Christian Democracy (, DC) is a minor
Christian democratic
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
and strongly
social-conservative political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. The current leader of the party is
Denis Martucci
Denis may refer to:
People
* Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris
* Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure
* Denis, Bishop of Győr (13th century), Hungarian prelate
* Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), baron ...
.
The party proposed itself as the core of a refoundation of the original
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
and to effect the reunification of all the various Christian-democratic parties in Italy. It was once part of the
Union centre-left coalition, but then distanced itself from it, promoting an autonomous path and becoming a minor ally of
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom (, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched by Silvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, including and National Alliance, on 27 February for the 2008 Italian general election. The list was later t ...
, later
Forza Italia
(FI; ) was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic,Chiara Moroni, , Carocci, Rome 2008 liberalOreste Massari, ''I partiti politici nelle democrazie contempoiranee'', Laterza, Rome-Bari 2004 (esp ...
.
History
In December
Alessandro Duce (last administrative secretary of the
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
) presented a summons to the Civil Court of Rome and obtained from the then President of the Court
Luigi Scotti the notification, by public proclamations, of the convocation of a new assembly to all members of the National Council of the party elected on the occasion of the 18th congress, through publication in the Official Gazette on 4 February 2002. The aim was to ascertain and declare that there had been no deliberative acts of dissolution of the Christian Democracy and that the legal representative of that party, although in a state of ''prorogatio'', was still the same Duce.
Duce was acclaimed political secretary of the party on 16 March 2002, but after a few days the Tribunal decreed that the resolutions that had changed the name of the DC were legitimate and therefore that there had been no "dormant" party since 1994. The legal events the former Christian Democrats therefore only concerned the
Italian People's Party (PPI) and the
United Christian Democrats
The United Christian Democrats (, CDU) was a minor Christian democratic political party in Italy. The CDU was a member of the European People's Party from 1995 until 2002.
History
The party was started in 1995 by splinters of the Italian People ...
(CDU), while Duce, using the old name and the symbol of the party, had violated an agreement that he too had signed in 1999 (agreement between the PPI and the CDU which sanctioned mortgage recognition, in favor of two parties, of the ownership of the name and the symbol of "Christian Democracy" and which has committed both sides not to use them and to prevent even new political formations from using them).
Between June 2002 and December 2003 the party was led by
Angelo Sandri
Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger".
People People with the given name
* Angelo Abenante (1927–2024), Italian trade unionist and politician
* Angelo Accardi, Italian visual artist
* Angelo Acc ...
. In the
2004 European Parliament election
The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...
, the party ran under the banner of
New Country, winning only 0.2% of the vote. This alliance was not agreed by Sandri, who was ousted by new secretary
Giuseppe Pizza in July 2004, leading him to launch his own
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
.
Since then there had been several disputes between Pizza and Sandri on the property of the name and the symbol, which was also claimed by the
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats
The Union of the Centre (, UdC), whose complete name is Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy.
Lorenzo Cesa is the part ...
(UDC) and especially by
Rocco Buttiglione
Rocco Buttiglione (; born 6 June 1948) is an Italian Union of Christian and Centre Democrats politician and an academic. Buttiglione's nomination for a post as European Commissioner with a portfolio that was to include civil liberties, resulted ...
, former leader of the
United Christian Democrats
The United Christian Democrats (, CDU) was a minor Christian democratic political party in Italy. The CDU was a member of the European People's Party from 1995 until 2002.
History
The party was started in 1995 by splinters of the Italian People ...
, who used the symbol from 1995 to 2002, before passing it to UDC. However, in November 2006, a tribunal of
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
declared Pizza's Christian Democracy as the only legitimate heir of the historical DC. This ruling was contested both by Sandri and Buttiglione.
In the
2006 general election the party, which was not yet permitted to use the historical symbol of DC, formed an alliance with the
Consumers' List
The Consumers' List () was a political party in Italy.
History
The party was founded in 2004 by Carlo Rienzi, President of the Codacons association (''Coordination of associations for environmental protection and user and consumer rights'') ...
within the
Union. The alliance elected only a
senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
in
Calabria
Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
, home-region of Giuseppe Pizza:
Pietro Fuda
Pietro is an Italian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include:
People
* Pietro I Candiano (c. 842–887), briefly the 16th Doge of Venice
* Pietro Tribuno (died 912), 17th Doge of Venice, from 887 to his death
* Pietro II Can ...
