Catholic Party (Belgium)

The Catholic Party was a Belgian political party established in 1869 as the Confessional Catholic Party. It grew out of earlier conservative and Catholic associations, among them the Federation of Catholic Circles and Conservative Associations created in 1864 and the League of Catholic Circles founded in 1868 after the Malines Congresses, which brought together Ultramontane and Liberal-Catholic currents. Under the leadership of Charles Woeste it won an absolute majority in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1884 from the Liberal Party after the schools dispute, and it kept that majority until 1918. It became the Catholic Union in 1921 and the Catholic Block in 1936, and it was officially disbanded on 5 February 1945, to be succeeded by the Christian Social Party.