Christian Democratic Party Italy

Italian Prime Minister Ciriaco De Mita lost the leadership of the Christian Democratic Party in a vote at the end of a five-day party congress. Arnaldo Forlani, who took 84% of the delegate votes, will replace De Mita. The prime minister had strongly opposed Forlani, a former prime minister who led the party 16 years ago. The vote marked a return to a more traditional leadership of the party. DeMita is considered part of the party's left wing, and Forlani is a moderate.

Pope John Paul II stuck an oar into the troubled waters of Italian politics Monday in a controversial pre-electoral appeal urging Roman Catholics to reaffirm their political and cultural unity. A papal letter to Italian bishops was immediately seen as a rallying cry for the decaying Christian Democratic Party, long a Vatican--and American--favorite but now fast disintegrating in a welter of corruption after nearly half a century as the country's dominant political force.

The dominant Christian Democrats held their own in Rome's city council elections, seen as a test for Italy's national coalition. Despite a corruption scandal that tainted the party's outgoing mayor, final results of the two-day elections ending Monday gave the Christian Democrats nearly 32% of the vote, slightly less than in 1985. The council is likely to be ruled by the same outgoing coalition, in which the other parties are the Socialists, Republicans, Liberals and Social Democrats.

Bombarded by demands for change and appeals for continuity, enticed with extravagant promises of clean air, good hunting, free love and law and order, Italians went to the polls Sunday for the most uncertain and possibly most unsettling national election in four decades.

The Italian Communist Party suffered a surprising defeat while the dominant Christian Democrats and the pivotal Socialists scored gains in parliamentary elections Monday. But feuding between the two victorious parties is expected to delay formation of a stable coalition government for weeks or even months.

Bombarded by demands for change and appeals for continuity, enticed with extravagant promises of clean air, good hunting, free love and law and order, Italians went to the polls Sunday for the most uncertain and possibly most unsettling national election in four decades.

Campaigning for the general election ended Friday night, and the dominant Christian Democrats appealed for support by warning of a possible leftist victory led by the Communists, Italy's second-largest party. "Never before has a leftist alternative been so close," Christian Democrat leader Ciriaco De Mita said. He said that the voting on Sunday and Monday could result in a "majority of the left"--a government excluding Christian Democrats for the first time since World War II.

Pope John Paul II stuck an oar into the troubled waters of Italian politics Monday in a controversial pre-electoral appeal urging Roman Catholics to reaffirm their political and cultural unity. A papal letter to Italian bishops was immediately seen as a rallying cry for the decaying Christian Democratic Party, long a Vatican--and American--favorite but now fast disintegrating in a welter of corruption after nearly half a century as the country's dominant political force.

Against a backdrop of lofty rhetoric and savage infighting, Italy's largest political party is in the throes of a leadership change that could mean an early death for the coalition government led by Prime Minister Ciriaco De Mita. Delegates to a congress of the Christian Democratic Party, which has been Italy's party of government for four decades, will vote today to replace De Mita as party secretary and leader.

In the ruins of World War II, the southern Italian province of Avellino mirrored national misery and backwardness. Ciriaco De Mita remembers his town: 6,000 inhabitants and one car; houses with no electricity or running water. There were not enough schools, and little to eat. "Forty years ago we had a country that was destroyed, communications broken; no production, a population divided," De Mita recalled. "I was a student, and, I think, a good one, without any chance of getting to school.

The dominant Christian Democrats held their own in Rome's city council elections, seen as a test for Italy's national coalition. Despite a corruption scandal that tainted the party's outgoing mayor, final results of the two-day elections ending Monday gave the Christian Democrats nearly 32% of the vote, slightly less than in 1985. The council is likely to be ruled by the same outgoing coalition, in which the other parties are the Socialists, Republicans, Liberals and Social Democrats.

Italian Prime Minister Ciriaco De Mita lost the leadership of the Christian Democratic Party in a vote at the end of a five-day party congress. Arnaldo Forlani, who took 84% of the delegate votes, will replace De Mita. The prime minister had strongly opposed Forlani, a former prime minister who led the party 16 years ago. The vote marked a return to a more traditional leadership of the party. DeMita is considered part of the party's left wing, and Forlani is a moderate.

Against a backdrop of lofty rhetoric and savage infighting, Italy's largest political party is in the throes of a leadership change that could mean an early death for the coalition government led by Prime Minister Ciriaco De Mita. Delegates to a congress of the Christian Democratic Party, which has been Italy's party of government for four decades, will vote today to replace De Mita as party secretary and leader.

The Italian Communist Party suffered a surprising defeat while the dominant Christian Democrats and the pivotal Socialists scored gains in parliamentary elections Monday. But feuding between the two victorious parties is expected to delay formation of a stable coalition government for weeks or even months.

Campaigning for the general election ended Friday night, and the dominant Christian Democrats appealed for support by warning of a possible leftist victory led by the Communists, Italy's second-largest party. "Never before has a leftist alternative been so close," Christian Democrat leader Ciriaco De Mita said. He said that the voting on Sunday and Monday could result in a "majority of the left"--a government excluding Christian Democrats for the first time since World War II.

Sexual misconduct among American priests; the corruption and decadence of the Christian Democratic Party in Italy; the rise of evangelical Christianity in Latin America; the collapse of Catholic Christianity among the educated elites of Europe; the intellectual victory of liberal economics in the developing world--connect the dots and you get the picture of a church in crisis.