Abstract

This article reports selected results from a study on ecclesiastical communication during the Italian political transition. In particular the study aimed to investigate how the catholic church dealt with the demise of the Christian Democrat Party, which had been the traditional catholic party in the Italian political system for over forty years. In order to examine this problem in the communication perspective, attention was focused on the political communication of catholic weekly periodicals, which represent an important network comprising almost 140 magazines. This network is particularly interesting, although it does not constitute the central sphere of ecclesiastic communication. Almost all of the editors of diocese weeklies were interviewed. They are not just communication managers but also important opinion leaders of the local churches. The questionnaire included items about the magazine itself and editors' political attitudes. Results confirm that most of the magazines do not pay new catholic-inspired parties (Ppi, Cdu and Ccd) the same attention that Christian Democrats previously enjoyed. Furthermore, a minority of directors approve of catholic political representation linked to the potential establishment of a sole catholic party. In fact, most of them think that catholic political action should be made by choosing the ethical content and the social projects yet to be achieved through politics, without a specific reference party. They believe that this can be obtained by co-ordinating catholics who belong to different parties.