ALLIANCE. — Under this name are known several Protestant organizations, the principal of which are:
1) WORLD’S EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE (World's Evangelical Alliance). — In 1844 Gregory XVI, with the encyclical *Inter praecipuas* of 5 May, condemned the Christian Alliance that had been founded in the United States. Two years later, in 1846, the World Evangelical Alliance was constituted in London. Eight hundred delegates from various sects and many countries attended. The “Doctrinal Basis” was immediately approved, consisting of nine articles or points, though these were not considered an obligatory “creed” but rather essential doctrines for Christians who wished to belong to the Alliance. Among the aforementioned points, note should be taken of the second: the right and duty of private judgment in the interpretation of Holy Scripture; and the sixth: the justification of the sinner by faith alone. It is therefore a distinctly Protestant organization. The purpose of the Alliance, repeated on the cover of individual issues of the journal *The Evangelical Christendom*, which is its official organ, is that “English Christians and those of other nations should realize within themselves and manifest to others the living and essential union of all believers in the school of Christ.” The Alliance professes to work for the promotion of cooperation and unity, the defense of religious freedom, the assistance of persecuted Christians, the fostering of union in prayer, the preservation of evangelical truth and love, etc.; yet from its writings and its history of nearly a century, it is evident that it has always opposed every attempt at union with Catholics; it has never defended the religious freedom of Catholics when they were persecuted, for example during the German Kulturkampf, by Calles in Mexico, and by revolutionaries in Spain; and in its pamphlets and writings it has never shown evangelical love toward Catholics, but rather aversion not far removed from hatred.
The Alliance found favorable reception among the sects of almost all countries, including Italy, whose journals and publications publish each year the themes for the Week of Prayer. In individual nations, the sects united to the Alliance have a national committee, but the principal committee has always been that of London. Every four or five years general meetings are held, in which attacks against the Catholic Church are never lacking. The principal elements of the Alliance, besides the general congresses, are the Week of Prayer and the press. During the Week of Prayer, from 7 to 14 January, general and more specific topics are usually proposed. Its publications, both regular and occasional, are generally opposed to the Catholic Church, with a hostility reminiscent of the worst polemics of the sixteenth century.
2) PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE OR ALLIANCE OF REFORMED CHURCHES GOVERNED BY THE PRESBYTERIAN SYSTEM (Alliance of Reformed Churches through the World holding the Presbyterian System). — Presbyterianism is not synonymous with Calvinism. The latter refers to the doctrines of Calvin, while the former refers to the system or ecclesiastical polity established by him, according to which the Church is to be governed by elders (presbyters), both lay and clerical. There are Presbyterian churches that do not profess all Calvinist doctrines.
The founding of the World Evangelical Alliance inspired Presbyterians to establish among themselves an alliance that, without undermining the independence of individual Reformed churches, would serve as a bond to assist one another and to deal with common affairs such as missions, etc. The Presbyterian Alliance was founded in 1875.
The Alliance is composed not of individuals but of Churches (even of consistories), with a number of delegates proportional to the size of their communities or congregations. The delegates meet every four years in a kind of council that examines all matters of common interest, though it has no authority to impose its decisions or advice. At these gatherings, attacks against the Catholic Church are sometimes launched, but there are also sincere reflections that give pause to the delegates, as happened at the 1913 congress in Belfast, where one of the delegates contrasted the unity of the Catholic Church with the divisions among Protestants and applied to the latter the saying of Coleridge: “I belong to that holy and infallible Church of which I am now the only member.” Among the 108 affiliated churches is also the Waldensian Church.
3) BAPTIST WORLD ALLIANCE (Baptist World Alliance). — It was founded in London in 1905 with the aim of promoting a spirit of cooperation and fellowship among all Baptist churches throughout the world. Given the congregationalist polity of the Baptists, by which individual churches do not group themselves under symbols, consistories, etc., but remain absolutely isolated and independent, it was not possible for the general council of the Alliance to convene representatives of individual churches, since there are about 70,000 such churches in the world and more than fifty in Italy alone. For this reason, the general council or assembly consists of only 22 members, of whom 7 are from the United States, 5 from England, 2 from Canada, and 8 from the rest of the Baptist world.
The independence of individual churches and the division of Baptists themselves into about twenty different groups have contributed to the lack of attention given to this Alliance in their yearbooks or manuals. With the exception of a few manuals, such as the English one of 1912, which contains all the articles and clauses of the Alliance, in the others there is barely a brief mention, with an indication of the principal officers and a faithful citation of the annual contribution. The last general congress of the Baptist World Alliance, held in Berlin in 1934, was notable for the number of participants (said to have been 10,000) and for the circumstances in which it took place.
Following the example of the Baptists and Presbyterians, some of the main sects have also formed their own alliances under different names. The Lutherans have their Lutheran World Convention; the Methodists, their Ecumenical Methodist Conference, etc.
4. WORLD ALLIANCE FOR PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP THROUGH THE CHURCHES
The Italian Committee of this Alliance describes its history as follows (1930): «Its first origins date back to about 25 years ago, that is, to the merger of two movements that had simultaneously emerged in the United States and Europe from 1905 to 1907, among representatives of various Churches gathered in solemn congresses in New York and London. A federation or union of the different factions of Christendom was envisaged for the purpose of a common work; and among all such endeavors, the most important and urgent appeared to be that of placing religious forces at the service of international peace.» The aim, therefore, is to create in peoples a mindset that would inspire and support governments in their decisions to maintain peace and bring about the definitive abolition of war. The first major international conference was convened in Constance on 2 July 1914, just as the European war was breaking out. After the war, further conferences have been held every three years. The Catholic Church, while praising the purpose for which the Alliance prays and encourages prayer, officially keeps itself at a distance. It cannot consider itself as one faction among many in Christendom; moreover, in the committees — as in the Italian one — former priests often appear; nor does it believe that the methods adopted by the Alliance lead to the desired goal.The Alliance has national committees that report to a central committee, which collects and communicates information, coordinates the work, and is based in Geneva; the official Yearbook of the Church of England called it, without further qualification, the spiritual part of the «League of Nations»: the Italian committee has also introduced into Italy the Protestant youth institution of the «Knights of Peace». Despite its excellent organization, its extensive activity in organizing and promoting conferences, and the publication of numerous pamphlets and books, the Alliance has not been able to achieve its goal.