# Christianity in Italy

Christianity in Italy has been historically characterised by the dominance of the Catholic Church since the East–West Schism. However, the country is also home to significant Christian minorities, especially Orthodox Christians, Protestants and Jehovah's Witnesses.
The country's patron saints are Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena.

## Overview

The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses (/wɔːlˈdɛnsiːz, wɒl-/), Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the late twelfth century, the movement spread to the Cottian Alps in what is today France and Italy. The founding of the Waldensians is attributed to Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant who gave away his property around 1173, preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection.
Waldensian teachings came into conflict with the Catholic Church and by 1215 the Waldensians were declared heretical, not because they preached apostolic poverty, which the Franciscans also preached, but because they were not willing to recognize the prerogatives of local bishops over the content of their preaching, nor to recognize standards about who was fit to preach. Pope Innocent III offered the Waldensians the chance to return to the Church, and many did, taking the name "Poor Catholics". However, many did not, and were subjected to intense persecution and were confronted with organised and general discrimination in the following centuries. In the sixteenth century, the Waldensians were absorbed into the Protestant movement, under the influence of early Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger.
In some aspects the Waldensians of the Middle Ages could be seen as proto-Protestants, but they mostly did not raise the doctrinal objections characteristic of sixteenth-century Protestant leaders. They came to align themselves with Protestantism: with the Resolutions of Chanforan [fr] on 12 September 1532, they formally became a part of the Calvinist tradition. They are members of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe and its affiliates worldwide. They were nearly annihilated in the seventeenth century.
The main denomination within the movement was the Waldensian Evangelical Church, the original church in Italy. In 1975, it merged with the Methodist Evangelical Church to form the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches—a majority Waldensian church, with a minority of Methodists. Another large congregation is the Evangelical Waldensian Church of Río de la Plata in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Congregations continue to be active in Europe (particularly in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy), South America, and North America. Organizations, such as the American Waldensian Society, maintain the history of the movement and declare their mission as "proclaiming the Christian Gospel, serving the marginalized, promoting social justice, fostering inter-religious work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience."

## Historical sources

Most modern knowledge of the medieval history of the Waldensians originates almost exclusively from the records and writings of the Roman Catholic Church, the same body that was condemning them as heretics.$^{:66}$ Because of "the documentary scarcity and unconnectedness from which we must draw the description of Waldensian beliefs",$^{:87}$ much of what is known about the early Waldensians comes from reports like the Profession of faith of Valdo of Lyon (1180); Liber antiheresis by Durando d'Osca (c. 1187–1200); and the Rescriptum of Bergamo Conference (1218).
Earlier documents that provide information about early Waldensian history include the Will of Stefano d'Anse (1187); the Manifestatio haeresis Albigensium et Lugdunensium (c. 1206–1208); and the Anonymous chronicle of Lyon (c. 1220). There are also the two reports written for the Inquisition by Reinerius Saccho (died 1259), a former Cathar who converted to Catholicism, published together in 1254 as Summa de Catharis et Pauperibus de Lugduno (On the Cathars and the Poor of Lyon).

