The conference named “The presence of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Italy” opened on Friday, September 27, at 9:30 a.m., in the Refectory Hall of the Chamber of Deputies.
A precious opportunity to witness and celebrate the first 160 years of the denomination in Italy.
The meeting was moderated by Pastor Davide Romano, director of the Department of Public Affairs and Religious Freedom and director of the Adventist University Institute of Florence, Italy.
The Hon. Federico Gianassi of the Justice Commission greeted the numerous guests, including speakers from the institutional and academic world, and scholars of evangelical minorities in Italy.
Prefect Alessandro Tortorella, head of religious affairs at the Ministry of the Interior, also greeted those present, citing the centrality of art. 19 of the Italian Constitution: “Everyone has the right to freely profess their religious faith in any form, individually or in association, to propagate it and to practice it in private or in public, provided that it is not a rite contrary to morality”. The protection of religious institutions and harmonizing freedom of worship and conscience must be a priority.
Barna Magyarosi represented the Inter-European Region of the Adventist Church in his role as the General Secretary. He highlighted the importance of the development of faith, the path taken by many people who have testified over the years, belonging to a Church that, today, has 23 million members worldwide.
There are several important areas for the denomination, in addition to the spiritual one: health, education, and preventive medicine. “In our name, we have a tension between the seventh day, in memory of creation and, therefore, the responsibility to take care of creation, and the second coming of Christ: how to share the hope of the advent, taking care of the world in which we live and engaging in social work, without losing sight of the perspective of hope. 160 years is not the end, but there is a lot to do to share the love of God, the hope we nurture,” Magyarosi emphasized.
The president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Italy, Andrei Cretu, summarized the beginnings of our community’s journey, a beginning full of challenges and satisfactions. The Italian Adventist Church has about 10 thousand adult members, 130 communities spread across the territory, together with many children, young people, and supporters.
Other illustrious guests also participated, including Daniele Garrone, pastor and president of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy (FCEI); Tiziano Rimoldi, professor of historical and legal disciplines at the Adventist Faculty of Theology; Giuseppe Cupertino, director of Opera Sociale Avventista (Adventist Social Welfare Association) and Alfredo Giannini, president of the Federation of Pentecostal Churches.
