The «repertoire of hospitality»: catholic mobilizations and immigration

Abstract

In Italy and in Spain, immigration issues are henceforth part of national and local politics and policies. In this respect, the Catholic Church created a «repertoire of hospitality», which can be divided in three parts. First, the Church acts as a pressure group, lobbying governments in the legal decision-making process. As a feedback, the politicization of immigration urged the Church to mix four different logics: charity, solidarity, utility, politics .The Church, nevertheless, has its own specificity as a religious institution. Immigration contributes then to the recomposition of the Southern European religious scene, by questioning both intracatholic and interreligious relations.