Virginia Baptists have a long partnership with Italian Baptists, with whom they have much in common. This article by an Italian Baptist leader sheds light on his country's attitude toward religious liberty.
The issue of religious freedom in Italy is far from being a simple one. One not secondary feature of such complexity is that, as is well known, Italy is the only state in the world to host within its boundaries a foreign clerical state — the Vatican — which, though it is regulated by laws entirely alien to the ones of the hosting state, has nonetheless an enormous influence on Italian internal affairs.
The historical background
St. Peter's Basilica in Rome: The Roman Catholic Church continues to exert profound influence on Italian society.
Historically, no freedom at all was accorded to religious minorities by the various states forming the political mosaic of the country until 1848, when Charles Albert of Savoy, virtually king of Italy, issued a declaration by which the Waldensians — the oldest Protestant denomination, dating back to the 13th century and savagely persecuted across the centuries — and the Jews were allowed, under many restrictions, to practice their creeds freely.
When in 1870 Rome, the capital city of the Catholic Church, was finally liberated by nationalist patriots, inspired by Garibaldi, the first Protestants could enter the city, until then strictly closed to any such attempt, and start spreading the Bible and founding the first small congregations.
After a period of relative quiet religious coexistence which coincided with the anticlerical governments ruling unified Italy in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, the fascist regime re-opened the religious question.
Agreements between State and Churches
In fact the relations between the Italian state dominated by Mussolini and the Catholic Church were settled in 1929 with an agreement — Concordato — which attributed a number of special treatments or, properly speaking, privileges to the latter, including teaching the Catholic religion in public schools.
Its revision in 1984 brought about the cancellation of the previous norm by which the Catholic Church was recognised as the only official religion of the state and made religious teaching in schools optional. All other provisions remained substantially unchanged.
In the 1950s and 1960s, however, under the rule of Christian Democrats (center Catholics), which was destined to last well into the 1990s, the Ministry of Interior distinguished itself by giving way to brutal forms of religious discrimination against movements and churches — Pentecostals above all – that did not appear to conform to the strict requirements of police regulations. As a consequence, some pastors were forbidden to preach, others threatened and even sent to prison.
Anti-Protestant persecution, on the other hand, was also frequent in the fascist period, when British and American missions were the targets of widespread anti-foreign propaganda, on the grounds that many Protestants championed all freedom, not only religious freedom.
The post-war years saw the birth of a democratic republic founded on a fundamental law written by all anti-fascist parties — left, center and right. However, the seventh article of the constitution unfortunately incorporated the Concordato that still gave preminence to the Catholic Church, an ‘original sin' that was responsible for succeeding abuses and violations and, ultimately, the blurring of the border between state and church.
The Italian constitution, on the other hand, is one of the most progressive of the world, firmly stating the basic equality in rights and duties of all citizens, irrespective of sex, social and economic status, ethnic provenance and religion. In fact it emphasizes religious parity of all confessions when it introduces in its article eight, apparently contradicting the seventh, the opportunity of making (minor) agreements — called intesa — with religious minorities.
Such opportunity was seized by the major Protestant denominations — Waldensians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Adventists and Pentecostals, who associated in a legal committee, later transformed into the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, that however did not include Adventists and Pentecostals.
The first intesa was signed in 1984 and was followed by five more in the next years. The Protestant churches did not claim for any special privilege; on the contrary, they invoked religious freedom for all faiths, especially for those that lacked intese. More religious confessions are waiting for the same treatment and the process is still going on rather slowly and listlessly.
The struggle for a new law on religious freedom
Parallel repeated efforts were made by Protestant representatives in the Italian Parliament along with the Federation to put a new law on religious freedom on the agenda of political parties. A successful attempt was made in the last two legislatures, but the overt opposition of some political parties did not allow it to be debated in full parliamentary sessions or any final decision to be made.
A new approach in that field is desirable for a number of reasons. First and principally, it could put an end to the 1929 fascist legislation, still in force, which termed the confessions different from the Catholic “admitted religions,” a phrase which was an improvement somewhat on the previous “tolerated religions,” but was still a mark of inferiority.
Secondly, it might confer legitimation to those religions which do not aspire to make agreements with the state by recognizing their right to practice their creeds freely.
Thirdly, it would contribute to integration of the growing communities of immigrants in the Italian society by respecting their traditions and beliefs.
The two major opponents to any effective innovation are the Catholic Church, through its numerous and ostentatiously loyal political supporters, and the North League, an anti-foreigner movement torn between Catholic militancy and ‘pagan' penchants, inherited from a presumed Celtic lineage. The former, moreover, has in recent times re-affirmed its absolute superiority over the other confessions that are not even granted the name of churches; the latter make it part of their larger campaign against Islam.
Discrimination in media and school
Nonetheless, nobody could reasonably deny that religions enjoy a fair amount of freedom in Italy nowadays or that Italians in general show respect towards non-Catholic communities. What is objectable is the subtle discrimination of religious minorities taking place in various situations, for instance in TV programs where the half-hour bi-weekly broadcast of Protestant and Hebrew programs occurs at 1 a.m. and no Protestant representative is ever invited to comment on current events alongside the unfailing Catholic priest.
One more ground of such unfairness is found in state schools where, as hinted above, the only religious teaching admitted, though non-obligatory, is the Catholic one and Catholic ceremonies, rites and symbols are largely permitted.
More generally, it is the very separation of state and church, the neutrality of political authorities with reference to the various beliefs and, ultimately, the secular nature of the state which are constantly challenged and put in question, especially in bio-ethical matters where the position of the Catholic Church in matters of abortion, divorce, euthanasia, gay unions, etc. aims to influence public opinion in the making of laws by directly intervening in the political arena.
It is in short a complex picture which does not show any clue of change for the better in the next future, despite the generally fair ecumenical relations among the churches.
Nicola Pantaleo is a university professor and chair of the council of the Baptist church of Bari, Italy.