Protestantism in Italy

Protestant church in Bordighera, Liguria

Protestantism in Italy comprises a minority of the country's religious population.

The Catholic Church is by far the largest Christian denomination, but Protestantism has a significant presence. While the CESNUR (an Italian think tank devoted to religious studies, especially on new religions in Italy) asserts that there are 442,377 Protestants in Italy, due to the difficulty of keeping accurate records regarding the proclaimed religion of immigrants to the country, that number likely reflects, at best, only an approximation of the actual number of Protestants in the country.

In 2022, non-Catholic Christians made up 4% of the population, while estimates suggest that 0.65% of the country has a Protestant background.

History

The oldest known of Italy's Protestant churches, the Waldensian Evangelical Church, is a pre-Lutheran Protestant denomination, which was founded by Peter Waldo in the 12th century and, after the Protestant Reformation, adhered to Calvinist theology and became the Italian branch of the Reformed churches. The church's heartland is a cluster of Alpine valleys, the so-called "Waldensian Valleys" (Val Pellice, Val Chisone and Valle Germanasca), in western Piedmont. Since 1975 the Waldensians form a united church with the Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy. The ideas of Girolamo Savonarola also had spread around Florence around the 15th century.

The Reformation in Italy began at the end of the 15th century and quickly collapsed at the beginning of the 17th century. Its development was hindered by stern repression by the Inquisition of the Catholic Church. Groups of Italian Protestants had more comfortable lives in Switzerland, particularly in the Graubünden region.

Gravestone of an Italian convert to the Church of England in All Saints Church, Fulham

On 17 February 1848 Charles Albert, king of Piedmont-Sardinia, granted religious freedom and civic emancipation to the Waldensians. Freedom of worship and equality of civic and political rights were later extended to Jews and to the other Italian states that were progressively annexed to Piedmont-Sardinia during the process of unification of Italy. Newer Waldensian congregations sprang up as well as the Free Christian Church (which lasted from 1852 to 1904) and the Evangelical Christian Church of the Brethren. Meanwhile British and American missionaries began to preach and establish Anglican, Methodist and Baptist churches.

In the early 20th century, missionaries spread the Pentecostal gospel throughout the country. Nowadays, most of those resulting Pentecostal congregations belong to the Assemblies of God in Italy The Assemblies of God in Italy take their name from the agreement signed in 1947 by the majority of Italian Pentecostal congregations with the American Assemblies of God . Although this agreement should in no way be considered as an identification ‒ so much so that missionaries from the American Assemblies of God have been operating in Italy through the offices of the International Christian Fellowship, in Rome since 1988, and later in Florence, Verona and Padua ‒, it is still interesting to preface with some notes on the history of the American and international denomination. In Hot Springs, in 1914, the Assemblies of God were born as a simple network intended to provide the communities that were part of it with some essential services and to bring them into compliance with the laws of the States that required their “registration” as religious entities. The participants at the Hot Springs conference emphatically declared that they did not want to establish a denomination, “a human organization that decides laws or articles of faith”, because this type of organization is “contrary to the Scriptures”.

Three developments, dating from the time of World War I and the years afterward, transformed the Assemblies of God from a network to a denomination. The first was the decision—made by a majority, and against the advice of a lively pacifist minority—to support the American war effort in World War I, a move that, in retrospect, transformed many Pentecostals—in Edith L. Blumhofer’s phrase—from “pilgrims” awaiting the end times outside society into full-fledged “citizens.” The second was the founding of educational institutions, the first of which was the Central Bible Institute (CBI)—now Central Bible College —in Springfield, Missouri. The Assemblies of God responded to the anti-Pentecostalism of many Protestant academic institutions not by rejecting academic education but by founding institutions of their own. At least since these developments in the 1920s, it is certainly inaccurate to present the Assemblies of God as a mere collection of enthusiastic believers, where experience prevails over doctrine. Although poor and of limited secular education, many pastors of the Assemblies of God have had – since before the Second World War – a theological education at the level of higher studies. The third development is the almost immediate commitment to ambitious international missionary programs. The successes will be spectacular.

