Abstract

Since the 1980s, the Catholic world in the United States has experienced a conservative twist, but it is from the following decade and above all after the 2001 attack by Al-Qaeda that the experience of the teocons has established itself; among whose protagonists the names of Richard John Neuhaus, Micheal Novak e George Weigel stand out. Against the innovations introduced by Vatican II, supporters of the capitalist economic system and of American «manifest destiny», they have characterized themselves for pro-life battles, for a conservatism in the social sphere and for the determination in affirming the religious identity of their political project. In the early 2000s, even in Italy some Catholics (close to Communion and Liberation) and «devout atheists» (including Giuliano Ferrara), driven by the American example, gave life to a project similar in many ways, well seen above all by Joseph Ratzinger. Although different in their relationship with the dimension of faith, the Italian theocons shared the idea that Christianity was a founding and identifying element of political life, opening up a discussion in the country on the theme of the secular state and on the characteristics (and roots) of the European project.