The Italian people have “always had a sense of the duty, but at the
same time the unique privilege,” of playing host to the Holy See, the
center of Catholic life, Pope Benedict XVI has observed.
The Pope reflected on Church-state relations in a message to Italy’s
President Giorgio Napolitano, timed for the 150th anniversary of Italian
unification.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State,
met with Napolitano at the Quirinal Palace on March 16 to convey the
Pope’s message. (The anniversary of Italian unification is celebrated on
March 17.)
In his message the Pope acknowledged that the rise of the Italian
republic was marked by conflicts with the Vatican.
However, he said, “no
conflict took place in society, which was marked by a profound
friendship between the civil and ecclesial communities.”
In fact, he
said, the “national identity of the Italians, so strongly rooted in
Catholic traditions,” was an important factor in achieving Italian
unity.
Since the Lateran Accords that established a sound new foundation for
Church-state relations, the Pope said, Italy’s political system has
shown a “healthy secularism" that maintains a neutral but respectful
attitude toward the faith.
The two defining characteristics of that
approach, he said, are “the separation of spheres and collaboration.”
The Pope’s message emphasized the contributions that the Church has made
to Italian society over the centuries, including the development of
educational institutions and health-care systems, the “vast artistic
activity,” and the lasting public influence of great saints like St.
Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Siena.