The president of the Italian Evangelical Alliance, Giacomo Ciccone, recently give a lecture on religious freedom at the Faculty of Law of the University of Padua.

According to the evangelical entity, it is unusual for this topic to be considered in Italian academic and cultural circles. “It is even more unusual that a speaker from the evangelical world is assigned to address it”.

Ciccone recalled how evangelicals took an active role in safeguarding, defending and promoting religious freedom in the world and in Italy.

He also stressed that despite the constitutional guarantees, “religious freedom is still caged in a political-religious culture that has not yet accepted religious pluralism”.

Punto Luce and Breccia Di Roma churches

At the end of the talk, students and teachers mainly asked about the Punto Luce and the Breccia Di Roma churches, that have been of particular interest in the country.

The Punto Luce church, was closed in 2019, but a double pronouncement by the Council of State allowed its reopening.

The case of tax justice concerning the Breccia Di Roma church still pending at the Court of Cassation. The national tax agency argued that the church lacked the “intrinsic characteristics of religious buildings”.

Evangelical pastor at the Italian Senate

Also recently, René Breuel, evangelical pastor in Rome, participated as a spokesperson for the evangelical Christian faith, in a religious panel organised by Italian Senate during a conference on “the role of religious and ethnic communities in building Europe’s identity and solving its crises”.

In his talk, he “highlighted some of the contributions faith communities give to the common good, among which are the character formation of citizens, the transmission of age-old wisdom, and the moral values that can inspire the vision of a virtuous Europe”.