The mid-nineteenth century was a time of great change throughout Europe. Revolutions and social upheavals meant new ideologies and perspectives coming to the forefront as existing social orders began to crumble under popular pressure. Liberalism was one of these new causes, designed to make a fairer and more benevolent society for all its sectors. However Liberalism could not succeed in a church dominated state. Thus anti-clericalism came to become a symbolic part of the liberal cause.

Before examining separate aspects of the liberal struggle, it is necessary to look at the whole movement and its aims. The liberal idea was to make the government and economy fairer and more accessible to the lay person. They wanted a constitution with representational institutions which would make the wishes and opinions of the people known to the rulers without bias or cover up. They also wanted parliamentary representation of individual citizens rather than mass group electorates such as the estate system. Freedom of speech, freedom of press, and free trade were another liberal demand, as well as equality b

Universally the liberal rise to power brought many changes, both through their own initiative and through the natural improvement in social conditions and general welfare throughout Europe during this period. Better education meant changing perceptions of society and scientific explanations of phenomena which had previously been justified by the clergy; enhanced communications and transport along with agricultural innovations and the resulting improvement in the food supply meant that living standards in general were raised to a degree where the church's promises of heaven and the eternal afterlife were no longer needed to justify a life time of rewardless toil. Suddenly the package deal offered by the catholic church seemed a little outdated. Also with the spread of cafes, bars and other social venues, the church ceased to be the social centre of each region, and lost popularity due to this.

It was partly the church actions themselves which increased the whole fervour of the liberal anti-clerical feeling. The Catholic Church was never one to advocate docility to a threat, and thus during the nineteenth century when the possibility of power loss came, the church responded. Firstly in the mental sphere where the priests' tactics seemed to be to bully the public into obedience rather than foster spiritual devotion. Scathing attacks from the pulpit were launched upon drinking, dancing, failure to observe the Sabbath and of course contraception. People began to feel uncomfortable with church attitudes: many needed to work on Sunday to keep food on the table; others wanted to use contraception to keep family sizes small and affordable, and of course to forbid the youth drinking and dancing just meant incurring natural adolescent rebellion and making the event more enjoyable.

The Pope's response to this was to further widen the gulf with the Liberals by denouncing the new state and justifying if not quite inciting insurrection from the people. Throughout the 1870's and 1880's, the Catholic Press played upon public grievances such as taxes and unemployment, urging the people to boycott all political agenda . Then in 1864, Pope Pius IX's Syllabus of Errors was published, a blatant attack on the Piedmontese government. However this was an error in itself, as it was seen as a condemnation of basic liberal rights and it forced many Catholic Liberals to abandon a previously neutral standing in favour of the Liberal side of the Church-State war.

The situation in Italy in many respect reflects French reasons for the decline in church popularity, yet here the whole Italian unification factor gives an added dimension to the situation. The liberal government set up after the risorgimento had good reason to hold anti-clerical views. In the st

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Approximate Word count = 1863
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)