Academic institutions and missionary efforts, in turn, foster greater contact between the Assemblies of God and other evangelicals, even non-Pentecostals, overcoming the “separateness” that had characterized the early years of the denomination. In truth, this “separateness” – rather than being chosen by the Assemblies of God – had been imposed from outside, due to the violent criticism that the fundamentalist world in particular directed at Pentecostalism and glossolalia. The “Pentecostal question” itself ended up fostering a clear distinction between the evangelical world and the fundamentalist world. The former – which established the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in 1942 – was willing to collaborate with (classical) Pentecostals, under the banner of a common interpretation of the Bible, putting differences on glossolalia in brackets. The fundamentalists, on the other hand – who did not adhere to the NAE – maintained a rigid anti-Pentecostal opposition. The Assemblies of God have participated in the NAE since its founding, and within the NAE – and also independently of it – they establish regular collaborative relationships with other classical Pentecostal denominations.

After the Second World War, classical Pentecostals (both the “Wesleyan” ones and those improperly called “Baptists”) were united by the need to reaffirm their biblical and doctrinal roots, and their denominational structure, in the face of the renewed ultra-congregationalism of the Free Pentecostal Churches and the new charismatic phenomena of the Latter Rain Movement and independent healers (who constitute the so-called “second wave” of Pentecostalism). In the 1960s and 1970s, the Assemblies of God followed with curiosity – but also with distrust – the charismatic renewal of non-Pentecostal Protestant Churches and the Catholic Church. A report published in 1972 concluded that “the wind of the Spirit is blowing freely outside the normally recognized Pentecostal organizations.” “The Assemblies of God cannot approve of what is evidently unscriptural in doctrine and conduct, but neither do they want to categorically condemn anything that does not conform totally to our parameters. It is important to find our way on the scriptural path, avoiding the two extremes of an ecumenism that compromises the principles of Scripture and an exclusivism that is not true to true Christianity” (Executive Presbytery, “Charismatic Study Report,” Advance , November 1972, p. 3).

Distrust of Catholicism in general leads the Assemblies of God to remain very reserved towards Catholic charismatics. Some theologians and preachers go further in collaborating with both the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Ecumenical (or World) Council of Churches, a symbol of an ecumenism considered unacceptable by the Assemblies of God. Among these, important figures in the Assemblies of God outside the United States such as Donald Gee (English, 1891-1966) and David Du Plessis (South African, later naturalized American, 1905-1987). The majority of the Assemblies of God do not follow what they consider a flight forward, and in 1962 Du Plessis is forced to renounce his credentials as pastor of the denomination (which he will regain in 1980). For the Assemblies of God, it is not so much a question of criticizing other Churches as of jealously preserving a doctrinal integrity often perceived as being in danger.

In the 1980s the problem became particularly acute, with the proliferation of specialized national and international ministries and parachurches, which attempted to gain preeminence over local communities, arousing much criticism. The “fall” in the second half of the decade of televangelists Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart – both from the Assemblies of God, which took action against them when they were accused of fraud and immorality – confirmed the dangers inherent in these autonomous ministries, especially when they were connected to the large sums of money that revolve around television preaching. Televangelists, however, are not typical representatives of the Assemblies of God and their style. While voices within the denomination urge a fight against the weariness and “bourgeoisification” that are evident in the wealthier congregations, it is significant that – even from a statistical point of view alone – the greatest growth of the denomination (which today approaches thirty-five million members worldwide) occurred in the United States, in the 1990s, within the Spanish-speaking congregations, which often operate under very difficult material conditions. It is in these simple Spanish-American congregations, and in thousands of similar churches in developing countries – more than in the few US megachurches that are the subject of newspaper and television interest – that the visitor can still perceive something of the style and spirit of the early pioneers.

Italian Pentecostalism was formed from the very beginning among Italian-Americans in an environment doctrinally close to that of the Assemblies of God, but the “indigenous” root remains clearly prevalent. The organizational path of the Italian Pentecostals did not meet the Assemblies of God until December 1945, when the Swiss pastor Hermann Parli (1916-1998) came to Italy to verify the conditions of Italian Pentecostalism after the persecution and the war on behalf of the Assemblies of God of the United Kingdom. Seeking – in order to provide themselves with a legal structure before the State – a formal agreement with a foreign organization, the Italians first turned to the Christian Church of North America (in which the majority of the Italian-American Pentecostal Churches had merged); but this in turn did not have adequate legal recognition. This leads to the Naples Convention of 16-18 August 1947, when the Italian Pentecostal Assemblies, "having recognised the urgent need to regularise their legal position and having noted that the only means currently available to the movement is that of affiliation with foreign brotherhoods, accept the Christian affiliation offered by the Assemblies of God of the United States", while maintaining "the highest independence".

