Pope Pius XI Issues the Encyclical “Non Abbiamo Bisogno”: June 29, 1931

This text comes from our book, Light to the Nations, Part II.

Though King Vittorio Emanuele III sincerely wanted to keep all the terms of the concordat, he was not the real power in Italy. That power was Mussolini, and Mussolini had made peace with the Church to increase his popularity with the Italian people. But Mussolini was not about to let the Catholic Church interfere with his power. Thus, within a year after the signing of the Lateran Treaty and the concordat, the Fascist government began restricting the Church’s freedom in Italy.

Vittore Emanuele III

The Fascists first targeted Italy’s youth by requiring every young Italian to join a Fascist youth organization. Next, they forbade Catholic Action groups to hold any public meetings. Catholic Action was very dear to Pius XI, and he took special care that it remain a purely religious organization and take no part in party politics. The Fascists, however, began to claim that Catholic Action was indeed a political group, and in 1931 the government ordered every Catholic Action group in Italy to disband. The government also suppressed groups that engaged in religious education of youth and banned societies that encouraged pious practices among the young. Throughout 1930 and 1931, Blackshirt gangs attacked Catholics, murdering in all about three thousand people.

Pope Pius XI faced a difficult decision. If he remained quiet in the face of such assaults on Catholics, he would be abandoning his flock to its enemies. If, however, he spoke out against the Fascists, Mussolini might decide to break the Lateran Treaty and overthrow the Holy See’s newly won independence. But Pius did not hesitate. He decided he would act as a shepherd. He would not abandon his sheep, whatever the consequences.

The pope responded to the Fascist persecution by issuing the encyclical, Non Abbiamo Bisogno, on June 29, 1931—the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul. In this encyclical, written in Italian, the pope did not mention Mussolini or the Fascists by name, but he was very clear about whom he spoke. In attacking Catholic Action, said the pope, the government’s purpose was “to tear the young—all the young—away from the Church.” The Fascists wanted complete control over the minds of youth, “from their tenderest years up to manhood and womanhood” in order, said the pope, to establish “a real pagan worship of the State.”

Pope Pius XI

Pope Pius said he did not want to condemn “the party” itself; but, he said, its totalitarian actions violated “the natural rights of the family” as well as the “supernatural rights of the Church.” The Fascist government was fighting against “all truth and justice” and, if necessary, Catholics must disobey it. The Church, said the pope, could never allow herself to be used as a tool of the state. The Church had rights she had received from God, and no one, not even the head of state, might violate them. The Church, said the pope, was ready to cooperate with the Italian government but would resist any action that violated the law of God. If the government continued its assault on the Church, said the pope, it might find it was only hurting itself—for the government needed the friendship of the Church more than the Church needed the friendship of the government.

Non Abbiamo Bisogno was a daring strike against Mussolini and the Fascists. But Mussolini did not strike back. He saw that the pope was right—the Fascist government needed to keep peace with the Church. Mussolini thus pulled back on his attacks against the Church, and Catholic Action again began functioning in Italy. The pope had won this battle, at least, against the government. It would not be his last fight with Mussolini, but the pope’s defense of the rights of the Church in Non Abbiamo Bisogno showed the Fascist dictator that he had a formidable opponent in the person of Pope Pius XI.