“The Young Christian Workers Movement and the Radicalization of Social Conflict in Mediterranean Europe”

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), with its redefinition of relations between the Church and the contemporary world, impelled believers to take on a greater commitment in society, inviting them at the same time to support and strengthen democratic institutions. This resulted in a thrust towards a demand for greater social justice, widespread especially among the young, with its main source of inspiration being in religious tension. At European level this unrest met with the aspirations towards change of the working class, within which Christian associations, linked at transnational level, were extremely active: thus, a renewed religious identity stimulated new and radical forms of political participation as well as new and radical projects for social transformation from a democratic and European perspective.