Written By Julius Meška and Lucetta Trascinelli
The discourse of Christianity, reduced to the symbol of the crucifix, has been target of debate for its use as a marker of identity by nationalist parties. Whilst ostensibly claiming to defend Christianity itself within political debates, in certain instances the issue of religion has been further extended to its use in constructing a narrative of ‘us against them’, often with anti-Islamic inference. One such precedential instance can be seen with the far-right Lega Nord (Northern League, LN) in Italy, which partly built its profile in the early 2000s upon the issue of religion. Within this debate, it extended the issue toward the construction of a narrative of ‘us against them’, often with anti-Islamic inference. Given Italy’s reputation as the physical home of the Catholic Church, it is vital to examine the development of this particular nationalist discourse there.
The 2000s – Lega Nord’s Influence and Initial Debates:
The debate initially gained attention within the context of the failed creation of a 2004 constitution for the European Union during the early 2000s, and was picked up with fervour by the LN. (1)Within the debate, the rhetoric put forwards was divisive from the outset – Christianity and the crucifix were posited as symbols “uniting all European countries”. (2)The pan-European Christianity discourse had been then extended to a proposal for including it in the EU Constitution. This was suggested to underline the Christian roots of European culture and tradition, and indeed was a shared vision among several European states, such as Italy, Spain, and Lithuania.(3) This was consequently echoed by Pope John Paul II, hence why it gained additional popularity in Italy. However, in this case, the values that were promulgated, in the words of the Pope, were due to “Christianity’s unifying power…which brought together different people and cultures”.(4)
However, in the hands of the LN, the Christianity-identity debate was shaped along different lines. For the LN, religion was used as the ultimate anti-Muslim weapon as, as La Padania (LN’s official newspaper until 2014) wrote, the debate was sparked with an “iconoclast frenzy, often promoted by Muslim immigrants”, and which had to be fought to “show them a tolerance completely unknown in Muslim lands”.(5) Therefore, where do tradition and culture end and where does ‘protection’ against the ‘Other’ start? The LN did not hesitate to consider the wider European perspective as well. Christianity as a marker of European identity was in fact used as a ‘shield’ against the “threat of an Islamic invasion”, furthering an anti-Islamic rhetoric not necessarily limited only to Italy. The crucifix, in fact, often viewed as a mandatory object of display, was described as a “talisman”(6) – with a clear connotation to protective powers. Are we meant to think that the crucifix will have the same effect of staurophobia (fear of the cross) as it does on vampires?
The fear of ‘invasion’ was thoroughly reiterated by the right, especially by the LN, followed by the fear of an eventual ‘replacement’, hence why it was deemed extremely important to maintain traditions strong. Permitting other cultures and religions, namely Islam, to be accepted would be equated with the act of succumbing to the ‘Other’ and thus allowing to be effectively replaced.(7) The LN, therefore, pushed an agenda utilising religion as a symbol for (ethno-cultural) identity and as an instrument to spread xenophobia across all of Europe.
Lega Nord’s European Family – Christian Identity at the European Level:
LN’s playbook of utilising religion as both a marker of exclusive identity, and political weapon, has also been extended to the European level of politics. As of April 2024, the party currently sits within the ‘Identity & Democracy’ (ID) group within the European Parliament, the constitutive policies of which shed light on the ways in which Lega’s domestic usage of Christian identity has been ‘europeanised’.
The preamble of ID’s statutes includes the basing of their ‘political project’ upon “the identity of the European peoples and nations”, acknowledging the “Greek-Roman and Christian heritage as the pillars of European civilisation”,(8) with later detail establishing aims such as creating “a stronger cooperation to tackle terrorism and islamisation”.(9) As a priority, it includes the point that “European civilisation, its Christian heritage and national identities should be protected and embraced”.(10) Whilst only parts of a larger document, these successive party rules allow the unpacking of how Lega’s use of Christianity to form an exclusive identity has developed on the European level.
Firstly, the equating of ostensibly pagan Greco-Roman elements with that of ’Christian heritage’ already serves to imply that religion for Lega and ID is not a matter of genuine Christian faith, but the disrespectful reduction of it to nothing more than an identitarian symbol of birth-cultural exclusivity – ’I am Christian’ serves only to say ’I am a European’ – and thus Christianity is only given value to the extent that it reinforces birth-cultural identity. As a result, no controversy exists in the otherwise sacrilegious equation of both the Pagan Greco-Roman ‘heritage’, and the Abrahamic Christian one – they are reduced to being merely two different ways of claiming and reinforcing a primordial, and therefore exclusive, European identity. What this superficial claim to Christianity does allow however, is its usage to claim the far-right’s ‘Other’ as the ‘Other’ of Christianity as a whole, granting a special relevance to the subsequent equation of ‘terrorism’ and supposed ‘islamisation’ as equal threats to Europe and Europeans.