## Teachings

The Waldensians were associated by councils and papal decrees with the Cathars; however they differed radically from them: the Waldensians never espoused gnostic or dualist views or mysticism, and they did not reject the sacraments in total. The Waldensians initially saw themselves as a "church within the Church".
The Waldensians taught certain doctrines also held by the Catholic Church: they accepted the Trinity, and the earliest Waldensians staunchly defended the Eucharist. However, at least some of them later began to develop a more symbolic view of the bread and wine.
The earliest Waldensians taught the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and affirmed the necessity of priests for the offering of the Mass. However they denied the right of sinful priests to give the Eucharist.
Early forms of the Waldensian Mass sought to recover the early Christian liturgy and contained a sevenfold repetition of the Lord's Prayer, with the Eucharistic elements being consecrated through the sign of the cross. The Waldensians observed the forty-day fast of Lent and practiced Friday abstinence.
Both Waldensian and Catholic sources, however, imply that the Waldensians rejected infant baptism, at least to some extent. This is seen from The Noble Lesson, which refers to Christ specifically calling to baptize those who believed, and Reinerius Saccho mentioning how the Waldensians believed that the "ablution which is given to infants profits nothing". Thus there seems to have been an understanding among the Waldensians that infants could be saved without baptism. They rejected confession to priests, the practice of venerating the saints, the use of oaths, secular courts and prayers for the dead.
Waldensians held and preached a number of doctrines as they read from the Bible. These included:
* The atoning death and justifying righteousness of Christ;
* The Godhead;
* The fall of man;
* The incarnation of the Son;
* A denial of purgatory;
* The value of voluntary poverty;
* Perhaps, the universal priesthood of believers, as according to de Bourbon they claimed that all good men are priests.
They also rejected a number of concepts that were widely held in Christian Europe of the era. For example, the Waldensians held that temporal offices and dignities were not meant for preachers of the Gospel; that relics were no different from any other bones and should not be regarded as special or holy; that pilgrimage served only to spend one's money; that meat might be eaten any day if one's appetite served one; that holy water was no more efficacious than rain water; and that prayer was just as effectual if offered in a church or a barn. They were accused, moreover, of speaking blasphemously of the Catholic Church as the harlot of the Apocalypse. They rejected what they perceived as the idolatry of the Catholic Church and considered the papacy as the Antichrist of Rome.
La nobla leyczon (The Noble Lesson), written in the Occitan language, gives a sample of the medieval Waldensian belief. Once it was believed that this poem dated between 1190 and 1240, but there is evidence that it was written in the first part of the fifteenth century. The poem exists in four manuscripts: two are housed at the University of Cambridge, one at Trinity College in Dublin, and another in Geneva.
Reinerius Saccho gave the following charges against the Waldensians:
* The Pope is the head of all errors
* The Monks are Pharisees
* Christians should obey God instead of the Prelates
* That no one is above one another in the church
* No one should kneel before a priest
* Tithes should not be given
* Bishops should not have royal rights
* They condemn the Catholic sacraments
* The Church has erred by prohibiting the marriage of the clergy
The Waldensians would, later in their history, adopt a number of doctrines from the Reformed churches due to the French Reformer Guillaume Farel, who introduced Reformation theology to Waldensian leaders. They officially adopted Reformed theology at a conference at Cianforan 1532. As a result of the conference, the Waldensians officially modified some of their previous positions such as their rejection of secular courts.

## History
### Origins

According to legend, Peter Waldo renounced his wealth as an encumbrance to preaching, which led other members of the Catholic clergy to follow his example. Because of this shunning of wealth, the movement was early known as The Poor of Lyon and The Poor of Lombardy.
Although they rose to prominence in the twelfth century, some evidence suggests that the Waldenses may have existed even before the time of Peter Waldo, perhaps as early as 1100. In 1179, at the Third Council of the Lateran, Pope Alexander III lamented that the Waldenses were a "pest of long existence".
Regarding Italian citizens in Italy, according to the 2005 Eurobarometer poll (conducted on behalf of the European Commission), 85.6% of Italy's population was Christian (78.9% Catholics, 4.6% Orthodox Christians, 0.6% Protestants, 1.5% other Christians), while 2.6% belonged to other religions and 11.7% were non-religious (7.5% atheists, 4.2% agnostics). The 2021 Eurobarometer estimated that 84.4% was Christian (with 79.2% of the population being Catholic), 11.6% was agnostic or atheist and 3.2% followed another religion.

## The Catholic Church

Before the unification of Italy, a large part of the Italian peninsula was part of the Papal States. After the unification in 1860, due to French aid, the Pope maintained control over Rome and Lazio. This ended on 20 September 1870, shortly after the defeat of Napoleon III. The Kingdom of Italy moved its capital to Rome and the Catholic Church lost any remaining temporal power.
The defeat of the Pope by the Kingdom of Italy gave rise to a long period of antagonism between ecclesiastical and Italian powers. This resulted in the Catholic Church suggesting its believers not to take part in the affairs of the country and the consequent secularisation of Italian politics. The Kingdom of Italy and the Catholic Church managed to reapproach under Fascist Italy with the stipulation of the Lateran Treaty. Among other things, the treaty allowed for the foundation of the Vatican City, a microstate over which the Holy See has full jurisdiction. The Lateran Treaty survived the fall of Fascism and the establishment of the Republic and was significantly amended in 1984.
For these historical and geographical reasons, many popes were born in pre-unitary Italian states or in the Kingdom of Italy. The current Pope is Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who is from Argentina and, before his election in 2013, had been the Archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1998. Francis is the third non-Italian Pope in a row, after John Paul II (1978–2005) from Poland and Benedict XVI (2005–2013) from Bavaria, Germany. Most of the leading Catholic religious orders, including the Franciscans (including the Order of Friars Minor, the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and the Order of Friars Minor Conventual), the Salesians, the Jesuits, the Benedictines, the Divine Word Missionaries, the Dominicans, the Redemptorists, the Discalced Carmelites and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, have their headquarters in Rome too.
The Italian territory is divided into 225 Catholic dioceses (whose bishops have been organised, since 1952, in the politically influential Episcopal Conference of Italy, CEI), currently led by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi. According to Church statistics (which do not consider current active members), 57,665,000 Italians, that is 96.6% of the country's population, was baptised as Catholic. Ecclesial life is somewhat vibrant and, despite secularization, some of the most active movements and associations are Catholic, including organisations as diverse as Catholic Action (AC), the Italian Catholic Association of Guides and Scouts (AGESCI), Communion and Liberation (CL), Neocatechumenal Way, the Focolare Movement, the Christian Associations of Italian Workers (ACLI), the Community of Sant'Egidio, etc., most of which have been involved in social activities and have frequently supplied Italian politics with their members. From 1945 to 1994 Italian politics was dominated by Christian Democracy, a Catholic-inspired but formally non-denominational party, which provided most of Italian Presidents and all Italian Prime Ministers but two in that period of time. Italy's current President, Sergio Mattarella, a former Christian Democrat, and former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi have been AC and AGESCI leaders, respectively, while a former President of the CEI, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, was long an AGESCI assistant.

