FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS OF THE WOMEN’S SECTION OF A.C. — During the twenty-year period of the Fascist regime, the Women’s Section of Catholic Action, despite more or less open hostility and the difficulties of implementing initiatives with a social character, succeeded in consolidating its organizational structure, deepening the study of the principles of Catholic social teaching, and extending its influence beyond Italy by establishing associations among Italian women abroad and in the colonies. The sectors of apostolic work in which women’s activity is most valuable and effective became increasingly well-defined: family, educational, moral, and social activities, as well as the press. These areas of activity became increasingly integrated, while various initiatives arose to support them.
However, the Second World War of 1940 brought a prolonged period of emergency. The Women’s Section of Catholic Action had to adapt its efforts to the new demands placed upon it, committing itself to do everything possible to sustain the moral resistance of Italian women. It contributed all its resources to public assistance and supplemented this with private apostolic initiatives that reached even the concentration camps and field hospitals. The then National Centre became a highly active “Section” of the News Office of the Holy See, handling an enormous volume of cases.
After the collapse of the war, Catholic women were serenely prepared and active in the reconstruction effort: they took their place in the work with admirable spirit of collaboration and self-denial, choosing those specific tasks that women’s nature inclined them to prefer. The reaction to the threats posed by feminist or secularist organizations of Marxist inspiration led to the establishment of the C.I.F. (Italian Women’s Centre), but even more intense was the pacifying work of Catholic women in calming hatreds and ending the divisions among brothers, in stemming immorality, and in restoring courage amid the disastrous economic crisis that was devastating Italy. With the elimination of Fascism, all fields were now open, and Catholic women felt the duty to be present and active in the syndical, civic, and political spheres: excellent members thus moved into the new institutions that arose with these specific aims (CIF, ACLI, Professional Unions, Trade Unions, Family Front, MIM). Also under the initiative of the Women’s Section of Catholic Action, professional associations were formed for nurses and health assistants and visitors, as well as for midwives.
In the elections for the Constituent Assembly and in the subsequent political elections of 1948, as many as 14 out of two leaders were elected, while numerous Women of Catholic Action held administrative positions in Italian municipalities.