The battle for divorce in Italy and opposition from the Catholic world (1861-1974)

The issue of divorce is a thermometer of the cultural, religious and political sensitivity of Italy’s citizens and political caste. In the liberal period (1961-1922) Italy, a profoundly Catholic country with the Vatican City on its own territory, attempted to establish the non-religious nature of the State, yet its ruling class never dared pose the problem of the divorce law. Subsequently, with the advent of fascism, close relations were established between the State and the Church, which prevented any challenge to the indissolubility of marriage for years to come. Not until the ‘Sixties and ‘Seventies, in the wake of the changes induced by the Vatican Council II and the new national and international climate in politics, did many believers start freely discussing the possibility of a divorce law in Italy.