## Other Christian denominations

Other than that the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, Italy has two additional significant Christian bodies that are native to the peninsula: the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, one of the twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Pope, and the Waldensian Evangelical Church, a Christian movement originated from Lyon in the late 12th century and adopted Calvinist theology shortly after the start of the Reformation (see also Waldensians). The two churches include the majority of the population in Piana degli Albanesi, Sicily and Lungro, Calabria, and the so-called "Waldensian Valleys" (Val Pellice, Val Chisone and Valle Germanasca) of western Piedmont, respectively.
Most historical mainline Protestants, including the Waldensians (30,000 members), the Baptists (Baptist Evangelical Christian Union of Italy, 15,000), the mostly German-speaking Lutherans (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Italy, 7,000), the Methodists (Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy, 5,000) and minor Calvinist and Presbyterian communities, are affiliated to the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, along with the Italian section of The Salvation Army (2,000) and some minor Evangelical and Pentecostal denominations. In the Protestant context, it is also worth mentioning the Evangelical Christian Church of the Brethren (19,000) and the Italian section of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (18,000).
Immigration has reinforced Christian minorities, especially Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy. By the numbers, in 2023 the country was home to virtually 1.8 Orthodox Christians. Among the latter, especially relevant are the Romanian Orthodox Church, which has a diocese of Italy, and the Greek Orthodox Church through the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, whose Archdiocese of Italy and Exarchate of Southern Europe has its see in Venice. Massimo Introvigne, founder and director of CESNUR (a non-profit organisation focused on studying religious pluralism) once predicted that, thanks to continued immigration from Eastern Europe, Orthodox Christians could soon become the country's second largest religious group, overtaking Muslims.
Also Protestantism, especially in its Evangelical and Pentecostal forms, is on the rise: Introvigne recalls how Giorgio Bouchard, a Waldensian pastor, told him that "when he was born, the typical Italian Protestant was a man, lived in Piedmont, had a last name like Bouchard and was a Waldensian", while "today, the typical Italian Protestant believer is a woman, lives in Campania or Sicily, is named Esposito and is a Pentecostal." Not surprisingly the Assemblies of God in Italy (150,000 members), the Federation of Pentecostal Churches (50,000) and several smaller Evangelical/Pentecostal denominations have the majority of their communities in the South. Additionally, several foreign-born churches, especially African Pentecostal and African-initiated churches, mostly Evangelical and/or Pentecostal, are taking roots in the country, especially in the North, where most foreign residents live.
Among the fastest-growing new religious denominations in Italy a special place is held by the Jehovah's Witnesses, who count around 420,000 faithful, including both members and other people regularly attending the [Congregation's meetings. For their part, Mormons are now 28,500, especially thanks to the activity of missionaries from the United States. According to Caritas Italiana (the CEI's charitable arm), in 2023 the immigrant population was 48.2% Christian, of which 26.8% Orthodox, 16.5% Catholic, 4.3% Protestant and 0.7% other. According to the same source, in 2012 Italy was home to 850 "African Neo-Pentecostal churches", 750 foreign-language Catholic communities and 355 Orthodox parishes.