When the Primate of Italy
visits his country...
Translated from
the 11/7/09 issue of
On the eve of his 17th pastoral visit in Italy, which Benedict XVI carries out tomorrow in Brescia and Concesio, the Vatican publishing house and the Embassy of Italy to the Holy See are publishing a book that documents the 16 preceding pastoral visits.
The book is
I viaggi di Benedetto XVI in Italia (182 pp, Euro 38).
[LEV has not yet posted anything online about the book!]
The intention, writes Ambassador Antonio Zanardi Landi, is "to render testimony to a shared vision of secularity that is mature and more consolidated with the passage of years, based on the common awareness of the Italian State and the Church of the continuity between authentic human values and Christian ones".
"It is a vision which - from the convergence of political and religious efforts deriving from it, harmonious as much as they are effective - can certainly be taken as a model".
Following is the text prepared for the book's presentation by Gianni Letta, undersecretary to the Italian Council of Ministers under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Mr. Letta is also a papal courtier, one of the Gentlemen of His Holiness.
A deep and fecund osmosis
between Church and State
by Gianni Letta
Since he was elected to the Papacy in April 2005, to the present, His Holiness, Benedict XVI, has visited, during 16 pastoral visits, twenty towns and cities in the peninsula, meeting millions of Italians and receiving from them singular testimony of their veneration and affection.
The presence of the Pope in so many of the places most significant in the history of the Church and for the relation between the Church and the people of our country testifies to the fact that the Pontiff, besides being the leader of the Universal Church and Bishop of Rome, is also the Primate of Italy.
The link of the Papacy with the city of Rome, from Peter and his first successors, has been and is a most important and solemn characteristic of the papacy, but so is that with Italy as a whole, for which the nation is very proud.
The profound attachment which our present Pope has for our country was clearly expressed on the occasion of his visit to the Quirinale [presidential palace] on October 4, 2008:
"Today," he said, "we can say with satisfaction that in the city of Rome, the Italian State and the Holy See co-exist peacefully and work together fruitfully... The Vatican and the Quirinal are not hills which ignore or confront each other with resentment. They are places that symbolize the reciprocal respect for the sovereignty of Church and State, ready to cooperate together to promote and serve the integral good of the human being as well as peaceful social coexistence".
The absolute exceptionality of the level of relations with Italy and the collaboration between Church and State is underscored by the Pope Himself who points to Italy as a model that other States can follow in this respect.
The Italian model, Benedict XVI has said, is "a positive reality that is verifiable on a daily basis and on different levels, one that other States can look to for useful lessons".
Italy has an exceptional situation from which it has been learning progressively to derive the maximum advantage: We are a secular state in the heart of which beats the Vatican state - the smallest of states but one that has the most universal of vocations.
The Holy See recognizes the secularity of the Italian State, but does not step back - and this comforts us - from a most important role in forming the consciences of Italians.
The words that Benedict XVI has often said about this are exemplary: "The Church is not and does not intend to be a political agent... It does have a profound interest for the good of the community.. The immediate task of acting in political terms to construct a just order in society is therefore not that of the Church as such, but of its lay faithful acting as citizens of their own responsibility. It is a task of the greatest importance, to which lay Italian Christians are called on to dedicate themselves with courage and generosity".
In fact, one cannot fail to acknowledge the social and public dimension of the religious reality, and its great and important contribution to the consolidation of those values which - for the good of everyone, believers and non-believers - should orient our society and support the entire institutional structure.
From these brief statements on the role of the Church in Italian society, it emerges quite clearly that, in full respect of their respective autonomies - often reiterated by Benedict XVI in his homilies and encyclicals - collaboration between Church and State, especially in a country like Italy, can lead to the achievement of goals that are important "for the edification of a society founded on truth adn freedom, on respect for life and human dignity, on justice and on social solidarity".
The Pope's visits throughout Italy, which I have had the privilege of joining many times, have allowed us to feel at first hand this deep-running and fruitful osmosis between Church and State, and to see so many cities had historic places in a completely different light from usual.
We have seen cities cleaned and beautified with care and love. We have seen public works brought to completion in record time, in order to offer the Holy Father the best aspects of the places he is visiting.
Above all, we have seen people who are happy and festive, young and old, together in their expectations and deeply touched by the singular privilege Italians have of being able to see and hear first-hand the Successor of Peter with a frequency and familiarity that are unique in the world.