Bureaucratic Persecution in Italy

https://evangelicalfocus.com/features/22760/the-harassment-of-italian-evangelical-churches

Some of the events reported here are limited to the city of Rome as the article acknowledges. I remember back in the 1990's when I spent a fair bit of time there that Protestant churches couldn't ring bells and so forth – orders from the Vatican, or so it was said. The Pope does indeed possess a degree of unofficial leverage within the larger city.

That said, stories of harassment and bureaucratic obstruction taking place in other parts of the country are not surprising to me. On the one hand, Right-wing leaders like Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini might protest such treatment but given that it is taking place on a local level, they may not be fully aware of it and (sans legislation) prove unable to completely curtail it.

Why would they care? At this point in time they are counting on American Evangelical support which in the context of Italy is working hand-in-hand with conservative Catholic forces. They do not want to antagonize American Evangelicals.

That said, there are other considerations. There are some traditionalist Catholics that remain virulently hostile to Protestantism. Many conservative Protestants (even those of the Magisterial and Confessional tradition) have embraced co-belligerence and while unwilling to enter into any kind of formal or ecclesiastical fellowship with the Roman Catholic Church, they will nevertheless work alongside individual Roman Catholics and institutions. There are still some that view all things Rome with hostility and yet I think their numbers and influence at this point are limited and numerically irrelevant especially when compared with the number of hard-line traditionalists within the Roman camp.

Some of the latter would oppose Protestant churches rising in the midst of the Italian peninsula and thus would laud these obstructive efforts.

The other factor not mentioned is that of the Watchtower. The Jehovah's Witnesses have a substantial presence in Italy and have won many over to their camp. As I believe I have reported in the past, when riding trains or sitting in a piazza reading a little New Testament – one of two things was assumed. Invariably I (and the men with me) were asked if were priests or on other occasions we were approached by Witnesses who assumed we were their brethren. In other words the only serious people that might actually read the Bible are priests and Witnesses.

It speaks rather poorly for the state of Catholicism, and testifies to the zeal (misguided to be sure) of the Watchtower and the testimony it has been able to foster in Italy.

There are certainly Catholic forces at work that want to see the Watchtower's growth curtailed. Both nationalists and zealous ecclesiastics can find common ground on that point.

Likewise there are many Pentecostal congregations that have sprung up over the past few decades and these groups are also able to make inroads into Catholicism and gain converts.

For my part the answer to all of this is pretty simple and I would simply appeal to historic models. The Waldenses survived for centuries throughout Italy and did so without buildings of any kind. I disagree with those Confessionalists who believe the Church needs to have an institutional-type presence in society – a building on Main Street for example. They (and this would include the Lausanne-affiliated Evangelicals who published the article) are reticent for the Church to be viewed as a sect or cult – but in reality when juxtaposed with the world and the kind of worldly and compromised Christianity born of Christendom – that's exactly what New Testament Christianity is – a separatist sect.

The Church should refuse to play these games and one will find apart from zoning and parking restrictions there's little officials in a place like Italy or the United States can do.

It's one thing if a Christian is falsely accused and requires a lawyer to navigate the labyrinth of state legalities – such lawyers (if honest) are not going to be wealthy and thus practice law as a kind of calling. But it's something else when the Church is engaged in such battles, filing lawsuits and the like. I think this is a mistake. If what they're doing is right – then do it and be willing to pay the price. The building is a distraction. Yes, they can be helpful tools that facilitate meeting and teaching but they're not necessary and can often become an unnecessary and even destructive burden. I would rather see someone in the church with a business property that they make accessible – the proverbial back room as it were. It won't have all the bells and whistles and obviously I'm not speaking of spires, stained glass, organs, crosses, and candles. But maybe it won't have the AV systems either – which while of a different nature than high church props are props nonetheless and can quickly be confused with proper elements of worship.

Italy has a special place in my heart due to the two years I spent there and the many places I visited during that time. I will pray for these churches but I will also pray that they come to a better understanding as I don't believe the course they've taken is entirely correct. The officials, bureaucracies, and certainly the Roman bias are patently wrong and lamentable but I think the entire question needs to be re-framed and reconsidered.

And I would hope such episodes would also drive some of the Protestants and Evangelicals quick to hold hands with the likes of Meloni and Salvini to reconsider. More likely they will call on them to intervene – a point I would consider even more unfortunate as the congregations will immediately be identified (rightly or wrongly) with American Right-wing interests. Once again the lines between ecclesiastical mission and politicking are blurred and when some communist out of Bologna tosses a brick through their window – is it persecution or political retribution? Remember, the US has numerous military bases in the country – a point I know all too well. These bases have played a role in US and NATO wars and represent a kind of military occupation of the country. Nuclear weapons are stored in some of these facilities – I've seen them more than once with my own eyes. There are legitimate reasons for Italians to be bitter regarding the post-war history of the nation and its relationship to the United States. The Church should not be throwing its weight around nor should groups with American ties (real or perceived) be engaged in legal actions in the courts. I realize not all such congregations fall under this category and yet they need to be careful to make sure they don't.