The Intimate: Polity and the Catholic Church

The waning influence of the Catholic church in the ethical and political debate For centuries the Catholic Church was able to impose her ethical rules in matters related to the intimate, that is, questions concerning life (from its beginning until its end) and the family, in the so-called Catholic countries in Western Europe. When the polity started to introduce legislation that was in opposition to the Catholic ethic, the ecclesiastical authorities and part of the population reacted. The media reported massive manifestations in France against same-sex marriages and in Spain against the de-penalization of abortion. In Italy the Episcopal conference entered the political field in opposition to the relaxation of several restrictive legal rules concerning medically assisted procreation and exhorted the voters to abstain from voting so that the referendum did not obtain the necessary quorum. In Portugal, to the contrary, the Church made a “pact” with the prime minister so that the law on same-sex marriages did not include the possibility of adoption. And in Belgium the Episcopal conference limited its actions to clearly expressing with religious, legal, and anthropological arguments its opposition to such laws, which all other Episcopal conferences did also.

In this book, the authors analyse the full spectrum of the issue, including the emergence of such laws; the political discussions; the standpoints defended in the media by professionals, ethicists, and politicians; the votes in the parliaments; the political interventions of the Episcopal conferences; and the attitude of professionals. As a result the reader understands what was at stake and the differences in actions of the various Episcopal conferences. The authors also analyse the pro and con evaluations among the civil population of such actions by the Church. Finally, in a comparative synthesis, they discuss the public positions taken by Pope Francis to evaluate if a change in Church policy might be possible in the near future.

Research by GERICR (Groupe européen de recherche interdisciplinaire sur le changement religieux), a European interdisciplinary research group studying religious changes coordinated by Alfonso Pérez-Agote.

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

Contributors: Céline Béraud (Université de Caen), Annalisa Frisina (Università degli Studi di Padova), Franco Garelli (Università degli Studi di Torino), Antonio Montañés (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Enzo Pace (Università degli Studi di Padova), Philippe Portier (École pratique des hautes études, Paris-Sorbonne), Jose Santiago (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Roberto Francesco Scalon (Università degli Studi di Torino), Liliane Voyé (Université Catholique de Louvain)

"The Intimate: Polity and the Catholic Church" was edited by Karel Dobbelaere and Alfonso Pérez Agote.

Karel Dobbelaere is Emeritus Professor of Sociology of the University of Antwerp and KU Leuven.

Alfonso Pérez-Agote is Professor of Sociology at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid.

Yes, "The Intimate: Polity and the Catholic Church" is part of the "KADOC-Studies on Religion, Culture and Society" series. It's book 15 in the series.

Elena Arigita Maza (Universidad de Granada)
Florian Bock (Ruhr Universität Bochum)
Timothy Brittain‐Catlin (University of Cambridge)
James Chappel (Duke University)
Kim Christiaens (KADOC-KU Leuven)
Kathleen James-Chakraborty (University College Dublin)
​​​​James Kennedy (Utrecht University)
​​​Franziska Metzger (PH Luzern)
Patrick Pasture (MoSa‐KU Leuven) - chairman
Isabelle Saint‐Martin (EPHE Paris)
Thijl Sunier (VU Amsterdam)
Árpád von Klimó (Catholic University of America)
Veerle De Laet (Leuven University Press)
Peter Heyrman (KADOC-KU Leuven) - secretary

Proposals

Proposals and enquiries can be sent to Peter Heyrman. The series welcomes monographs and edited volumes. Book proposals may relate to, for example, the political impact of religion, the dynamics between religion and welfare, and missionary history. All proposals and manuscripts are subject to double blind peer review involving at least one external reviewer (proposals) or at least two (manuscripts). The editors strive towards completing the review of proposals within two months and of complete manuscripts within five months after submission.

Please make use of the submission form to present your manuscript or proposal to our board.
Authors interested in Open Access can consult the available funding options.

Links & Resources

Introduction
Karel Dobbelaere & Alfonso Pérez-Agote

Euthanasia and the Belgian Catholic World
Liliane Voyé & Karel Dobbelaere

“Mariage pour tous”
The Same-Sex Marriage Controversy in France
Céline Béraud & Philippe Portier

The Italian Catholic Church and the Artificial-Insemination Referendum
Annalisa Frisina, Franco Garelli, Enzo Pace & Roberto Scalon

Ethical Challenges of the Catholic Church in Portugal
The Case of Same-Sex Marriage
Helena Vilaça & Maria João Oliveira

The Catholic Church Faces Ethical Challenges in Spain
The Regulation of Abortion
Alfonso Pérez-Agote, Jose Santiago & Antonio Montañés

Comparative Synthesis
Karel Dobbelaere, Alfonso Pérez-Agote & Céline Béraud

Authors
Colophon

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for "The Intimate: Polity and the Catholic Church" is 10.11116/9789461662118.