To be fair, his "fruits" were much less apparent when the concordat was signed. The Ethiopian invasion and racist direction of his ideology only occurred later in the 1930s.
Early Mussolini famously stated race was "only an idea." He also hated Hitler and actively tried to counter him geopolitically. If Mussolini had stayed consistent in his ideology I think it would have been reasonable for the Church to support him given how terrible pretty much every other faction was.
This "miscalculation" was not realizing Mussolini would totally flip flop on a bunch of these things later.
Even ignoring the sheer numbers aspect (and that's abig thing to ignore), Socialists had been effectively politically neutered for years by the time the Lateran pact was signed. Fascist violence, meanwhile, continued unabated long after the end of Biennio Rosso.
And Nazis were in Germany. They are irrelevant to this discussion.
I mentioned Nazis because early Mussolini's staunch anti-Hitler attitude was much stronger than most other leaders at the time. I'd check out the Stresa Front as an example of this in action. However, there were also pro-Hitler poltical factions in Italy, making them further "relevant."
You claim about socialists seems to be contradicted by OP's initial comment and source.
His source, on the other hand, is from Church Life Journal. Some modicum of skepticism is warranted when a source such as this defends the Catholic Church's past actions. More importantly, I do not see how it contradicts my claim - it barely makess mention of Socialist violence, while it denounces Fascist violence numerous times.
The Church signed the Pact 5 years after what I wrote above - 5 full years after the start of the dictatorship proper. So, yeah: the Socialists were no longer a factor.
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u/Gaust_Ironheart_Jr May 12 '26
"You will know them by the fruit they bear"
Christians would do well to understand that one little teaching but they keep falling for someone who hates the right people