The Role of Catholicism and the Church in the Liberal Camp in Slovenia (1890-1918)

Abstract

Although the Slovenian Liberals always remained loyal to the Catholic faith, their liberal views - especially those concerning the socio-political dimensions of the faith and the Church - as well as their personal ambitions led them to openly attack the Church and its hierarchy in Slovenia. These attacks could be justified inasmuch as being a reaction to the attempts by the Church and the Catholic camp to achieve their political objectives with the so-called 'supernatural' means while claiming for themselves certain privileges to which they were supposedly entitled because of their Divine founder and their higher goals. On the other hand, these attacks were unjustified, inasmuch as being directed against the attempts by the Church and the Catholic camp to implement their ideo-political principles through political, social and other activities among the Slovenian people. Although the Liberals recognized and acknowledged the difference between the two types of activity, the opposition to the Church and its socio-political activity remained one of the fundamental characteristics of the classical Slovenian Liberalism and its representatives.