In Depth:  Italy

Luke Randall

Thousands of Christians have marched through Milan’s city centre carrying banners exclaiming that “Jesus is the light”, and “Jesus gives you freedom”.

The “March for Jesus” event, attended by about 5,000 people, proceeded through some of the city’s most famous streets and ended outside Milan Cathedral, where groups performed dances and songs. The event, dubbed by many as a “Joy March”, was organised by the Evangelistic Network in Mission (REM) in collaboration with churches and mission organisations, according to Evangelical Focus.

Iain Taylor

One of Rome’s leading Protestant churches, the Breccia di Roma, is set to take the Italian tax authorities to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) following an unexpected defeat in the Italian Supreme Court.

After Breccia di Roma bought its building in the heart of the capital city it applied to be classed a religious building, which would have exempted it from taxation. But the Tax Agency challenged that ruling, on the grounds that the building lacked the ‘intrinsic features’ of religious buildings, such as altars, images, and statues – clearly based on Roman Catholic conceptions of religious space. The church’s explanation that, as Protestants, the buildings contain no altars because it worships God in spirit and truth, fell on deaf ears. Although two lower courts found in the church’s favour, as they recognised the right of faith communities to design their own spaces according to their own principles, the Supreme Court disagreed.

Milla Ling-Davies

The president of the Italian Evangelical Alliance (IEA) has called for more religious freedom in Italy.

In his lecture on religious freedom at the University of Padua on 20 November 2023, IEA president Giacomo Ciccone declared that, despite constitutional guarantees in the country, ‘religious freedom is still caged in a political-religious culture that has not yet accepted religious pluralism’.

An Italian evangelical fellowship is facing a potential tax penalty – because the building in which it meets does not look ‘religious’ enough.

Breccia di Roma lacks the usual Roman Catholic paraphernalia, and now faces a Supreme Court battle. Leonardo de Chirico reports:

letter from Italy

Leonardo De Chirico

The victory of a nationalist coalition headed by Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s first female Prime Minister, chimes with concerns also visible elsewhere in Europe, such as Hungary, Poland and Sweden.

The global crisis, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, increased energy prices and migrations arouse anxieties that the right seem better able to interpret.

Iain Taylor

A preaching workshop being held in the Italian capital is expanding rapidly.

‘Workshop Predicazione’ looks set to double the numbers attending in 2022.