Popes, painters, polenta, poets, politicians, potentates and pizza. Italy has it all. The land of the 'dolce vita' has much that makes it truly sweet. It is a land rich in history and culture. Its breathtaking landscapes range from towering mountains to lush plains. Food is everywhere and the aroma of herbs, garlic and olive oil fill the air from north to south. A haven for tourists, Italy is the place where you can visit Roman ruins, marvel at Renaissance art (some estimate that one third of the Western World's art treasures are in Italy, not to mention its contributions to science, literature and music), stay in tiny medieval hill towns, go skiing in the Alps or on the slopes of Sicily's Mt. Etna, explore the canals of Venice and gaze everywhere at beautiful churches. Italy is the land of world-class fashion and design - names like Armani, Ferrari, Benetton and many others are known the world. It boasts a strong economy but faces current challenges from on-going political instability, the lowest birth rate in Europe and an increasingly ageing population and a predicted fall in population by nearly a third over the next 50 years.

'Dolce vita?'
But not all is 'dolce vita' in Italy. Generally unknown even to Christians around the world is the condition of great spiritual need and challenge.

Even though the Gospel once flourished in Italy over time its light has been obscured. For centuries, following on from the Protestant Reformation, men sought to bring the Church back to the teachings of Scripture. Instead of being commended they were condemned. Instead of being protected and received, they were hunted and persecuted. The Reformation never took root in Italy as in other parts of Europe and the preaching of Gospel was far less than in other European countries.

Religions abound

'To be Italian is to be Catholic' neatly sums up the mindset of many. Dominated for centuries by the Roman Catholic Church, today Italy is a nation which is Catholic by birth and by tradition. 97% of the population has been baptized but today just 37%, a small percentage, of those professing to be Catholic, are actually said to be practicing. After confirmation, most Italians only attend church for weddings, deaths, or at Christmas and Easter time. The Catholic Church in Italy does not teach that salvation is only by grace through faith alone in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:8-9), but instead teaches that it’s obtained through a series of works, or good deeds (sacraments) in addition to trusting in Christ.

Increasingly Italians want little to do with religion yet remain highly skeptical of alternative expressions of the Christian faith. By contrast there is a resurgence in 'spirituality with the Catholic Church having lost millions of adherents to New Age thinking, cults, the occult and materialistic secularism. Even the Pope declared: “Italy is a mission field”. Religious freedom has, however, been met with indifference and Church growth has been slow. In the past, the religious community in Italy included only Jews, Valdensian and Greek Orthodox besides the Catholic Church. Official statistics today suggest there are more than 600 different religious groups. Still only 2% of Italian citizens practice a religion that is different from Catholicism. If you include the immigrant population there are 3.5% but all you need to do is go into an Italian school to soon realize that the religious pluralism in Italy is rapidly changing. The Jehovah Witnesses represent the third confession of faith in Italy after the Catholics and Muslims. The statistics from the world-mission book: Operation World (2001) are as follows: Catholic 77.4%, Non-Religious 20.0%, Islam 2.4%, Protestant 0.6%.

The Spiritual Climate

In this land of darkness there are increasing signs of deep dissatisfaction and emptiness. The youth culture, in particular, affected by globalized models, offers little hope to the thousands who throng the discos and bright lights in any one of the hundreds of the 'in' resorts. Visit Rimini or Riccione (which are popular holiday resorts) on a weekend and you'll see the emptiness and shallowness. Throughout history a faint light has been shining. The Gospel witness, though small, has been moving forward. Today in less than 10% of Italian cities, towns and villages you can find believers. That means much remains to be done. It still means that 90% of Italian cities, towns and villages are without a faithful Gospel witness. Estimates indicate that Italy has only 5% of Christians compared to the UK. In Italy there are more than 200 assemblies in Italy and around 20000 people attend. It is also sad to say the Evangelical church in Italy has invariably suffered by division, power struggles, lack of vision for the lost and a general sense of inability to move ahead. Italians are very individualistic, and whilst on an individual level they may be clever people, they often do not always work well together. And for this reason the Church is not united. This has been an obstacle to the expansion of ministries and partnerships that would eliminate the "reinvention of the wheel" in each local church.