What had been called the Pentecostal Evangelical Christian Church thus took the name of Assemblies of God in Italy on the basis of the agreement signed on 13 December 1947. The founding act of the Assemblies of God in Italy was signed on 22 May 1948; the first president was Umberto Gorietti (1904-1982) and the secretary was Roberto Bracco (1915-1983). Despite the American “affiliation” (technically, rather an “agreement”), the situation was not easy, and the new denomination had to suffer what Eugenio Stretti called “Christian Democrat persecution”, through the continuous application of the Buffarini-Guidi circular, from the fascist era, which was declared “no longer in force” only on 16 April 1955. Even with these difficulties, in the same year 1955 the communities were already over three hundred, with more than twenty thousand members. In 1951, pastors Antonio Piraino (1915-1992), of the American Assemblies of God, and Antonio di Biase (1897-1974), of the Christian Church of North America, came to Italy. Piraino called Giuseppina Furnari (1917-1988) to Italy, who gave a decisive impulse to the creation of a vast network of Sunday schools. In 1954, the Italian Biblical Institute opened – thanks to the help of the Assemblies of God of the United States and Italian-American Pentecostals who, under the guidance of Vincenzo Burchieri (1893-1962) of San Cataldo (Caltanissetta), established an Italian Christian Educational Foundation for the purpose of supporting it financially – and in 1956, radio broadcasts began and the activities of the Betania Orphanage for disadvantaged children – today the Betania-Emmaus Evangelical Institute – founded by Eliana Rustici (1912-1966), followed by other charitable initiatives.

Finally, with DPR 5 December 1959, n. 1349, the ADI – which in the meantime had grown to over four hundred Churches – obtained (after a tormented journey, and after having prevailed in 1954 against the Ministry of the Interior in an appeal presented to the Council of State) recognition of legal personality. In 1960, subsidies to the ADI by foreign sister Churches ceased, causing a series of economic difficulties that were quickly addressed (indeed, since 1963 the ADI have been raising funds for missions abroad, and are today particularly involved in Burkina Faso, later establishing the Evangelical Service of Social Assistance for humanitarian aid to indigent populations of every nation, language and religion). In 1976, the ADI also signed agreements of understanding and “spiritual affiliation” with the Christian Church of North America and with the Italian Christian Churches of Northern Europe (created by the commitment of the former among Italians who had emigrated to other European countries), thus underlining the non-unique nature of the relationship with the American Assemblies of God. In 1983, the Evangelical Gypsy Mission (ADI-MEZ) was welcomed into the ADI, which today has forty pastors and approximately two thousand adherents among the Sinti and Roma of evangelical faith.

Growth continued and in 1986 the Agreement was signed with the Italian State by the new president Francesco Toppi (1928-2014) – who succeeded Umberto Gorietti, who resigned in 1977 for health reasons –, who would lead the ADI until 2007, succeeded by Felice Antonio Loria until 2019, when the current president, Gaetano Montante, was appointed in his place. The Agreement was incorporated into law no. 517 of 11 November 1988. The text dictates rules for spiritual assistance, religious education, civil recognition of religious marriage, participation in the distribution of the IRPEF percentage through the eight per thousand mechanism, without participation in the distribution of the non-designated quota, rejected by the ADI, and with a commitment to use the sums solely for social and humanitarian interventions, excluding direct religious purposes. However, there is no provision for the procedure for the possible legal recognition of entities belonging to the ADI. The omission is not accidental, but responds to a specific choice of the confession, which evidently believes it does not want further entities with legal personality within its sphere other than those already provided for in the same law no. 517. This law, in art. 14, provides that – without prejudice to the legal personality of the ADI, a moral entity recognized by Presidential Decree no. 1349 of 1959 – with the entry into force of the law itself, three evangelical institutions are civilly recognized: the aforementioned Betania-Emmaus – for indigent or abandoned minors and for the elderly –, the Eben-Ezer and Betesda retirement homes for the elderly – as for the first, a legal dispute is underway, as it is associated with the Italian Evangelical Christian Church (CCEI), on which see the specific fact sheet – as well as the Italian Biblical Institute of Rome, which provides theological training and biblical culture. Added to these – recognized by the Piedmont Region in 1996 – was the Kades Evangelical Institute of Melazzo (Alessandria), a recovery community for alcoholics and drug addicts.

