Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) holds a “Thank You Italy” sign during a press conference at the party electoral headquarters on Sept. 25, 2022 in Rome. / Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images
Rome, Italy, Sep 29, 2022 / 11:00 am (CNA).
The victory of Giorgia Meloni and her “Fratelli d’Italia” (Brothers of Italy) party in Italy’s recent election made global headlines.
Meloni won with a platform that supports traditional families, national identity, and the country’s Christian roots. In a speech earlier this year, she said “no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology.”
As the leader of a party that originates from a postwar movement born from the ashes of fascism, Meloni can neither be called a post-fascist nor simply a far-right leader.
Her international position is Atlanticist, and she has supported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, congratulating him on his election.
On European issues, Meloni is critical of how Europe runs the risk of imposing policies on nation-states, but she is not against the principle of a European Union.
In short, the reality of Meloni’s politics is much more nuanced than it may seem at first glance. This explains why Catholic hierarchies in Italy have shown a degree of openness toward the politician following her electoral victory.
Italian political background
Italy’s history plays an essential role in understanding this reality. After fascism, the Italian state was reconstituted with a powerful Catholic party, the Christian Democrats, which for decades was the undisputed leader in the elections.
Catholics had been among the first opponents of fascism.
The Italian Constitution was inspired by a group of Catholics who, in 1943, already toward the end of the war, had gathered in the monastery of Camaldoli in Tuscany to define the principles for a post-fascist state.
In the early 1990s, a widespread corruption scandal in Italian politics called Tangentopoli wiped out traditional parties, including the Christian Democrats.
New parties arose, and members of the Christian Democrats joined these or were part of varying political formations.
The current Italian Democratic Party, considered center-left, is made up of former members of the Christian Democrats as well as members of the old left parties.
The secretary, Enrico Letta, had a background with the Christian Democrats. Similarly, parties considered to be center-right in Italy, such as Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, include among their ranks heirs of the Christian Democrats but also former socialists and former members of the Italian Liberal Party, traditionally secular and in some respects even anti-clerical.
The Italian Church had initially supported the so-called center party, which was the first direct heir of the Christian Democrats. Soon, however, the policy of the Italian bishops became not to support political formations but rather the values and themes promoted within the various parties — no longer, therefore, a Catholic party, but Catholics in politics.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Cardinal Camillo Ruini was the Italian Bishops’ Conference president. In the face of tremendous parliamentary battles, Ruini coined the expression “nonnegotiable values.”
By nonnegotiable values, he first meant the importance of life at a time when political actions promoted euthanasia, in-vitro-fertilization, and even abortion as a matter of personal conscience.
After the bishops’ conference presidency of Ruini and that of Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the question of nonnegotiable values has become more nuanced.
With Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, who became president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference in 2014, the Church in Italy has aimed more at a concrete look at the issues of poverty and the economy, arguably losing sight, somewhat, of the values platform.
It was a strategic choice dictated by the fact that Catholics in politics were increasingly marginalized and that the social doctrine of the Church took less and less space in the formation of the new ruling class. There were attempts to create new platforms of Catholic culture in the early 2010s. These were sidelined by an economic-institutional emergency that had led to economist Mario Monti leading the government.
To all this, it must be added that the culture in Italy has been strongly forged by leftist thinking. It should be remembered that Italy had the largest Communist Party beyond the Iron Curtain after the war.
The Communist Party strongly developed an anti-fascist resistance narrative. Yet, the communist partisans were also authors of heinous murders and systematic elimination of priests — for instance, the recently beatified seminarian Rolando Rivi.
The Catholic platform in Italy
The historical context explains how Catholic thought in Italy was forged, especially in the years following the Second Vatican Council. Then, Catholicism in Italy fluctuated between the need for identity and the narrative of a rupture, which wanted a Church more committed to social issues and less to the centers of power.
A case in point: The latest bill against homophobia, which could have introduced gender classes in schools, was strongly supported by the Italian Democratic Party, led by the former Christian Democrat Letta.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the Catholic vote in Italy has rewarded Giorgia Meloni. Lacking a political party of reference, the Catholic center looked to the party that most corresponded to specific values.
Meloni’s voters are likely people who attended Family Day events held in Italy in 2007 and 2016 to oppose two bills on the civil unions.
The organizer of the most recent Family Day, Massimo Gandolfini, said in 2019: “We recognize that Brothers of Italy and Giorgia Meloni are pursuing a policy to the advantage of the family, for the defense of life from conception to natural death, and the educational freedom of parents.”
On the other hand, Meloni has been met with skepticism and concerns over leading a party with a fascist legacy.
Much attention was paid to her meeting with Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship. But there were other talks with Vatican figures. Rumors also speak of contact with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state.
Added to this is a meeting with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. In an interview with the Italian bishops’ newspaper Avvenire on Sept. 28, Zuppi made it clear that he knew Meloni well. He also described the Church in Italy as committed to collaborating with all parties.
To fully understand the context, it is worth remembering that Zuppi is an exponent of Sant’Egidio, a movement closer to the demands of the center-left than the center-right.
