This paper dwells on the reasons, and consequent implications, which explain why it is nowadays possible to define the Catholics as «promoting founders of this Country» and to affirm that the identity of the Catholicism and the Church is strictly connected with the identity of Italy. This does not mean that Catholicism and Church have national or socio-cultural roots, but that the Christian faith generated through an action of grace, is well rooted in the Italian social and cultural structure that has been affected by it through the history up to the present time. Despite the complexity of its history and the cultural and social plurality presently achieved, Italy, considered as a nation and a State, has by far prevailing Christian roots and history. Also thanks to this form of Catholicism as a social and cultural integration of the gospel, Italy and the Church communicate in a quite peculiar way, finding dynamic and essential energies. Being citizens is not an alternative to being believers: it is up to us to seize this opportunity and recognize the added value of being both things together. (Italian Full-Text: opening for the FTER academic year 2011-12…)
(Intervento di: Mons. Mariano Crociata)