Guido Gonella

Guido Gonella (18 September 1905 – 19 August 1982) was an Italian politician from the Christian Democracy, former Minister of Public Education and Minister of Justice.

Biography Academic career Gonella graduated in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Milan and in Law at the Sapienza University of Rome, teaching a few years later Philosophy of law at the University of Bari and at the University of Pavia.

Journalistic career He later became a columnist of L'Osservatore Romano, by Bishop Giovanni Montini, the future Pope Paul VI. However, Gonella was kept under control by the political police for suspected anti-fascism: several times the fascist hierarchy asked Benito Mussolini to suppress the Vatican newspaper, but L'Osservatore Romano belonged to the Holy See and therefore could not be suppressed by the Italian government.

On 3 September 1939, a few days after the beginning of World War II, Gonella was arrested by the fascists and brought to Regina Coeli, being freed only after the intervention of Pope Pius XII. In 1943, Gonella joined the new-born party Christian Democracy, with which he was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1945, to the Chamber of Deputies from 1948 to 1968 and to the Senate from 1972 to 1979.

From 1950 to 1953 he has also been elected Secretary of the Christian Democracy. and has been many times, over a period of 20 years, Minister of Justice.

During the 1978 presidential election, Gonella was the candidate of the Christian Democracy for the office of President of Italy, until the party decided, together with all the left-wing and centre-left parties in Parliament, to support the Socialist candidate Sandro Pertini.

Death Gonella died in Nettuno, near Rome, at the age of 76, on 19 August 1982, exactly 28 years after the death of Alcide De Gasperi.

Electoral history ElectionHouseConstituencyPartyVotesResult 1946 Constituent Assembly Verona–Padua–Vicenza–Rovigo DC 71,515 1948 Chamber of Deputies Verona–Padua–Vicenza–Rovigo DC 76,236 Elected 1953 Chamber of Deputies Verona–Padua–Vicenza–Rovigo DC 61,125 Elected 1958 Chamber of Deputies Verona–Padua–Vicenza–Rovigo DC 65,176 Elected 1963 Chamber of Deputies Verona–Padua–Vicenza–Rovigo DC 60,048 Elected 1968 Chamber of Deputies Verona–Padua–Vicenza–Rovigo DC 55,992 Elected 1972 Senate of the Republic Veneto – Verona Collina DC 77,958 Elected 1976 Senate of the Republic Veneto – Verona Collina DC 82,949 Elected 1979 Senate of the Republic Veneto – Verona Collina DC 83,130 Elected 1979 European Parliament Central Italy DC 272,657 Elected