''Non abbiamo bisogno'' ( Italian for "We do not need") is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...

published on 29 June 1931 by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

Context

The encyclical condemned what it perceived as

Italian fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

's “ pagan worship of the State” ( statolatry) and “revolution which snatches the young from the Church and from Jesus Christ, and which inculcates in its own young people hatred, violence and irreverence.” The encyclical begins with the Pope's protest against Mussolini's closing of Italian

Catholic Action Catholic Action is a movement of Catholic laity, lay people within the Catholic Church which advocates for increased Catholic influence on society. Catholic Action groups were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic cou ...

and Catholic Youth organizations in that same year. Pius XI made protests not just about the closing of these Catholic associations, but also against false and defamatory reports ordered to be published in the Italian press by Mussolini. Pius also wrote that Mussolini's regime was anti-Catholic. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Secretary of State under Popes

Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignation on 28 Februar ...

and Francis, asserts that the encyclical was "strongly polemic" against Mussolini who ordered that Catholic youth associations be dissolved. The encyclical states, presumably meaning Mussolini, that:

55. Therefore We must say, and do hereby say, that he is a Catholic only in name and by baptism (in contradiction to the obligations of that name and to the baptismal promises) who adopts and develops a programme with doctrines and maxims so opposed to the rights of the Church of Jesus Christ and of souls, and who also misrepresents, combats and persecutes Catholic Action which, as is universally known, the Church and its Head regard as very dear and precious.https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_29061931_non-abbiamo-bisogno.html, 55

Regarding the National Fascist Party, the encyclical states that:

62. In everything that We have said up to the present, We have not said that We wished to condemn the ascistparty as such. Our aim has been to point out and to condemn all those things in the programme and in the activities of the party which have been found to be contrary to Catholic doctrine and Catholic practice, and therefore irreconcilable with the Catholic name and profession.

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''Non abbiamo bisogno''
Complete English text, on Vatican.va Encyclicals of Pope Pius XI 1931 documents 1931 in Christianity Anti-fascist works June 1931 History of Catholicism in Italy {{RC-document-stub

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See also

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