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(en) Italy, Umanita Nova #28-25 - Two competing saints. A new national religious holiday (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Date
Mon, 17 Nov 2025 08:10:46 +0200
From 2026, October 4th will be a national holiday for Saint Francis, a
day already dedicated to Saint Catherine. Meanwhile, between classrooms
and offices, freedom of conscience remains a theoretical principle. It's
official: starting next year, Italy will have a new national holiday.
Let's curb our enthusiasm: it's not September 20th, the beloved date of
the Breach of Porta Pia, a secular national holiday, abolished by the
Fascist state and never reinstated, but October 4th. This day will be
dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of Italy.
But things haven't been done "as God commands." President Sergio
Mattarella, in fact, promulgated the law, but had to point out that the
text is poorly written: on the same day, the current law also provides
for the "civil solemnity" of Saint Catherine of Siena, Italy's other
patron saint. Two competing saints, two different anniversaries, two
incompatible legal regimes. And a certain underlying confusion between
state and religion.
While TV debates reconcile saints and the calendar, secularism is being
lost in everyday life. In a Roman office (any reference to events or
people is purely coincidental), to inaugurate the new project, a bishop
was invited to bless the premises and exorcise the workplace. Not far
away, in a middle school, a little girl (the author's reference to
reality remains coincidental) remains in class during Catholic religion
class: the alternative activity, required by law, has not yet been
activated.
Two seemingly marginal scenes, but they tell the same story: the
country's difficulty-or deliberate unwillingness-to put into practice
the freedom of conscience guaranteed by Article 19 of the Constitution
and the principle of secularism implicit in Articles 3 and 33.
October 4th will therefore be a national holiday. While Parliament and
talk shows debate whether one or two saints should be celebrated that
day, actual respect for secularism remains more theoretical than real:
in classrooms, offices, and in everyday life, state neutrality often
continues to be a principle suspended between law and practice, to the
detriment of those who have not a single saint in Heaven.
Irene Tartaglia
https://umanitanova.org/due-santi-in-concorrenza-una-nuova-festa-nazionale-religiosa/
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