The Christian Associations of Italian Workers (''Associazioni Cristiane dei Lavoratori Italiani'', ACLI; alternatively translated as Italian Christian Workers' Association) are a widespread lay

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Its work is based on the

Catholic social teaching Catholic social teaching, commonly abbreviated CST, is an area of Catholic doctrine concerning matters of human dignity and the common good in society. The ideas address oppression, the role of the state (polity), state, subsidiarity, social o ...

. The ACLI were founded in 1944 in reaction to the decision by Catholic trade unionists to take part to the foundation of the unitary

Italian General Confederation of Labour The Italian General Confederation of Labour (; CGIL) is a national trade union based in Italy. It was formed by agreement between socialists, communists, and Christian democrats in the "Pact of Rome" of June 1944. In 1950, socialists and Christi ...

(CGIL). In 1948 ACLI leaders contributed to the foundation of the

Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions The Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori (''CISL''; ''Italian Confederation of Trade Unions'') is an Italian trade union association representing various Catholic–inspired groups linked with Christian Democracy. It was founded on 30 Apr ...

(CISL), a Christian-oriented split from the CGIL, which had come under

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

influence. The ACLI first leader,

Achille Grandi Achille Grandi (24 August 1883 – 28 September 1946) was an Italian politician and catholic syndicalist. Grandi was born in Como, Italy. In 1918 he entered the secretariat of the Confederazione Italiana dei Lavoratori CIL being one of its fo ...

, was a

Christian Democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

member of the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

. During the leadership of

Livio Labor Livio is both a masculine Italian given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name: *Livio Abramo (1903–1993), Brazilian artist *Livio Agresti (1508–1580), Italian painter *Livio Bendaña Espinoza (born 1935), Nicaragu ...

(1961–1969), who would later form a left-wing party named Workers' Political Movement (MPL) and be elected senator for the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

(PSI) in 1976, the ACLI broke their ties with the DC. Under

Emilio Gabaglio Emilio Gabaglio (born 1 July 1937) is an Italian former trade union leader. Born in Como, Gabaglio studied economics at the University of Milan. He became a secondary school teacher, and in 1964 he joined a union which was affiliated to the Ital ...

(1969–1972), who proposed a "socialist ipothesis", the ACLI went further to the left. Gabaglio was criticized by Labor and the ACLI, which suffered the split of the Workers Christian Movement in 1970, were deplored by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

in 1971. Under Marino Carboni (1972–1976) the ACLI made "peace" with the Catholic hierarchy and re-established their "collateralism" with the DC. The ACLI used to have great influence on Italian society and politics. Most of their leaders played an active role in politics. In 1994, when the DC was dissolved, most ACLI members joined the Italian People's Party (PPI), with the notable exceptions of Gabaglio and Franco Passuello (1994–1998), who joined the

Social Christians The Social Christians ( it, Cristiano Sociali) are a Christian social-democratic faction within the Democratic Party, a political party in Italy. Before that, they were a party (1993–1998) and a faction of the Democrats of the Left (1998–2007 ...

(CS) and later the

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...

(DS). Giovanni Bianchi (1987–1994) was the president of the PPI from 1994 to 1997. More recently, Luigi Bobba (1998–2006) was elected senator for the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(PD), the party born in 2007 upon the union of

Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy ( it, Democrazia è Libertà – La Margherita, DL), commonly known simply as The Daisy (''La Margherita''), was a centrist political party in Italy. The party was formed from the merger of three parties within ...

(DL), in which the PPI was merged in 2002, with the DS, while

Andrea Olivero Andrea Olivero (born 24 February 1970) is the Italian Vice Minister for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and a senator of the Italian Republic. He has been President of the Christian Associations of Italian Workers from 2006 to 2012. B ...

(2006–2013) was successively active in

Civic Choice Civic Choice ( it, Scelta Civica; SC) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy founded by Mario Monti. The party was formed in the run-up of the 2013 general election to support the outgoing Prime Minister Monti and continue his polit ...

(SC), the

Populars for Italy Populars for Italy ( it, Popolari per l'Italia, PpI) is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy led by Mario Mauro, minister of Defence in Letta Cabinet and, previously, long-serving MEP for Forza Italia. History The party was launched i ...

(PpI) and

Solidary Democracy Solidary Democracy ( it, Democrazia Solidale, DemoS) is a Christian-leftist political party in Italy. The party's early leader, Lorenzo Dellai has described it as a " Christian-social" party. DemoS is led by Paolo Ciani; several party members, ...

(DemoS).

Leadership

*Presidents:

(1944–1945), Ferdinando Storchi (1945–1954), Dino Penazzato (1954–1960), Ugo Piazzi (1960–1961),

(1961–1969),

(1969–1972), Marino Carboni (1972–1976), Domenico Rosati (1976–1987), Giovanni Bianchi (1987–1994), Franco Passuello (1994–1998), Luigi Bobba (1998–2006),

(2006–2013), Gianni Bottalico (2013–2016), Roberto Rossini (2016–present)

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Catholic lay organisations Catholic Church in Italy Political organisations based in Italy