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150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY

150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY


THE FEDERATION OF PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN ITALY RECEIVED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC



Rome, November 30, 2011 (NEV-CS59eng/1) - The fact that there is no law granting Italian citizenship to children born in Italy to migrant parents, is "a folly and a nonsense". This is what the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, has declared at the hearing with a delegation of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI) received at the Quirinal Palace on Tuesday 22 of November, on occasion of the Conference "Protestantism in Italy today. Vocation Witness Presence" organized to conclude the celebrations of the evangelical churches, for the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy.

The issue of citizenship rights has been introduced by Pastor Massimo Aquilante, president of FCEI, who in his greeting addressed to President Napolitano recalled the National Campaign "I’m Italy too" (www.litaliasonoanchio.it), of which FCEI is one of the 19 promoters. Referring to the two bills sponsored by the Campaign – jus soli and the vote in local elections for migrants – and remembering that real integration goes through these fundamental rights, Aquilante hoped that "the Parliament will acknowledge the two proposals within the end of this administration".

On this point President Napolitano has expressed his belief that "a new field of actions, wider than in the past, opens for the Parliament today" for issues such as citizenship but also for "the relations between the Italian State and the single religious communities". This is the wish conveyed by the Head of the State who has stressed "the full awareness of the social and public importance of the religious experience". "However" he declared "much is still to be done in Parliament and in the Country in the cultural and civil debate to which I am sure the Federation of Protestant Churches will give an important contribution".

Following Aquilante’s participation, Professor Elena Bein’s speech was based on the concept of laity in a multicultural and multireligious society. While Professor Mario Miegge has drawn an historical excursus focused on the acknowledgement of civil rights by the Savoy monarchy to Jews and Waldensians, occurred in 1848, a symbolic date of the Italian Risorgimento.

At the end of the ceremony President Napolitano was given the gift of a reprint of the "Olivetan Bible" printed in 1535 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Pierre Olivétan is the author of the first protestant translation of the Bible in French, financed by Waldensians, after they joined the Geneva Reformation in 1532. The Bible opens with a preface of the reformer John Calvin.

Both to the hearing at the Quirinal Palace and to the afternoon conference held at the Senate, in addition to more than one hundred Italian evangelical representatives – Waldensians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Salvation Army, Apostolics, Adventists, Pentecostals, Free Churches – took part representatives of other religious minorities of the Country: Renzo Gattegna, president of the Italian Jews Communities (UCEI); Franco di Maria Jayendranatha, president of the Italian Hindu Union (UII); Raffaello Longo and Maria Angela Falà, president and vice-president of the Italian Buddhist Union (UBI). It was a precise choice of FCEI to extend the participation to these other religious communities, both to express the importance of the inter-faith dialogue and to support the request of UII and UBI for a quick approval of the Agreements with the Italian State still pending in Parliament.

PRESS RELEASE/2

 

150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY/2.

 

DEEP JOY FOR PRESIDENT NAPOLITANO\'S WORDS WAS EXPRESSED

BY PASTOR AQUILANTE, PRESIDENT OF THE

FEDERATION OF PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN ITALY

 

AQUILANTE: "THE MATTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND THE VOTING RIGHT FOR LEGAL MIGRANTS REPRESENT, IN OUR VIEW, A QUALITATIVE RISE FOR ITALIAN DEMOCRACY WHICH WOULD ALLOW THE COUNTRY TO GROW AS A WHOLE".

 

Rome, November 30, 2011 (NEV-CS59eng/2) – "We couldn\'t have wished for a better accomplishment of the initiative organized by the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI) to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy". This is the statement of Pastor Massimo Aquilante, president of FCEI, closing the day in which a delegation of Protestant representatives has been received by the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, to present the Conference "Protestantism in Italy today. Vocation Witness Presence" held in the afternoon at the Conference Room of the Senate, attended by several important political leaders.

Expressing his satisfaction Aquilante continued: "The intent of the initiative was to talk about Italy and its problems from an evangelical point of view. To be more explicit: we wanted to look at our Country through magnifying lens normally not used in the public debate. The idea was to raise issues such as laity, religious freedom, integration policies, the moral and civil crisis of the Country. We have presented to the Italian President how the matter of citizenship and the voting right for legal migrants represent, in our view, a qualitative rise for Italian democracy which would allow the Country to grow as a whole. It was therefore with deep joy that we have listened to the President’s reply. In my opinion the disappointed reactions expressed by some members of the Italian political class are totally inadequate and even harmful. Democracy means accepting the ‘hardships’ of conflicts, since only from this effort comes a true ‘covenant of coexistence’ in which everybody may recognize each other and freely bring his/her contribution. In this context, the hints for reflections and actions for the future that have emerged from our Conference, have been extremely interesting and encouraging for such small churches as ours".

The conference attended by several political parties’ representatives, was an opportunity for Italian Protestantism to receive from politics detailed answers on four precise questions formulated by Paolo Naso, member of the Study Commission of FCEI, who chaired the meeting: the economic crisis is also a moral and values one? Is a outline law on religious freedom necessary? In legislating on ethically sensitive issues must the voice of religious minorities be listened to? Is it necessary to sign for the campaign on citizenship "I’m Italy too"? Of course participants expressed different opinions and beliefs, but all agreed on the value of this kind of comparison between religious communities and institutions which can but enrich the public debate. Pluralism, including religious pluralism, should be an opportunity for common growth and not for fragmentation, without ever losing sight of the principle of laity as a tool to allow all religious and philosophical components of society to move equally and without privileges in the public contest.