The Italian bishops’ position
In general, the Italian bishops do not endorse any particular political candidate, keep a low profile, and only issue statements regarding the bishops’ conference president or possibly the secretary of state.
Meloni also kept a low profile. Compared with others, her campaign did not exploit religious faith. While setting what is generally considered a conservative tone, Meloni’s rhetoric was political, not religious.
The president of the “Fratelli” is described by those who know her as someone “who considers herself part of the Church, very respectful of Pope Francis even when perhaps she does not understand or share certain [aspects] of his statements or acts.”
She was also present at the Communion and Liberation Meeting in Rimini, which takes place every August, and spoke about Catholic social teaching.
Brothers of Italy and the Italian Church
Cardinal Ruini, whose voice still carries weight, said in an interview with Corriere Della Sera on Sept. 28, “intellectuals are on the left, but the real country is on the right.” He acknowledged the reality of Meloni’s role and her party’s election.
In doing so, Ruini pointed out that the Catholic world in Italy has been closer to the so-called center-left rather than the center-right. In Italy, as elsewhere, there is a perception of a deep rift between those who stand up for nonnegotiable values and those who instead support a more pragmatic approach to dealing with contemporary challenges. But this is a perception, and reality is more nuanced.
Perhaps now is the time for a nuanced reconciliation of opposites for the Italian Catholic world. Giorgia Meloni is not a Catholic politician. The values she espouses, however, also won over the Catholic electorate. This is a reality to be ignored at peril.
[…]
Human beings are searching for a glue that can bind and heal them. Religions are relevant and important. Interreligious dialogue has the power to build bridges.
What is relevant is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Religions are man made and an attempt to reach upward to God.
Christianity, on the other hand is God reaching down to mankind through the loving grace of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.
Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God bless you as you walk with Jesus.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/how-the-catholic-church-became-a-defender-of-islam/
Thank you for the link, Deacon Jim, quite informative!
The difference between Islam and Christianity is as vast as the difference ;between chalk and cheese.
Many years ago, I read an opinion article on the “elephant in the living room” problem with the pro-life community: basically, if you are pro-life and struggle with various gov’t agencies and NGOs at the UN over the issues or abortion and the family, GREAT! We’re allies and friends.
.
People very quickly forget that “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” isn’t always true.
It isn’t always true but sometimes it applies. There have been recent cases of Muslims & Jews coming together in Europe to protest proposed laws to outlaw circumcision.
Tens of thousands of Jews persecuted & expelled from Spain & Portugal were given a safe haven in the Ottoman Empire.
Muslims & Christians have united in the UK to protest mandatory sex ed. in schools, etc.
William Kilpatrick is an excellent Islamologist, and I always appreciate his articles, as well as his excellent books. It is too bad that the link you give has, in its comments section, such vicious diatribes and lies about the Catholic Church.
Quoting from Nostra aetate, a declaration of the Second Vatican Council, Francis said: “The Church believes that all ‘humanity forms but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock that God created to people the entire earth, and because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness and saving designs extend to all mankind.’”
Likewise, this from the Second Vatican Council: “The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light . . .Christ the Lord…by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to himself [!] and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 22).
Somewhere later in the dialogue, then, the “transcendent” “proximity,” both, that “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14)–the self-disclosed and concrete universal of the otherwise unknowable and inarticulate “Beyond.”
We need a new pope
Christ alone suffices. It really is that simple.
Is there any word on Pope Francis ‘dialoging’ with Muslim religious leaders to stop their religious genocide on Christians in Africa and around the world?
If the ‘Seventh Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions’ did not ‘dialog” with the Muslim religion, about the Muslim religion Jhad massacres against all other religions, then I don’t think we need an ‘Eighth Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions’. We can simply tell our Catholic brothers and sisters in Africa, who are being martyred by the masses by the Muslim religion, that Pope Francis just plain does not care about them at all.
Per Phil Lawler (Catholic Culture) and (Kazakhstan) Bishop Schneider, a little skepticism may be in order.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Jn 3:16 16). Christ’s mystical body, the Church in the world has as its mission to spread the Gospel to all men. There’s a tendency among Catholics to presume an antagonistic dividing line between the Christian, and the non believing world, which to an extent is true, although not to the extent that we neglect Christ’s last commandment, Go out to all the world and teach the Gospel to every person (Mk 16:15).
All Francis’ words in Kazakhstan are good words that address the reality of Man’s search for God in myriad forms or worship, “Interreligious dialogue is no longer merely something expedient. It is an urgently needed and incomparable service to humanity, to the praise and glory of the Creator of all”. His mention of transcendence, the Beyond, brotherhood touch a disputed entry in dogmatic Lumen Gentium.
“But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place among these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God. Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God” (LG 16). Controversy occurred along these lines at Abu Dhabi, Francis later qualified his words that were parallel to LG 16. Nevertheless, we have Saint Pope John Paul II kissing the Koran at the Vatican when presented to him by an Imam. We can excuse both Francis and John Paul as acts of good will toward perennial adversaries, a good thing, or perceive these acts as obscuring the vital difference, that “All men are called to belong to the new people of God” (LG 13).
