Italy (MNN) — Italy has elected a new Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, of the conservative Brothers of Italy party. Meloni is a professing Catholic and will become Italy’s first female Prime Minister.
In a victory speech, Meloni stated, “From the Italians has arrived a clear indication for the center-right to guide Italy.”
Depending on where you’ve heard of her, Meloni has been painted either as a social savior or a dangerous fascist.
Italy flag (Photo courtesy of Michele Bitetto via Unsplash)
International Media Ministries (IMM) is a Gospel video producer based in Europe. Regarding Meloni’s election, Denise Godwin with IMM says, “There’s a lot of, if you will, negativity about her — if you do see any news at all because there’s so many other things that are dramatic in the news. They’re calling her pretty extremist.”
However, Godwin cautions against simply taking media commentary at face value, no matter who it relates to. “That old journalist in me says, ‘Well, I need to go hear this person’s own words and make sure that we’re hearing truth.’ We all bring a filter to every situation and so it’s easy to accept a filter that’s given to you in different forms of media.”
Most media coverage focuses on Meloni’s speeches on family values, national identity, and society — such as her 2019 speech at the World Congress of Families gathering, or the National Conservatism Conference in 2020. Meloni’s 2019 speech, in particular, has gone viral after it was temporarily removed from YouTube.
Italy is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, accounting for 80% of the population. However, only around 15% practice their faith. Secularism in Italy has slowly grown in popularity.
“I think it’s very remarkable that you see a European country that clearly if they’ve elected Meloni, they are fed up with anti-religion, anti-life, anti-sexual identity messages that they’re getting out of the media,” says Godwin. “I think that’s remarkable. Whatever you think and your own politics, I just think it’s very indicative of the mentality of people getting fed up with sort of a spoonfed, or perhaps shovel-fed perspective on culture that doesn’t reflect their own heart or their own sense of what is right and wrong, even if they’re not believers.”
(Photo courtesy of International Media Ministries)
IMM produces evangelistic video content and media training to reach people around the world with the Gospel. Godwin says just as believers need to check their media sources, IMM hopes their videos lead people to the original source of faith as well — Scripture.
“I think it’s really important to make sure the Bible is incorporated into our spiritual nourishment, not just simply people’s sermons and podcasts and things. Those aren’t bad, but the source document is really important. When in doubt, you definitely want to go back and look at that, and then put all the world events and the podcasts and everything into perspective through that lens.
“The Bible is our source document. It’s so important to make sure that’s incorporated into who we are as believers, but also the lens that we take to the news and the lens we take to our lives.”
No matter where you land on the political spectrum, as Christians, we can pray for Meloni as she enters the role of Italy’s Prime Minister — for justice, wisdom, and godliness in leadership.
Pray also for Italians to put their ultimate hope, not in politicians or platforms, but in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Header photo courtesy of Caleb Miller via Unsplash.
