CENTRO ITALIANO FEMMINILE (C.I.F.). - It is a federation of Christian-inspired women’s forces for constructive and harmonious action in every sphere of civil and social life (art. 1 of the Statute), established on 5 Nov. 1944.
Women of Christian conviction, already largely organized in religious or apostolic associations, felt it their duty to exercise a more active influence also in the civic and social sphere, coordinating their action in a great federative body of the individual organizations already in existence, the most important of which are the Unione Donne, the Gioventù femminile di azione cattolica, the Dame di S. Vincenzo, and the women’s Third Orders.
The field of action of the C. I. F. is extensive: the civic and political education of women; assistance to needy children, one of the most delicate problems left behind by the world conflict; the opening of schools for the people, kindergartens, mountain and seaside holiday colonies. The organization is governed by a council composed of representatives of the federated bodies, and by an executive committee with an elected president. Orthodoxy is guaranteed by an ecclesiastical adviser. At the provincial and municipal levels, the organization has the same bodies as at the national level, with functions proportionate to their scope and under the supreme central direction.
The C. I. F. publishes its own periodical of official information: the Bollettino del C.I.F. For the statutes of the C.I.F. cf.: L'Assistente ecclesiastico, 18 (1948), p. 35, no. 68 ff.