Giuseppe Dossetti

Giuseppe Dossetti (13 February 1913 – 15 December 1996) was an Italian jurist, a politician and from 1958 onward a Catholic priest.

Dossetti was born in Genoa.

When he was young he joined Azione Cattolica ("Catholic Action") and he obtained a law degree at 21 years of age. Moved by profound political and moral beliefs, antifascist, he joined the Italian Resistance under the name of "Benigno" and became President of the Committee for National Liberation of Reggio Emilia, even if he always refused to use weapons.

When fascist dictatorship in Italy ended, he became professor of Ecclesiastic law at University of Modena.

His political career was very fast. In 1945 he became vice-secretary of Democrazia Cristiana and on 2 June 1946 was elected to become part of the "Costituente" (the political body in charge of drafting the new Italian republican constitution), of which he became one of the most active members. Exactly he took part of the first Subcommission in charge of the "rights and duties of the citizens". On 1946, with Amintore Fanfani, Giorgio La Pira and Giuseppe Lazzati (described, not without a bit of deprecation, as "little professors") he founded the association Civitas Humana.

Dossetti was anyway an atypical politician. He decided to not rerun for the 1948 elections and changed idea only to obey to Monsignor Montini (Pope Paolo VI). His evangelist positions were more or less opposed to the Alcide De Gasperi's more pragmatic ones. He was against NATO accession of Italy, which he considered dangerous, and in favour of social reforms aimed at helping the poorer parts of the population. Dossetti was presented to the Congress with over one third consesus. The contraposition with De Gasperi was very clear. He accepted the challenge and returned as deputy secretary of the party. During the following years he was actively involved in working at many reforms, including the Cassa del Mezzogiorno.

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