Word: sturzo
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Against such formidable opposition, Mario Scelba needed every vote and every boost he could muster. The most dramatic boost came from a distinguished quarter: Don Luigi Sturzo, the aged (82) priest who founded the Christian Democratic Party but now lives deep in the background like a brooding, often disapproving party conscience. Because Catholic Italy resents clericalism in politics, Christian Democratic leaders like Alcide de Gasperi try to minimize their ties with the Vatican, but that is not enough for Don Sturzo; he objects to any relationship at all. Last week Don Luigi paid a rare visit to the Senate, where...
Early Life: Born in Caltagirone, Sicily, Sept. 5, 1901, christened Mario Scelba (pronounced Shell-ba). His poor family sharecropped land owned by Don Luigi Sturzo, Italy's great political priest who founded what is now the Christian Democratic Party. Don Luigi was the boy's godfather, paid for his law studies in Rome, employed him as his private secretary, thus launched him in politics...
...courteously consulted ruffled deputies. He dashed off an earnest public message to Party Leader Alcide de Gasperi: "On my taking office . . . my first affectionate, devout and admiring thought goes to you." He made a personal trip out the New Appian Way to a convent where resides frail Don Luigi Sturzo, the aged priest who founded the Christian Democrat Party, was once Scelba's mentor (see box). Though Scelba was unable to persuade the last two Premiers (Amintore Fanfani and Giuseppe Pella) to serve in his cabinet, Attilio Piccioni, a right-winger, agreed to stay on as Foreign Minister. Scelba...
...Luigi Sturzo's creation, the Popular Party, set out to bring Christian morality and principles into distinctly non-Christian Italian politics-"a center party of Christian inspiration and oriented toward the left," he called...
Riots & Parades. In an Italy tossed between Marxist riots and Blackshirt parades, Don Luigi and De Gasperi tried desperately to head off Fascism by proposing a coalition with the Socialists, but their efforts failed. After Mussolini took over, Sturzo fled into exile in 1924, and De Gasperi became leader of the party...