New challenges, new opportunities

There are around 1,800,000 students in Italy 1,130,000 being university students, yet no thriving ministry exists amongst them. In Milan alone there are about 200,000 university students and still no established evangelical campus group exists. Universities are changing fast, these changes have affected students and the social side of university life. The current generation of students is post-modern and for the majority God does not even come in to their everyday language.  Many of the students and youngsters see the inconsistency, hypocrisy, corruption, and decline of the Catholic Church around them, and don't want to have anything to do it. Others, may have some kind of connection, being brought up in the Catholic Church but have been burned by the Church or by the aggressive Mormon and Jehovah's Witnesses or other sects. Still others believe in nothing but themselves believing that there is no higher power. Those who believe in God can't fathom having a personal relationship with Him much less the free gift of eternal life.  Since nothing is free and everything has a catch in Italy, the average Italian is very skeptical about a gift so precious being absolutely free.

At a deeper level the changing university scene is causing great changes, not only with the student lifestyle but also with student values. Materialism, secularism and neo-paganism have taken the place of Christianity as a basis for moral values. But other factors also deeply influence student life in most universities and colleges today: one is apathy. Most of them have as their goal a good life, making money, having a nice car, a nice partner and good looks for as long as they can make them last... Hedonism - the pursuit of pleasure - and narcissism - the love of self - are great ways of covering up and avoiding thinking about big issues of life and faith. Students are still into sex, drugs and alcohol, but the reasons are different to what they were years ago, now it is merely a way of enjoying the moment, by feeling good and avoiding self-examination. It is very difficult to get them to think about anything beyond themselves. This is simply not on the agenda. The other factor which is a widely held idea is Relativism (the idea that nothing is true for everyone and different people have different truths to live by). Not all people hold to it for the same reasons and some do so unconsciously. This seems to arise among students simply out of the cultural mixture and lack of any serious thinking on the subject.

Quite surprisingly, it is interesting to notice that among the young catholic generation they are seeing some kind of resurgence, with an increase in church attendance, 30% of young people between 18 -24 years of age and 22% of 25-34 year olds are attending mass regularly. This new recent situation shows once again the desire of the young generation to search for answers and spirituality and the need for Christ. I believe the only hope for Italy, and specifically the students in Italy, is Jesus Christ! This new generation is a huge multi- cultural mix who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, because they are the key to Italy's next generation of leaders, businessmen, and politicians. If they can be won to Christ, so can the entire country!

Today Italy has almost 60 million inhabitants. One of the major trends in recent decades has been large scale immigration. Now, Italy is rapidly becoming a multicultural society as the number of ethnic Italians decrease and age, and large numbers of immigrants (mainly from North Africa and Eastern Europe) come in and have more children on average. But even before this input of new cultures, Italy was always a very varied country, with big differences between the north and the south, and every region (and often every city) has always had its own culture, usually speaking a dialect which is incomprehensible to the other regions.

According to official statistics, there are almost 4 million foreigners living in Italy (6.2% of the population). Italy receives one of the largest proportions of immigrants in the European Union, and more than the proportion taken by the USA. Most immigrants to Italy (6 out of 10) are living in the region of Lombardy and the north of Italy. 50% of immigrants come from Eastern Europe, the others from Africa, Asia and South America. (The majority of the ethnic groups are from: Morocco, China, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Albania, India…). Northern Italy attracts 59%, central Italy 26,4%, and southern Italy 14,7%.

Sad to say there appears little concerted activity by the church to reach out to these immigrants. Italian Ministries, www.italianministries.org, together with others is seeking through mission events and greater information to give a challenge to maximise this incredible opportunity to reach those who have come 'from the ends of the earth...'

Conclusion

Almost daily the news reminds us that hundreds of 'boat people' swarm across the waters from Africa and beyond landing, they hope, in what they still see as the land of 'la dolce vita'. Sad to say many die en route, others soon discover the ruthless reality of exploitation and abuse, few reach their desired destination. Pray with us that the Italian church might not simply continue to enjoy beautiful landscapes, great food and one of the world's richest artistic heritages, but that it might take stock of how challenging the situation actually is. Pray for the Italian church. For the great mission opportunity and responsibility it’s facing, in view of growing multi-ethnicity. Also pray for the leadership and that there might be new growth and unity and that it might rise up with to take the sweet truth of the Gospel to a dark land where life is far from 'dolce'.

Giuseppe Palermo