Christian Democracy
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Christian Democracy is a political ideology, born at the end of the 19th century, largely as a result of the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII, in which the Vatican recognizes workers' misery and agrees that something should be done about it, in reaction to the rise of the socialist and trade-union movements. The position of the Roman Catholic Church on this matter was further clarified in a subsequent encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno, by Pope Pius XI in 1931. Though the Christian Democratic movement is very heterogeneous, it generally agrees on certain topics. The proposed design of the State is different from that advocated by the liberals: it must be decentralized, to be made up by various bodies, but to have an unquestionable capacity. Christian Democracy sees economy as being at the service of humanity; however, most Christian Democratic Parties do not call the basic idea of capitalism itself into question. While some Christian Democratic Parties have adopted economic policies more leaning towards socialism. The duty of the State to care for its citizens is thus of some importance for Christian Democrats; this overlaps somewhat with the ideas of Christian socialism.
Christian Democrats tend to follow the Vatican positions on some public-moral issues. However, most of them have accepted separation of church and state, divorce and, at times, even abortion.
Christian Democracy has been especially important in Italy, inspired by Don Sturzo, Norway (see KrF) and Germany (see CDU and CSU).
There are also Christian trade unions that set themselves apart from revolutionary trade unions.
See also
External link
- Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats in the European Parliament (http://www.epp-ed.org/)
de:Christdemokratie es:Democracia cristiana fr:Démocratie chrétienne nl:Christen-democratie pl:Chrześcijańska demokracja sv:Kristdemokrati
| See: Christian politics (index) for articles related to this subject. |
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