Catholics and Political Violence in the Twentieth Century

Lucia Ceci is Professor of Contemporary History at the Tor Vergata University of Rome. Her research interests include the relationships between Catholicism, politics, and ideologies in the twentieth century. As well as writing five books on these themes, including The Vatican and Mussolini’s Italy (2016), whose original Italian edition (2013) won the Friuli History Award, she has edited eight others, and published numerous articles.

• Introduction 1. The mystique of sacrifice and political violencePassion and resurrection in IrelandDoctrine, public opinion, and politicsA war waged by saintsSquadrismo, violence, and obedience2. Tradition and rebellion in MexicoAgainst the secular stateHard-line rebels‘Cristeros’In defence of the faith3. Sacralized insurrectionCrusade and terror in SpainA universal struggle in a national battlegroundThe Church in combatEl derecho a la rebeldíaHoly war and the Holy Office4. Revolution and incitement to hatred: the deliberations of Rome during total warThe battle between devilsThe truly Catholic warThe heresy of hatred5. Holy war during the Cold WarNot revolution, but warA crusade to save Hungary?Global mobilizationDiscrimination and disadvantage6. Latin America and revolution as an obligationArmed charity from sociology to guerrilla warfareTransatlantic circulation of ideasTheology and revolutionViolence by the peace-lovers and the mystique of guerrilla warfareFrom liberation to human rights7. Words and deedsThe increasing disconnectionA Catholic element in the origins of the Red Brigades?Division and infiltrationThe beginning of the endThe ‘Sands bomb’8. Rwanda: colonialism and its legacyA ‘Catholic country’ in central AfricaThe Church during the revolutionConstruction of ‘the enemy within’Complicity and silence9. The end of the revolution?Rosaries, not bullets: the Aquino ‘miracl’ in the PhilippinesLights in the East and the ‘morality of means’Ambivalende and the peace process in the Basque CountryDemocracy and policies of terror: Peru’s tragic twenty yearsArmed for life: anti-abortion attacks in the United StatesConclusions