La Civiltà Cattolica (Italian for Catholic Civilization) is a periodical published by the Jesuits in Rome, Italy. It has been published continuously since 1850 and is among the oldest of Italian Catholic periodicals. All of the journal's articles are the collective responsibility of the entire "college" of the magazine's writers even if published under a single author's name."The Vatican and Vaticanologists. A Very Special Kind of Journalism", Sandro Magister, www.chiesa.espresso.repubblica.i, 7.6.2005, It is the only one to be directly revised by the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and to receive its approval before being published."The Vatican and Vaticanologists. A Very Special Kind of Journalism", Sandro Magister, www.chiesa.espresso.repubblica.i, 7.6.2005,
The periodical is headquartered since 1951 in the Villa Malta (Pincian Hill) situated in Via F. Crispi, Rome.
In more recent times the magazine has advocated reaching out to children, teens, and young people who use and interact with social media (Facebook, Twitter, Skype, YouTube, etc., on devices such as the iPod and iPad) to an intense degree, and find ways to foster their faith life through interior meditation, including, among other exercises, the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Jesuits' founder.
Mission The journal seeks to promote a catholic culture, thought, and civilization in the modern world. Its founder, Fr. Carlo Maria Curci, wrote that it brings "the idea and the movement of civilization to that Catholic concept which it seems to have divorced from for about three centuries." Although the magazine aims to reach a wide audience and be understood by all, it intends to treat issues with scientific rigour.The official website
In his 2006 address to the college of journalists at the journal Pope Benedict XVI noted:
History
Founding of the periodical and Papal influence The periodical was founded by the Jesuit priest Carlo Maria Curci, who "felt the need for an exposition, at the highest intellectual level, of the point of view of the Papacy in matters religious and political."Hales, E.E.Y., Pio Nono, Image Books, 1962, p. 297 During the years of the risorgimento, the Church was physically and intellectually "in a state of siege"Hales, p. 296 and many thought the undertaking "too hazardous," but Pius IX himself "insisted that Curci was right that the flood of anti-Papal propaganda [from liberals, Protestants, and others] could only be met by a reasoned statement of the Papal case..."Hales, p. 297 Other sources cite the desire to defend "catholic civilization" against a perceived growing influence of liberals and freemasons.La Civiltà Cattolica: La storia , La Biblioteca del Senato della Repubblica "Giovanni Spadolini", 28 April 2011.La Nostra storia: L'idea che spinse alla fondazione della rivista , La Civiltà Cattolica. The first issue was released in Naples on 6 April 1850 in Italian (rather than Latin), although due to censorship by the House of Bourbon the editorial office was transferred to Rome that same year. Upon moving to Rome, the periodical became the unofficial voice of the Holy See.
The bimonthly journal was published through papal funding by order of Pope Pius IX and, according to Papal critic Susan Zucotti, readers recognised it as representing contemporary Vatican opinionZuccotti, p. 11 However, Catholic writer E.E.Y. Hales wrote that "it was not an official organ of the Papal government, indeed the Pope often expressed the keenest displeasure with what it said. Curci [the paper's first editor] was independent-minded; so were his collaborators..." Papal influence was demonstrated by the dismissal of Curci by Pius IX in 1875.
A special 50th anniversary edition of the journal asserted "More than a simple journal [La Civiltà Cattolica] is an institution desired and created by the Holy See and placed at exclusive service for the defense of the Sacred doctrine and the rights of the Church".Kertzer, p. 311 fn. 4 During the papacy of Pius X, the editor of the journal began to be appointed by the pope or with his approval. During the 1920s and 30s, the journal has been described as "extremely authoritative...because of its tight ties with the [Vatican] Secretary of State."Zuccotti, p. 11, quoting Giovanni Miccoli In 1924, Pope Pius XI wrote: "from the journal's very beginning the authors set for themselves that sacred and immutable duty of defending the rights of the Apostolic See and the Catholic faith, and struggling against the poison that the doctrine of liberalism had injected into the very veins of States and societies.."Kertzer, p. 324, fn. 11 citing (Civilta cattolica, 1924, III, p. 291) The historian Richard Webster described its influence in 1938 as reflecting the views of the Pontiff. During the papacy of Pius XII, all articles were reviewed prior to publication by the Secretariat of State.
