In Italy, the Christmas nativity scene at school, or the Catholic offensive of the far right in power

Published on : 12/21/2023 – 6:51 p.m.

5 mins

A new front in its battle to defend the “cultural roots” of Italy. The Fratelli d’Italia party (Brothers of Italy in French, or FdI) of Giorgia Meloni, tabled a bill in the Senate on Wednesday, December 20, aimed in particular at sanctioning schools which abandon Christmas nativity scenes.

The text explains that public schools cannot prevent parents, students or school bodies from promoting activities such as the installation of nativity scenes, plays and other events related to Christmas and Easter celebrations, reports the Milanese daily Corriere della Sera.

This initiative, according to Senator Lavinia Mennuni, at the origin of the text, is a response to the “absolutely unacceptable” decision of certain schools to rename Christmas with “Winter Festival”. If the bill is adopted, she assured that there will be nothing obligatory, but that “it will be forbidden to prohibit” these important Catholic traditions in Italy. Recalcitrant heads of establishments would then be exposed to disciplinary measures.

“Weapons of Distraction”

Opposition parties immediately denounced the proposal as a new attempt by far-right leader Giorgia Meloni’s party to exploit religion for political purposes. “Christmas is approaching and the usual proposals from the right to safeguard ‘Italian Christian traditions’ are back,” posted on X Riccardo Magi, secretary of the left-wing party Più Europa (More Europe).

“They are ridiculous, they want to ban by law everything they don’t like,” said Luana Zanella, head of the Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (Alliance of Greens and Left) group within the hemicycle, quotes the Italian daily La Stampa. “Instead of governing the country, a task they do not know how to handle, they continue to use ‘weapons of distraction’.”

It is especially the educational community which has rebelled against the FdI proposal. “It is important to respect the country’s traditions, but imposing them by law is not the solution,” said Antonello Giannelli, national president of the Association of School Directors (ANP). The directors of certain multi-ethnic schools scattered across the country also denounced this initiative, calling it a “provocation”, a “hoax”, an “anachronistic imposition” or, at the very least, an “inappropriate initiative”, reports the daily. Italian Il Sole 24.

Giorgia Meloni’s posture, a “reiteration of belonging”

This proposed law on daycare centers is the latest initiative by the Meloni government to promote conservative values ​​in Italy. Since coming to power in October 2022, his government has taken measures aimed at defending the traditional family, protecting national identity, preserving cultural heritage and limiting immigration. The Italian executive has also made it more difficult for same-sex couples to register their children with the civil registry. This measure was condemned by the European Parliament, which described it as discriminatory.

Read also“Ghost parent”: in Italy, Giorgia Meloni’s crusade against same-sex families

During her electoral campaign, Giorgia Melona made the Catholic religion a central element of her political speech: “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian”, she declared to his supporters.

According to Ludmila Acone, a doctor of history specializing in medieval and contemporary Italy, Giorgia Meloni’s position “is a reiteration of belonging which is opposed to foreigners, and in particular to Muslims. It is a political offensive which is very clearly anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and identitarian.” A posture which is a continuation of the policy of the far-right Northern League party of Matteo Salvini, current vice-president of the Council of Ministers.

The latter, who has made religious symbols a political tool, has been rebelling for almost ten years against schools trying to transform Christmas celebrations into a more inclusive “Winter Festival”. In May 2019, the leader of the League even attracted the wrath of the Italian Church and the Vatican by brandishing the Gospel and his rosary during a speech.

“These postures are reminiscent of those of American evangelists,” analyzes Ludmila Acone. “They are not appropriate in Italy. If this political use of religion does not please the Vatican, it is because it is a question of combative Christianity, in other words a neo-Christian offensive.”

The Pope, “much more open” than Fratelli d’Italia

By making the crèche its hobby horse, Fratelli d’Italia has not invented anything. In 2018, Education Minister Marco Bussetti criticized the director of a school in Mestre who refused to install a nursery in the entrance hall of the establishment. The same year, the president of the provincial government of Trentino, Maurizio Fugatti, also requested the installation of a crèche in classrooms. This proposal was made following the Northern League’s proposal to make the crucifix compulsory on the walls of all public places. A proposal that has since fallen into oblivion.

This political offensive that the Meloni government is pursuing is also a manifestation of the deep divide that exists in Italy between two Catholic tendencies: one conservative and the other more liberal. “The conservative, even reactionary, tendency, represented by Fratelli d’Italia, considers that Catholic morality must be reaffirmed and wishes to promote it in all areas of society, including education,” explains Ludmila Acone. “The pope himself is much more open.”

For Fratelli d’Italia, safeguarding the Catholic religion also involves repressing other faiths. Last summer, the far-right party introduced a bill to ban Muslim prayer spaces outside mosques and ban the conversion of garages and industrial warehouses into places of worship.