It inevitably works out for the better when Catholics retain their faithful conviction of the singular and necessary truth of the revelation of Christ. Inevitably since adherence to the exclusivity of the truth of our faith in Christ, the Son of God, elicits grace, and it’s grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit that inspires good will and peace, and conversion to a far better vision of brotherhood.
Additionally, the following is worthy of submission as related to where we stand regarding Catholic belief on receiving the Holy Eucharist, and as it relates to pluralism, and now [doctrine on the Eucharist] undermined by the German Synodalweg, and reconsidered by a number of high ranking prelates assigned to the Synod on Synodality.
Pope Francis issued a letter Desiderio desideravi in June weeks after Cardinal Cordileone prohibited the Eucharist for Nancy Pelosi in May. His Holiness says in Desiderio, “To be admitted to the feast all that is required is the wedding garment of faith which comes from the hearing of his Word”. A number of notable signatories issued a statement this September in response to Desiderio desideravi:
“On the day that Desiderio desideravi was issued, Pope Francis received in audience Nancy Pelosi, and on that day, she received Holy Communion at a papal Mass. Francis responded to the Press, ‘When the Church loses its pastoral nature, when a bishop loses his pastoral nature, it causes a political problem. That’s all I can say.’ This response rebukes Archbishop Cordileone for his justified application of Canon 915 causing scandal to Catholics over all the world” (Maike Hickson for LifeSite News).
Signatories include a large list of eminent prelates and scholars some mentioned here: Most Rev Joseph Strickland Bishop Tyler TX, Most Rev René Henry Gracida Bishop Emeritus Corpus Christi, Most Rev Robert Mutsaerts Aux Bishop S’Hertogenbosch Netherlands, Most Rev Athanasius Schneider Aux Bishop Astana Kazakhstan, Anthony Esolen PhD, Fr Gerald E Murray JCD, Dr Claudio Pierantoni Universidad de Chile, Dr John Rist emeritus professor U of Toronto, Edward Schaefer president The Collegium, Wolfram Schrems Mag theol Mag phil, Eric Sammons Editor Crisis Magazine, John-Henry Westen Co-Founder Editor in Chief of LifeSiteNews.com.
At what point does the truth of Revelation make an appearance to those who have swallowed whole the sweet poison of pluralism?
Perhaps Francis once he finished with his trip to Khazakistan can now find the time to meet with the four “Dubai Cardinals” who requested a meeting with him some 4-5 years ago. (Oh, I just remembered that two of them have since died.)
That was meant to read: “Dubia Cardinals.”
As a refresher, here’s a link including the complete dubia from 2016:https://www.ncregister.com/blog/full-text-and-explanatory-notes-of-cardinals-questions-on-amoris-laetitia
Even when Francis tackles a valid subject, as Father Morello’s comments make clear, it’s always hard to take Francis seriously given his history. I just can’t believe he approaches any subject from much greater concern than personal vanity.
Dialogue has its place clearly, but it’s hard to accept it in a meaningful way from a Pope who will not dialogue with his own Cardinals on whether there are God given moral absolutes embedded in the negative prescripts to the natural law, who calls attempts to convert others a sinful act, and who has equated sketchy reports in secular Italian newspapers of domestic violence, assuming the protagonists are Catholic, as the moral equivalency to Islamic acts of beheading Christians and therefore a justified basis for not speaking out against the beheading.
i.e. “Dubia Cardinals.”
I think I was mistaken in thinking I’d read an article by Phil Lawler on this topic. I’ll have to go with just Bishop Schneider.
A krist je rekao da će doći mnogi krivovjrni proroci. I došli su. Da li i njihovo sljedbenici traže Boga?
There is ONE WAY TO THE FATHER. To deny that or spin it in any way is to call Jesus a liar—exactly what Vatican II did and its “spirit” does. Whether or not pagans or Protestants go to hell is up to God. And we should work with men of good will to further the ends of Jesus Christ. But to claim God wills or desires any religion other than the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is heresy. It’s time to admit Vatican II was an abject failure and consign it and all its rotten fruit to the fire to be burned to ash.
“In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1;15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-15) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.” (Dei Verbum, 1)
“Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature,(1) to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church. … Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He communicated truth and grace to all.” (Lumen Gentium)
“The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come,(20) namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown.
“He Who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), is Himself the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled,(22) by that very fact it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too. For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice(23) and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin.
“As an innocent lamb He merited for us life by the free shedding of His own blood. In Him God reconciled us(25) to Himself and among ourselves; from bondage to the devil and sin He delivered us, so that each one of us can say with the Apostle: The Son of God “loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20). By suffering for us He not only provided us with an example for our imitation, He blazed a trail, and if we follow it, life and death are made holy and take on a new meaning.” (Gaudium et spes)
Thank you Carl Olson. If you sleep with dogs you will get fleas or something like that.
Amen!
“Interreligious dialogue”… Pope Francis has such charmingly quaint outlooks and expressions. With him, it always full-steam ahead to the 1970s.