Italian bishops on Tuesday chided nationalist League party leader Matteo Salvini for using the slogan Credo (I Believe) on his posters for the September 25 general election.
Salvini, a divorced practising Catholic who has brandished the
rosary on campaigns before, stressed that this was the
expression of a "secular faith".
But bishops daily Avvenire ran a comment from Pontifical Lateran
University theologian Don Giuseppe Lorizio saying "it's easy to
say 'credo', but not without consequences.
"It's not hard to think that there is a thorough survey of the
feelings of the people behind the choice of a political leader
who is careful about the feelings of the man," said the
theologian.
"In order to avert all populist drifts, it will be a good thing
to try to distinguish the various meanings of the word 'credo'
when we we read the word on the facades of our cities".
Father Antonio Spadaro, director of Jesuit daily La Civiltà
Cattolica, cited a political work by George Bernard Shaw, the
atheist writer and philosopher, voicing skepticism about the
uses of belief.
Credo is the start of the original Latin version of the Catholic
Church's Nissene Creed, stating belief in God.
As well as clasping rosaries, Salvini has regularly featured
Catholic devotional symbols in the backgrounds of his videos and
he wears the Franciscan 'tau' symbol around his neck.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
