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The Christian Scene in the Mediterranean
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2024
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In his Apologia Newman writes
I think it would be a very serious evil, which Divine Mercy avert! that the Church should be contracted in Europe within the range of particular nationalities.
The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent sweeping changes that have taken place in the political configuration of Europe force us to go beyond territorial concerns in our consideration of unity. More than simply a geographical reality, in fact, unity is something that encompasses history, culture and tradition, and which has in Christianity its first matrix.
My subject is the Christian scene in the Mediterranean area, the ‘south’ of Europe. Our first task, therefore, must be to rid ourselves of those all too common prejudices which equate the ‘south’ with regress and cultural backwardness. After all, depending on one’s perspective, every country is always to the ‘south’ of another. To deal comprehensively with the situation of Christianity in the Mediterranean area in the short space allocated to me is practically impossible, and would require a knowledge of social and cultural phenomena which do not easily lend themselves to synthesis. Given my background, therefore, the analysis which follows has to be restricted to the Italian situation.
The situation in Italy, however, is also one which does not easily lend itself to brief description. A great deal of space would be required even to sketch the background against which the current situation of Christianity has come to be created. I have decided, therefore, to concentrate on two areas: firstly, the general situation of the life of believers in Italy and, secondly, the situation of Italian theology. Taken together, these two perspectives should give some indication of the global condition of the country with regard to Christianity.
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- Copyright © 1992 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers
References
1 Newman, J. H., Apologia Pro Vita Sua, London 1976 ed, p 180Google Scholar.
2 In saying this, in no way do I wish to detract from the importance of Spain, Portugal and Greece. However, the socio‐cultural differences between these countries, together with their different legal systems, which give rise to different positions with regard to believers and the magisterium, make a general analysis impossible.
3 Even today in Rome it is possible to find anti‐Vatican monuments situated in strategic places; in fact, the ‘Prati’ district of the city was designed in such a way that from no part of it is it possible to see the dome of St Peter's.
4 An identity more on the pastoral than on the institutional level. Cf Alberigo, G., ‘La Chiesa italiana tra Pio XH e Paolo VI’, in Alberigo, G. (ed), Chiese italiane e concilia, Geneva 1988, p 17Google Scholar.
5 Ibid, p 22.
6 For example, there was the request made by Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, for the Lateran Pacts to be inserted under art. 7 of the Italian Constitution.
7 Cf A. Riccaidi; ‘La conferenza episcopate italiana negli anni ’50‐‘60’, in G. Alberigo, op. cit., pp 35–39.
8 For a theological evaluation of the phenomenon cf Secondin, B., Segni di prqfezia nella chiesa, Milano 1987Google Scholar.
9 Cf Fisichella, P., Introduzione all teologia fondamentale, Casale Monfenato 1992Google Scholar.
10 Cf Flick, M. and Alszeghy, Z., ‘II movimento teologico italiano’, Gregoruvium 48 (1967), pp 302–325Google Scholar.
11 Colombo, G., ‘La teologia italiana. Dommatica 1950–1970’, La Scuola Cattolica 102 (1974), pp 99–191Google Scholar.
12 Serenth�, L.�, ‘La teologia Italiana post manualistica’ in a book by various authors, La teologia italiana oggi, Brescia 1979, pp 57–100Google Scholar.
13 The faculties of theology present in the state universities were abolished in 1873 and never re‐opened.
14 Italian theology has more than once been the object of severe criticism from within its own ranks, even if this has often been inspired by disputes between individual theologians: e.g. Colombo, G., ‘La teologia italiana e la lettera dei 63 teologi', Teologia 14 (1989), p 97Google Scholar speaks‐of the ‘chronic and acclaimed underdevelopment of Italian theology’. G. Ruggieri, ‘Chronache teologiche. Presentazione’, varii, Autori, La Chiesa italiana nell’ oggi delta fede, Casale Monferrato 1979, p 5Google Scholar has this to say: ‘It should not be considered offensive to speak of the ‘poverty’ of current Italian theology. And not because the condition of poverty is not specific of our theology in this precise moment, but because it is as well to take humble and critical account of the motives which are at the origin of our theological condition’. L. Sartori in Seltimana, 12 November 1989, p 9, speaking of the Italian Theological Association, suggests that in ‘the second decade of our journey together there has been no shortage of intransigent, polemical, or obsessed people. Some have withdrawn, fearing more than anything else mishaps in their relations with others who have left slamming doors behind them. As a consequence, and also because of the difficult relations with the Italian Episcopal Conference, others have backed out, preferring not to compromise their ecclesiastical reputation. Lastly, some have seen in our journey a kind of theology adrift, open to the winds, and so have found the need (cf Milan) to interest themselves in the critical foundation of theology. Their work is noble and significant. However, the disputes which interest them have been outdated in Germany for three or four years.’
15 N. Ciola, Studio bibliografico delta cristologia in Italia 1965–1983, Roma 1984; Idem, II dibattito ecclesiologico in Italia. Uno studio bibliografico 1963–1984, Roma 1986.
16 Cf Dianich, S., La Chiesa di Gesu Cristo, Roma 1973Google Scholar, Idem, La chiesa mislero di communione, Torino 1977Google Scholar.
17 C. Rochetta (ed), Corso di Teologia Sistematica, voll. 1–11, Edizioni Dehoniane, Bologna 1985 onwards. Among the various theological dictionaries which have appeared we may mention: Nuovo Dizionario di Teologia, Nuovo Dizionario di Spiritualità, Nuovo Dizionario di Liturgia, Nuovo Dizionario di Teologia Biblica, Dizionario Teologico Interdisciplinare.
18 ‘La teologia tra vitalità e diffidenza,’II Regno 34 (1989), p 648Google Scholar.
19 John Paul II to the European Community, 20 May 1985. Cf Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II VIII, p 1579.
20 This paper was translated from the Italian by Graham Bell.
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