The Return of the "Christian Nation"

The theme of the "Christian nation" is an integral part of the program of political forces that aim to transform the European Union order from a liberal democracy to an illiberal one. The essay investigates the long history of this theme, showing how it represented one of the factors on which, during the twentieth century, the adhesion of Catholics to authoritarian and totalitarian political systems was built. Several documents of today's ecclesiastical authority, in particular some interventions of Pope Francis, warn Catholics from taking these orientations, underlining the contradiction between evangelical values and the social model proposed in the shadow of the reference to the Christian nation. However, in these teachings there remains a dear fragility: the lack of history, with the illustration of the tragic consequences of past convergences between Christianity and nationalism