Just in time for Christmas, the education minister in Italy’s populist government has issued a bold and unambiguous defense of the presence of crucifixes in the country’s schools. Speaking at the Federation of Catholic Schools’ annual congress in Rome, Marco Bussetti reaffirmed Italy’s centuries-old traditional ties to Roman Catholicism. “For me, the crucifix is a symbol of our history, our culture, our traditions,” Bussetti declared to the dismay of globalists everywhere who seek to impose a sterile secularism on Western countries in order to eradicate unique national identities in the flattening name of diversity.
Bussetti also denounced attempts to squelch nativity scenes and other Christian-themed Christmas displays, showing that the War on Christmas doesn’t rage only in America.
Cultural Markers
In the town of Terni in central Italy in November, a school canceled its nativity recital in order “not to offend pupils of different religions who are in the school,” the Voice of Europe website reports.
This prompted Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to issue a fiery defense of the nation’s traditional Christmas observances. “It’s not just about religion, it’s about history, roots, culture,” Salvini wrote in a Facebook post. “Long live our traditions.”
Salvini and his fellow populist nationalists are striking a chord in overwhelmingly Catholic Italy. An article in Politico Europe in August noted that large numbers of churchgoing Italian Catholics are backing Salvini’s hardline opposition to the migrant invasion of Europe in greater numbers. In doing so, they reject the social justice pontifications of non-infallible politician Pope Francis. Politico Europe cites an Ipsos poll that found that among Catholics in Italy who attend mass at least once a week, support for Salvini rose from 15.7 percent in March to 31.8 percent in July.
“At this moment, there’s a clear difference between an important part of Catholic opinion and the opinion of the Church hierarchy,” said Luca Comodo, a director at Ipsos, Politico Europe reported.
Unifying Force
Salvini and his fellow nationalists know their strident appeals in defense of traditional Italian identity are hitting fertile ground. [perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”24″]…a people bereft of higher values can never muster the will to defend themselves.[/perfectpullquote]
Rejecting the post-World War II era of materialism that has dominated the West for more than 70 years now, the Italian people are signaling that they increasingly want to reconnect with the values that gave meaning to their ancestors’ lives for 2,000 years. This perhaps can be best described for the moment as a cultural phenomenon rather than a devoutly religious movement. But that does not make it insignificant. Besides solidifying opposition to the mass migration of Third World refugees who enter their homeland bearing none of these shared values, Italians’ yearning for the public display of Catholic religious symbols represents a strong rejection of the corporate globalist notion that materialism and consumerism can replace a meaningful cultural heritage as markers of happiness within a community of people.
Salvini is wedding the crucifix to his strong anti-immigration positions for a very good reason. He knows that a people bereft of higher values can never muster the will to defend themselves. Why would they? A nation is not a conglomeration of shoppers patronizing the same store. There are no ties that bind in the aisles of a Walmart.
But a people united in a shared belief in something greater than their individual selves, no matter how seemingly symbolic, is a people who will put up a fight against the destruction of their native land. If the West is to be saved, the citizens of its various nations must develop a feeling for what it is about their unique cultures that make them worth preserving.
