In the first years of the 20th century, the so-called "Gewerkschaftsstreit" (“trade union controversy”) was a hot topic for the Catholic minority in German Empire. This consisted in the contrast between two very different concepts of trade unionism which Catholics could belong to and particularly of its activities, its attitude towards Protestants and, most of all, towards the ecclesiastical authority. The Roman Curia of Pius X (1903-1914), which after 1907 was deeply absorbed by the repression of Modernism, could not avoid turning its attention to the issue, also in view of the numerous requests coming from Germany itself. To put an end to the sharp divisions inside German Catholicism, the Pope promulgated a specific Encyclical on the "Gewerkschaftsstreit" in September 1912 , the "Singulari quadam". Basing on material in the Vatican Secret Archives, the paper aims at providing a detailed reconstruction of the origin of this important papal document for the first time.
Curia romana e "Gewerkschaftsstreit". Prime considerazioni sull'origine dell'enciclica "Singulari quadam" (1912)
Francesco Tacchi
2018-01-01
Abstract
In the first years of the 20th century, the so-called "Gewerkschaftsstreit" (“trade union controversy”) was a hot topic for the Catholic minority in German Empire. This consisted in the contrast between two very different concepts of trade unionism which Catholics could belong to and particularly of its activities, its attitude towards Protestants and, most of all, towards the ecclesiastical authority. The Roman Curia of Pius X (1903-1914), which after 1907 was deeply absorbed by the repression of Modernism, could not avoid turning its attention to the issue, also in view of the numerous requests coming from Germany itself. To put an end to the sharp divisions inside German Catholicism, the Pope promulgated a specific Encyclical on the "Gewerkschaftsstreit" in September 1912 , the "Singulari quadam". Basing on material in the Vatican Secret Archives, the paper aims at providing a detailed reconstruction of the origin of this important papal document for the first time.I documenti in ARCA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.