The Opera dei Congressi or Work of the Congress was 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 ...

organisation that promoted Catholic ideas and culture. It was created in 1874, and observed the positions of the Catholic Church, in particular '' Non Expedit''.Helena Dawes (2011). The Catholic Church and the woman question: Catholic feminism in Italy in the early 1900s. ''

The Catholic Historical Review ''The Catholic Historical Review'' (CHR) is the official organ of the American Catholic Historical Association. It was established at The Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research u ...

'' 97 (3): 484–526 It began as a non-political group but moved into protesting the imprisonment in the Vatican of the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

. It fought against

anticlerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...

legislation and the many divorce bills that were introduced by successive liberal governments (1861–1922). It was organised in a hierarchical way, with headquarters at local, regional and

diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

levels. After 1880, it had a surge in popularity and promoted economic and social activity with farm loan banks,

mutual aid societies A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, or fraternal benefit order is a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief from sundry difficulties. Such organizations may be formally organized with ...

, and

cooperatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

. Its influence was at its height in 1897, but it was temporarily disbanded in 1898 after being blamed for widespread bread riots. It was dissolved in 1904 by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...

References

Further reading