What remains remarkable in this, is that the European churches themselves refuse to play by this playbook, this abduction and misuse of their genuine faith as a political tool. One such instance happened with LN’s own Matteo Salvini, who “has frequently clashed with Church leaders in Italy…over his critical pronouncements on immigration into the country”,(11) with one instance seeing the Archbishop of Milan decrying that “it was not Christian to propose a closed doors policy towards immigrants or refugees”.(12) Indeed, on a broader trend, research of the election materials of similar parties shows that “these parties may well be using non-Christian immigration as an issue upon which to base their election campaigns, but this does not extend to them actively or regularly expressing any positive views on Christianity more than any other party”.(13) In short, neither LN nor their EU counterpart ID follow the teachings of Christianity, nor seek to be its ’protectors’ – for them, Christianity is nothing more than a political tool, and a further way to reinforce an exclusive Italian and European identity. To hell with its teachings and even the opposition of its priests – to the extent that it works as yet another way to demonise the foreign ‘Other’, it is good. It can be said that rather than supposed ’Islamisation’, nothing could do more to debase the universalist Christian faith, than to reduce it to nothing more than a mere political weapon.
Conclusion
The particular case studies of Lega Nord on the Italian domestic level, and the ID on the European level, shed light on how nationalists in Europe interpret, use, and abuse Christianity as a political weapon. Positing themselves as Christianity’s defenders, it can be argued that they themselves debase and render meaningless that which they claim to defend, going far enough as to earn rebuke from the Church itself. This is done by the reduction of the Christian faith to a mere signifier of an exclusive national and European birth culture, stripping the faith of its universalist teachings and reducing it to just another reinforcing point within a constructed primordial identity, simultaneously allowing its use as a weapon against the ‘Other’.
Notes and Bibliography
(1) Luca Ozzano, and Alberta Giorgi, European Culture Wars and the Italian Case: Which Side Are You On?, (London, 2015), 141.
(2) Federico Bricolo in Luca Ozzano, European Culture Wars, 141.
(3) Alessandro Corneli, “Radici Cristiane, superpresidente e politica di difesa comune. Ecco i temi chiave del confronto”. Il Giornale, (2003).
(4) Pope John Paul II, Esortazione Apostolica post–sinodale Ecclesia in Europa, n. 108, (2003). https://www.recensioni-storia.it/leuropa-o-sara-cristiana-o-non-sara.
(5) G. Ferrari in Luca Ozzano, European Culture Wars, 141.
(6) Maria Giovanna Maglie, “Togliere il Crocifisso dalle Aule? Gesto Inutile e Stupido”, Il Giornale, (2008), https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/togliere-crocifisso-dalle-aule-gesto-inutile-e-stupido.html.
(7) Mauela Caiani, and Tiago Carvalho, “The Use of Religion by Populist Parties: the Case of Italy and its Broader Implications”, Religion, State & Society, 49 (2021), 8.
(8) ID Statues 2019:4
(9) Ibid
(10) Ibid
(11) Steven, ’The Right and Religion in European Union Politics’, 337
(12) Ibid
(13) Ibid., 336
Caiani, Manuela, and Carvalho Tiago, “The Use of Religion by Populist Parties: the Case of Italy and its Broader Implications”, Religion, State & Society, 49 (2021), 211-230.
Corneli, Alessandro, “Radici Cristiane, superpresidente e politica di difesa comune. Ecco i temi chiave del confronto”. Il Giornale, (2003).
John Paul II, Esortazione Apostolica post–sinodale Ecclesia in Europa, n. 108, (2003). https://www.recensioni-storia.it/leuropa-o-sara-cristiana-o-non-sara.
Maglie, Maria Giovanna, “Togliere il Crocifisso dalle Aule? Gesto Inutile e Stupido”, Il Giornale, (2008), https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/togliere-crocifisso-dalle-aule-gesto-inutile-e-stupido.html.
Ozzano, Luca, and Giorgi, Alberta, European Culture Wars and the Italian Case: Which Side Are You On?, (London, 2015).
Steven, Martin, “The right and religion in European Union politics: from ‘confessionalism’ to ‘conservatism’”, Religion, State & Society, (2023) 51:4-5, 331-344
Identity & Democracy Group in the European Parliament, “Statutes of the Identity and Democracy (ID) Group in the European Parliament” (2019) accessed at *The document was created from a file “ID Statutes _EN.docx” (nationbuilder.com)
Featured Image source: Il poster di Salvini con il crocifisso (subito strappato) – Il Tempo
Identity Hunters 