FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS OF THE CATHOLIC ACTION WOMEN’S U. - During the twenty-year period of the Fascist regime, the Women’s U. of Catholic Action, despite more or less overt hostility and the difficulties of carrying out initiatives of a social nature, succeeded in consolidating its organizational structure, deepening the study of the principles of social Catholicism, and extending its influence beyond Italy by establishing associations among Italian women abroad and in the colonies. The areas of apostolic work in which women’s activity is most valuable and effective became increasingly well defined: family, educational, moral, and social activity, and the press; they developed in an ever more organic manner, while various initiatives arose to support them.
But the Second World War of 1940 ushered in a long period of emergency. The Women’s U. of C. A. had to adapt its activities to the new demands that required it
to do everything possible to sustain the moral resilience of Italian women. It devoted all its strength to public assistance and supplemented it with private apostolic initiatives that reached even the concentration camps and field hospitals. The National Center of that time became a highly active «Section» of the News Office of the Holy See and carried out an enormous amount of work, involving millions of cases.
And after the collapse brought about by the war, reconstruction found the Catholic Women serenely ready and active: they took up their work with an admirable spirit of collaboration and self-denial, choosing those specific tasks that the very nature of women led them to prefer. The response to the maneuvers of women’s movements and organizations inspired by Marxism or secularism took the form of the establishment of the C.I.F. (Italian Women’s Center), but even more intense was the peacemaking work of the Catholic Women in quelling the hatreds and calming the conflicts that divided brothers, in stemming immorality, and in restoring courage amid the disastrous economic crisis devastating Italy. With Fascism eliminated, all fields were now open, and the Catholic Women felt obliged to be present and active also in the trade-union, civic, and political spheres: excellent members therefore moved on to the new institutions established for these specific purposes (CIF, ACLI, Professional Unions, Trade Unions, Family Front, MIM). Again on the initiative of the Women’s U. of C. A., professional associations were established for Nurses and Health Assistants and Visiting Nurses, and for Midwives.
In the elections for the Constituent Assembly and in the subsequent general elections of 1948, no fewer than 14 of its leaders were elected to Parliament, while numerous Catholic Action Women held administrative offices in Italian municipalities.