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Leonardo de Chirico

Date posted: 1 Sep 2014

Nearly 100% of Italian evangelical churches and bodies (85% of Italian Protestants) on July 19 signed a common statement reinforcing evangelical commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, as well as providing biblical standards to assess the mounting ecumenical pressure coming from the Roman Catholic Church.

Following a round table on ‘An evangelical perspective on Roman Catholicism’, promoted by the Italian Evangelical Alliance and held in Aversa on July 19, the Federation of Pentecostal Churches, the Assemblies of God in Italy, the Apostolic Church and the Pentecostal Congregations, concerned by recent ecumenical initiatives between national and international evangelical and Pentecostal circles and the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope, believe that a church which operates as mediator of salvation and presents other figures as mediators of grace is incompatible with the teaching of Scripture, since God’s grace comes to us by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2.8) and without the agency of other mediators (1 Timothy 2.5).

Leonardo de Chirico

Date posted: 1 Aug 2014

Since 2011 onwards in Lombardia, some 16 places of worship of various Evangelical groups have been closed.

Most of these buildings were used by migrant churches which ordinarily find it more difficult to find legal protection and are often hesitant to be outspoken about their problems. In 2005 a regional law was passed that allowed the local police to check whether or not these buildings were registered as places of worship. Its motivation was to control the presence of Muslim places for prayer but it was also a form of hostility towards foreigners.