In his 1999 address to the editorial staff to mark the 150th anniversary of journal, Pope John Paul II observed: Reviewing the past 150 years of your journal, we note a great variety of positions due to changing historical circumstances and to the personalities of the individual writers. However, in the broad, complex panorama of religious, social and political events that from 1850 to today have involved the Church and Italy, one constant can always be seen in the volumes of La Civiltà Cattolica: the total loyalty, even if sometimes difficult, to the teachings and directives of the Holy See and love and veneration for the person of the Pope.
Pope Pius IX supported the journal in order to have an effective means of defending Catholic thought. Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli also lent support. The Superior General of the Jesuits, Father Joannes Philippe Roothaan (1783–1853), was more cautious. He warned that Jesuit involvement in political issues might damage the Jesuit reputation. The periodical initially had a polemical tone. This was typical of Christian apologetics in the 19th century.
Early editors include: Luigi Taparelli D'Azeglio (1793–1862), philosopher of law. Matteo Liberatore (1810–1892), scholar of Thomist philosophy. Liberatore was a forerunner of Catholic social teaching. Pope Leo XIII asked him to outline the papal encyclical Rerum novarum. Antonio Bresciani (1798–1862), scholar of literature. Giovanni Battista Pianciani (1784–1862), scholar of Natural science.
As students, Jesuit priests Carlo Piccirillo (1821–1888) and Giuseppe Oreglia di Santo Stefano (1823–1895) contributed to the magazine.
On 12 February 1866, Pope Pius IX issued the Apostolic Brief Gravissimum Supremi with which he formed a College of Writers from those working on the journal. The special statute of the College of Writers was again confirmed by Pope Leo XIII in 1890.
When Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, publication of the periodical was suspended for three months. It was taken up again in Florence in 1871, where it stayed until returning to Rome in 1876.
Until 1933, the writers were anonymous. From that year on, the articles were signed.
La Civiltà Cattolica in the 19th century La Civiltà Cattolica contributed to the Syllabus of Errors, the First Vatican Council (1869–1870) and to the task of restoring Thomist philosophy, which flourished during the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII (1878–1903).
The journal held an anti-evolutionistic position, and was often the main source for Vatican thinking on the issue, as no direct statements were made.Artigas, 2, 5 However, the opening in 1998 of the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (previously called the Holy Office or the Congregation of the Index) revealed that on many crucial points and in specific cases, the Vatican position had been less dogmatic than the journal had suggested at the time.Artigas, 2, 5, 7–9, 220 etc.
The journal held a prominent role in the Italian political arena. It reviewed the events which led to the unification of Italy and the Roman Question. After the Capture of Rome in 1870, the journal opposed the liberalist political party and modernism.
During the late 1800s, the paper also published several antisemitic articles. According to Jewish writer Pinchas Lapide, the paper, for example, re-awoke the myth that Jews ritualistically killed Christian children to use the victim's blood in their bread: "In spite of six papal condemnations of the blood legend and in spite of Pope Innocent III's explicit command ('Nor shall anyone accuse them of using human blood in their religious rites.... [W]e strictly forbid the recurrence of such a thing') the order... published, between February 1881 and December 1882, a series of articles [which contained such assertions as]: 'Every year the Hebrews crucify a child... [and] in order that the blood be effective, the child must die in torment' (21 Jan. 1882, p. 214)."Lapide, Pinchas, Three Popes and the Jews, p. 81, Hawthorne Books, Inc., 1967 publication_date.
La Civiltà Cattolica and the rise of Fascism In the early 20th century, the journal promoted the development of a Catholic ruling class. (A decline had occurred particularly after the Non Expedit, a papal policy promulgated in the late 19th century that discouraged Catholics from taking an active part in the political process.) After the signing of the Lateran Treaty in 1929, Father Enrico Rosa, the editor of the journal met with Alleanza Nazionale, (an anti-fascist) group of Catholic monarchists. In 1936, Father Antonio Messineo (1897–1968) published an article in La Civiltà Cattolica about the legitimacy of colonialism. At the time, Italy was annexing Ethiopia in opposition to the League of Nations.
In 1937 the journal published the letter of the Spanish bishops dated 1 July 1937 dealing with the civil war. This letter, supporting the dictatorial movement of general Francisco Franco was ignored by the Osservatore Romano.