Silvio Berlusconi was both hated and loved. Known in the international media as Il Cavaliere, the politician, Berlusconi deeply shaped the public life of Italy in the last decades.

The businessman, who died at the age of 86, never hid a desire to be loved by the masses. He was Prime Minister of as many as four governments (1994-1995, 2001-2005, 2005-2006, and 2008-2011). His popular support had much to do with his abilities as a media tycoon and his inversion in entertainment (he owned Italy’s classic football team AC Milan).

Sentenced for prostitution of minors (the known as Rubygate), Berlusconi was convicted for tax fraud with his media empire Mediaset and condemned for bribery as well. But the his omnipresent figure never seemed to lose the support of large parts of the population. His political projects (including the party Forza Italia, with which he was elected Senator in the 2022 general elections) kept him in the political elite until his death.  

The demeaning of women and the vilification of opponents

“Silvio Berlusconi contributed to the demeaning of women, the spectaculisation of politics”, thinks Mila Palozzi, community pastor of an evangelical church in Rome. Moreover, he contributed to “the amoralisation of public ethics, the vilification of opponents, and the growth of populism in modern democracies”. Speaking to Evangelical Focus, the Christian leader comes to the conclusion that “the central element of Berlusconi’s vision for Italy was himself”, something that “contributed to Italian myopia and lack of long-term thinking”.

This “flawed” understanding of public life was also visible in his entrepreneurial activity, says Alessandro Piccirillo, who collaborates with the IFED Centre of Ethical and Bioethical Studies in Padua (Northern Italy). He had “a low view of laws” and tried to “shape norms around his own interests, a “damaging” example to an Italian society “already prone to corruption”.

All this contrasts much with a gospel vision of public life, Mila Palozzi tells Evangelical Focus. “For Christians, Christ is the centre of our worldview”, and this “means a vision for public life that lifts everyone up, including women, that sacrifices for the common good, that is profoundly ethical, and that is more concerned with long-term solutions than quick fixes for the sake of power”.

A huge influencer of post-modern Italy

Leonardo De Chirico, a theologian and author in Rome, “Berlusconi embodied different traits of Italian culture, both traditional and innovative”, something that made him able to “connect with the average Italian”.

Through his media empire, he “shaped the public imagination, feeding the consumerist, individualistic and sexually disoriented culture of our days”. De Chirico sees in him a “populist” who often despised democratic processes and the rule of law when they collided with his personal projects.

“He certainly had a conflated ego and was the post-modern embodiment of what Augustine meant when talking about the danger of amor sui (love of self) as opposed to amor Dei (love of God)”, says De Chirico.

How evangelical Christians saw Berlusconi

For a significant numbers of evangelicals, Berlusconi was seen as “an alternative to left-wing or Marxist politics and a somewhat new version of Democrazia Cristiana (of Catholic lineage)”, says Alessandro Picirillo. Nevertheless, his “highly questionable lifestyle” and efforts to “maintain privileges for a certain social class” did not come across well among Christians.

“A shrewd politician, Berlusconi would rarely take position on ethical and bioethical matters”, he continued. In the public sphere, “Christians are called to mend those fences politicians and voters have broken by expecting and exercising kingship responsibilities towards society at large”.

It is true that some evangelical Christians had sympathy for Berlusconi’s conservative views, but others “disliked his personality cult”, adds De Chirico. In the former Prime Minister’s television channels, there “never was a hint of openness towards religious minorities”.

In an opinion column, the evangelical theologian concludes that Silvio Berlusconi’s career “mirrored the decay of Italian culture, trying to honour the traditional Roman Catholic status quo while pushing a secular agenda”.