Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/49

 THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL-REFORM MOVEMENT 35

to this class of subjects. Several national Italian Catholic con- gresses for social studies have been held, notably at Genoa in 1892, and in Padua in 1896. One of the foremost exponents of Catholic social-reform principles in Italy is Professor Giuseppe Toniolo, one of the founders of the Union of Social Studies, whose able expositions of "Christian democracy," as he prefers to style it, have had a profound influence all over Europe.

The only European country in which the Catholic party controls the government is Belgium. There liberalism, after holding the reins of power for many years, has been completely routed, every election strengthening the Catholic majority, and witnessing the enlargement of the Socialistic faction in the parliament at the expense of the Liberals. The most notable Catholic leaders in that country have been the bishop of Liege, Abbe Pottier, Professor George Helleputte, and Verspeyen, the great publicist to whose labors, as editor of the Bic?i public of Ghent, the original triumph of the Catholic party was attributed.

The sociological department of the university of Louvain and the Institute of Social Sciences at Brussels are the chief centers of Catholic sociology in Belgium, and the Revue sociale catholique, of Louvain, together with the Annates de V Institut des sciences sociales, are the foremost special organs of the move- ment.

While Belgium, owing to the density of its population, was in more need of social reform than any other country, the republic of Switzerland, especially the Alpine or Catholic cantons, has felt the pressure of the new problems only in a minimum degree. Nevertheless, the Catholic party in that country is well in line with the new aspiration, and, under the leadership of such men as Decurtins and Python, has made large contributions to the movement for the return to distinctly Christian social-economic ideals. One of the most important Swiss organizations devoted to this work is the Union Interna- tionale des etudes sociales, of Frlbourg, of which the late Cardinal Mermillod was for some time the president.