EWTN Vatican
Alcide De Gasperi: The Man Who Shaped a United and Peaceful Europe

Alcide De Gasperi was a founding father of Europe who dedicated his life to politics and helped shape the idea of a peaceful union of nations after the devastation of two world wars in Europe. He was an outspoken Catholic, former Vatican employee, and skilled politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Italy in 1946. Despite being hostile to fascists, he was arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment, but was later released through Pope Pius XI’s intervention and became a librarian in the Vatican. De Gasperi's path was marked by a continuous and profound relationship with God, matching his religious experience with his political choices. He understood that Europe needed to put an end to the 2000-year war and came to an agreement with other personalities from borders, including the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, to lay the foundations of a united and peaceful Europe. De Gasperi always understood politics as the highest form of charity, in the conviction that democracy can only be born on a sense of fraternity that had Christianity as its source.


Author Name

Umberto Maria Cioffi is a production assistant. 

He is also a student of Institutional Communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

Trending
Benedict XVI, Francis, and Leo XIV recommend this book, which warns of a world without God
Jonathan Roumie meets the pope: ‘There was just a kindness on his face’
Pope thanks Cardinal Burke, who clashed with Francis, for 50 years of priestly ministry
The Popes and the Power and Significance of the Saint Benedict Medal
5 Holy Doors: What Every Catholic Should Know Ahead of Jubilee 2025
Leo XIV withdraws papal delegate after agreement avoids schism in Syro-Malabar Church