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Catholic World News News Feature

SEPARATIST SENTIMENT WORRIES ITALIAN BISHOPS May 08, 1996

ROME (CWN) -- Recent public statements by Umberto Bossi, leader of Italy's Lombard League, have provoked the consternation of several Catholic bishops, and captured the full attention of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. Bossi has suggested that his political party might favor the creation of a separate and autonomous government for Lombardy, a region in the north of Italy.

At their annual meeting in Rome this week, most of the Italian bishops took a stance against such separatist ideas. But there was one notable exception: Bishop Alessandro Maggiolini of Como, a city in Lombardy, situated near the Swiss border. Coincidentally, Bishop Maggiolini had been acting as host to Pope John Paul over the past weekend, when the Pontiff visited that region.

Bishop Maggiolini reflected that the Lombard League constitutes a challenge to Italy; he argued that the country must find an appropriate balance between regional autonomy and national unity. Furthermore, he said, the Italian government must reflect on the just distribution of work and wages. "It is true," he said, "that solidarity is a moral obligation. But it is not a moral obligation to be in solidarity regardless of all costs."

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian bishops' conference, told reporters that Bishop Maggiolini's intervention had prompted a "very frank discussion." The clear majority of the bishops supported a strong national union. In fact the secretary of the conference, Msgr. Diogeni Tettamanzi, said the bishops had reached an unusually strong consensus on this question."

The bishops' comments provoked a strong reaction from Irene Pivetti, the former president of the Italian parliament, who is well known as a loyal Catholic and a leader of the Lombard League. "I do not understand why the Italian episcopal conference preoccupies itself with the political and institutional problems of our country," she said. "The bishops are confusing their role."