Catholic World News News Feature

Italian Catholic weekly prompts outrage with "fascism" reference August 14, 2008

An influential Catholic magazine has caused a political furor with an editorial speculating about a "return to fascism" in Italy.

Famiglia Cristiana, an Italian weekly magazine with a circulation of over 1 million, denounced the crackdown on illegal immigration under the government led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The magazine's editorial criticism touched a nerve when the author, Beppe Del Colle, said that the government policies raised concerns about a "return to fascism."

As the controversy reached a crescendo, the director of the Vatican press office emphasized that the Famiglia Cristiana editorial was not an official expression of Church policy. Father Federico Lombardi told the ANSA news service: "Famiglia Cristiana is an important Catholic publication, but it is not a mouthpiece of the Holy See or the Italian bishops' conference."

The criticism in Famiglia Cristiana was triggered by a nationwide program that has sent 3,000 soldiers into the cities of Italy, in what the government has described as an emergency response to a wave of crime. The government has announced plans for a series of measures to address illegal immigration, including streamlined deportation procedures and heavier criminal penalties for violations of immigration law.

While immigration policy has been the topic of lively debate within Italian political circles, the reference to fascism prompted an answering chorus of complaints from supporters of the Berlusconi government, and even charges that Famigila Cristiana was promoting a Catholic version of Communist ideology. More temperate critics of the Milan-based weekly said that the editorial overlooked the legitimate need for efforts to combat crime in urban areas.