The Italian Christian Democratic Party within the International Christian-Democratic Organizations: Nationalism, Europeanism and Religious Identity (1947-1954)

This essay analyzes the role played by the Italian Catholic party within the International Christian organizations. The goal is to define the relationships between several Christian-inspired parties of Western Europe, considering above all in which way they have tried to overcome their ideological differences to build a common political strategy on important themes such as the European unification, the relationship with the USA and the anticommunist propaganda. Through the analysis of minutes of international meetings, the author determines the overall cultural and political proposal of the Christian Democratic parties, focusing on their articulated elaboration of the myth of Christian Europe conceived as a driving idea capable of creating a consensus to mobilize the masses and public opinion in competition with communist and nationalist forces.