Luigi Sturzo in XXth Century Political Culture

The article intends to investigate Don Sturzo's concept of Politics in the context of 20th-century ideologies. It examines the close relation between Sturzo as a political and intellectual protagonist and his status as a catholic priest. With special attention to the works written in exile the essay then illustrates Sturzo's elaboration of analytical categories that deal in particular with totalitarianism as a threat to the historical evolution of the Modern State. A second crucial issue is his theory of social bodies that focuses on the personal conscience as the specific realm where the individual and the society converge. In conclusion the article analyses Sturzo's interpretation of the relationship between Ethics and Politics that leads to the necessity of a limitation of the State's power.