is also the country's wealthiest man. Berlusconi entered politics in 1993 when he formed the Forza Italia party, later joining other conservative forces to form the People of Freedom party. His investment company controls the three major television stations in Italy, raising concerns that he can ensure positive media coverage of...
  • Francofrattini Franco Frattini
    Franco Frattini is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, having previously served in that position from 2002-04. From 2004-08 he was a vice president of the European Commission, responsible for the Justice, Freedom and Security portfolio. Frattini trained in law and worked as a state attorney and legal adviser to the treasury, and during the early 1990s Frattini had various appointments in the Prime Minister's Office before serving as Minister for the Civil Service and Regional Affairs...
  • Popeleoxiii Pope Leo XIII
    Pope Leo XIII (Gioacchino Vincenzo Pecci) laid the groundwork for modern Catholic social teaching while forcefully opposing both Marxism and liberalism. His pontificate (1878-1903) was marked by sustained engagement in political affairs. Leo engaged the wider world to an unprecedented degree, addressing an encyclical to the Bishops of Brazil on slavery, establishing a Catholic hierarchy in India, and corresponding with the Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Persian leaders concerning the rights...
  • Yahyasergiopallavicini Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini
    Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini is Imam of the al-Wahid Mosque in Milan, and Vice President of CO.RE.IS., the Islamic Religious Community of Italy, an organization dedicated to providing information on Islamic civilization in Italy and the West. He is also Chairman of the Council for Education and Culture in the West as part of the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and is Advisor for Islamic Affairs of the Italian Minister of the Interior. Yahya Pallavicini is widely...
  • Popepiusxi Pope Pius XI
    Pope Pius XI (Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti) oversaw a period (1922-39) in which the Vatican became embroiled with numerous European powers. In 1929, Pius signed the Lateran Treaty with Mussolini, which secured an independent Vatican State. A deteriorating relationship led to the encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogno (1931), in which he criticized the regime. Fearing the social upheaval of communist movements, Pius sided with Franco in Spain. After Germany utterly disregarded a 1933 concordat, Pius...
  • Piusxii Pope Pius XII
    Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Giuseppe Pacelli) authored 41 encyclicals and counts as one of only two popes ever to invoke ex cathedra infallibility in declaring the Assumption of Mary, yet his writings remain overshadowed by his involvement in World War II. Pius sought a position of impartiality akin to that of Benedict XV during the First World War. He rejected Allied entreaties to condemn Hitler's campaign against the Jews for fear that the German retribution on Catholics would be devastating. In...