L'economia dei gesuiti. «La Civiltà Cattolica», «Aggiornamenti Sociali» e la questione dell'intervento pubblico nel secondo dopoguerra (1945-1962)

In the postwar period, the question of the forms and limits of State intervention in the economy aroused lively discussions in Italy and drew the attention also of members of the Society of Jesus. The paper examines the divergent views expressed in this regard by the Jesuit journals «La Civiltà Cattolica» and «Aggiornamenti Sociali»: although public initiative was admitted by both, it was regarded with strong diffidence in the Roman periodical, while it was judged more positively by the Milanese one. A common reference point was the principle of subsidiarity: this, however, was not interpreted in the same way. The dualism regarding the economic sphere was linked to different evaluations of the political developments in the country, and especially of the possibility of dialogue with the Socialists: thus, in the last years of Pius XII's pontificate, the Jesuit “laboratory” ended up representing and supporting heterogeneous positions within Italian Catholicism.