, member of the
Southern Democratic Party The Southern Democratic Party (, PDM) was a centrist political party in Italy based in Calabria.
The Southern Democratic Party was founded in 2006, as a split from the regional organisation of Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy. The PDM's leader w ...
.
In September 2007, after polling about 1% nationally in May provincial elections, several tiny centrist and Christian-democratic parties, including
Veneto for the EPP led by
Giorgio Carollo
Giorgio Carollo (born 30 March 1944 in Vicenza) is an Italian politician.
He is a Member of the European Parliament for North-East, elected with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Commit ...
, began to unite under its banner. In October 2007, DC formed a federation with Veneto for the EPP and
Liga Fronte Veneto
Liga Veneta Repubblica (''Łiga Vèneta Republica'', Venetian Republic League, LVR) is a Venetist political party in Veneto, Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, West ...
, a separatist group formed by the
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta (; ; abbr. LV), whose complete name is (), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and support for fiscal federalism, was established in 1979 under the slogan "farthe ...
–
Lega Nord
Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...
fissure, however the alliance was soon disbanded.
In the
2008 general election the party supported
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom (, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched by Silvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, including and National Alliance, on 27 February for the 2008 Italian general election. The list was later t ...
(PdL). But the party was excluded by the Ministry of the Interior from the electoral competition because of the similarity of its symbol with that of UDC, only to be re-introduced ten days before the election. Since the re-printing of the election ballots would have taken more than a week, Giuseppe Pizza decided not to take part to the election, in order to avoid the postponement of the election. Soon after the election, which was convincingly won by the centre-right, Giuseppe Pizza was appointed Under-Secretary of Education, University and Research in
Berlusconi IV Cabinet
The fourth Berlusconi government was the 60th Cabinet (government), government of Politics of Italy, Italy, in office from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011. It was the fourth government led by Silvio Berlusconi, who then became the longest-serving ...
.
In March 2012 former DC president Darida launched a new
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...
along with
Gianni Fontana
Giovanni Angelo Fontana (born 1 April 1944) is an Italian politician and lawyer.
Biography
Born in Verona, Fontana graduated in law from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. He was elected for the first time in Parliament in 1972. He als ...
,
Silvio Lega and
Giampiero Catone
Giampiero Catone (born 1 June 1956 in Naples, Campania) is an Italian politician and journalist.
Biography
Giampiero Catone was born on 1 June 1956 in Naples. He graduated in Political Sciences at the D'Annunzio University of Chieti–Pescara ...
.
In the
2013 general election the DC made its entry into the
Italian Parliament
The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...
, by electing
Antonio Marotta and
Riccardo Gallo to the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
in the PdL's list, while Pizza was not elected.
Pizza: Berlusconi Uber Alles
In November 2013 Pizza and other party members joined the new Forza Italia
(FI; ) was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic,Chiara Moroni, , Carocci, Rome 2008 liberalOreste Massari, ''I partiti politici nelle democrazie contempoiranee'', Laterza, Rome-Bari 2004 (esp ...
, so the party leadership was assumed by Denis Martucci, former secretary of the Piedmontese section of the party.
Leadership
*Secretary: Alessandro Duce (2002), Angelo Sandri
Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger".
People People with the given name
* Angelo Abenante (1927–2024), Italian trade unionist and politician
* Angelo Accardi, Italian visual artist
* Angelo Acc ...
(2002–2003), Giuseppe Pizza (2003–2013), Denis Martucci
Denis may refer to:
People
* Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris
* Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure
* Denis, Bishop of Győr (13th century), Hungarian prelate
* Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), baron ...
(2015– )
*President: Carlo Senaldi
Carlo Senaldi (7 November 1941 – 19 April 2025) was an Italian politician who served as a Deputy. He died on 19 April 2025, at the age of 83.
References
1941 births
2025 deaths
Italian politicians
{{Italy-bio-stub ...
(2002–2003), Angelo Sandri
Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger".
People People with the given name
* Angelo Abenante (1927–2024), Italian trade unionist and politician
* Angelo Accardi, Italian visual artist
* Angelo Acc ...
(2003–2004), Giuseppe Alessi (2004–2009), Alessandro Nasti (2009–2013)
References
External links
Official website
{{Italian political parties
2002 establishments in Italy
Christian democratic parties in Italy
Catholic political parties
Political parties established in 2002