Since 1946, the ADI has published the monthly Risveglio pentecostale and since 1988 the fortnightly Cristiani Oggi , as well as – since 1954 – a quarterly magazine, Manuale di Studio per le Scuole Domenicali . The ADI-MEDIA Publications Service provides publications of an edifying, doctrinal and evangelistic nature, and the Audiovisual Service produces television programs and videocassettes always distributed exclusively within the communities. There are also numerous local community radios spread throughout the country. If growth – as former President Toppi noted in a series of writings – has created problems in the Italian Assemblies of God that are in some ways similar to those found in the United States, the elements of solid rooting in the Italian reality – similar, again, to what happens in the American denomination – are those of a strong biblical basis and a growing attention to study and theological deepening, in explicit and conscious contrast with the primacy of experience characteristic of other Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal realities.

According to data updated to 2023, the ADI counts 1,094 churches, groups and missions throughout Italy – including ethnic communities (Evangelical Missions) –, without taking into account the evangelization stations, which hold meetings in private homes but do not hold regular services. There are 653 pastors of Italian ADI communities. To these must be added 184 pastors of ethnic communities: in addition to the aforementioned Gypsy Evangelical Mission (ADI-MEZ), there are the Burkina Faso Evangelical Mission (ADI-MBF), the Philippine Evangelical Mission (ADI-MEF), the Ghanaian Evangelical Mission (ADI-MEG), the Hispanic Evangelical Mission (ADI-MEI), the Romanian Evangelical Mission (ADI-MER), the Sri Lankan Evangelical Mission (ADI-MES) and the International Evangelical Mission (ADI-MEINT). Overall, the ADI “evangelical population” can be estimated at around 120,000 units, including communicating members, adherents and sympathizers.

B.: On the United States: Margaret M. Poloma, The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads. Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas , The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville (Tennessee) 1989; Edith L. Blumhofer, The Assemblies of God. A Chapter in the Story of American Pentecostalism , 2 vols., Gospel Publishing House, Springfield (Missouri) 1989; Eadem, Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture , University of Illinois Press, Urbana-Chicago 1993. On Italy: Eugenio Stretti, The Pentecostal Movement. The Assemblies of God in Italy , Claudiana, Turin 1998; David A. Womack – Francesco Toppi, The Roots of the Pentecostal Movement in Italy , ADI Media, Rome 1989; F. Toppi, And You Will Be My Witnesses. The Pentecostal Movement and the Assemblies of God in Italy , ADI-Media, Rome 1999; Salvatore Esposito, A Century of Italian Pentecostalism. Notes on the Origins, Parliamentary Discussions, and Contemporary Structure of the Assemblies of God in Italy , The Writer, Milan 2013. On individual figures, see the following works by Francesco Toppi, all published by ADI-Media, Rome: Luigi Francescon (1866-1964) , 1997; Giuseppe Beretta (1853-1923) , 1997; Pietro Ottolini (1870-1962) , 1997; Michele Palma (1884-1963) , 1998; Giacomo Lombardi (1862-1934) , 1998; Massimiliano Tosetto (1877-1948) , 1998; Pietro Menconi (1874-1936) , 1998; Michele Nardi , 2002; Mothers in Israel. Women of the Italian Pentecostal Movement , 2003 the Federation of Pentecostal Churches, and the Apostolic Church in Italy.

The Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy (FCEI), formed in 1967, comprises all the historical Protestant churches of Italy (including the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches, the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Italy, the Baptist Evangelical Christian Union of Italy, and some minor churches), plus two observer members with a large following (the Federation of Pentecostal Churches and the Italian Union of Seventh-day Adventist Christian Churches).

Protestantism, especially in its Pentecostal forms, is thus on the rise. The Assemblies of God have the majority of their communities in the South and, according to Caritas Italiana, in 2012 the North of Italy was home to 850 "African Neo-Pentecostal churches".

See also

• Religion in Italy
• Christianity in Italy
• Catholic Church in Italy
• List of Italian religious minority politicians
• Conference of Protestant Churches in Latin Countries of Europe
• Waldensians
• Waldensian Evangelical Church
• Peter Martyr Vermigli