The president of the Adventist World Church will be in Rome, on an official visit, for the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Italian Union as well as the 30th anniversary of Italian Law 516, which regulates the relationship between the State and the Adventist Church.
This year, the Italian Union of Christian Seventh-day Adventist Churches (UICCA) turned 90 years old. The anniversary celebration has also become an opportunity for our country to receive an official visit from the President of the World Church.
“It’s an honor to finally have President Ted N.C. Wilson with us, to be able to continue the call of the Lord to carry the gospel to everybody while strengthening the link that unites the Italian church to the world family,” affirmed Pastor Stefano Paris, President of UICCA.
The anniversary will be celebrated on June 8 and 9, at the Christian Adventist Church on Piazza Vulture 1, in Rome.
“It will be an opportunity for Pastor Wilson to know the Italian Church,” added S. Paris. Other points of discussion are “some points of weakness encountered over the years.”
The UICCA was founded in 1928 – at that time it was called Italian Missions Union – in a very different Italy: recovering from 10 years of the Great War, maintaining a monarchy, and a prevalently rural people. The Adventist sermons gave fruit to the establishment of churches in various cities. A greater portion of Italians didn’t know the Bible and the message of freedom and giving, a discovery through which various families were enlightened.
30 years of the Agreement with the State
During the celebrations, some time will be set apart to remember the fundamental steps taken to establish the denomination in Italy. One of these is undoubtedly Law 515, of November 22, 1988, – celebrating 30 years of establishment – which regulates the relationship between the State and the UICCA. One of the key historical moments for the denomination in Italy was the Stipulation of Agreement with the State, which then became a law.
“Even though it was numerically small (we were not even 5,000 members), the Church was able to sign the Agreement thanks to the foresight of the directors and the loyalty of the church members,” explained Dora Bognandi, who was, at the time Director of the Department of Public Affairs and Religious Freedom and present for the historic event.
After the revision of the Concord with the Catholic Church, the then-prime minister, Craxi, spoke about opening the door to possible Agreements with other religious organizations in Italy.
“The Adventist directors were immediately interested in this possibility,” remembers D. Bognandi. “I worked on the preparation of the documents. We had to present documents that attested to the strong presence of our Church in the national territory and the provisions that were taken to register the Church. Thus, we were able to present various documents, among which were arrangements for the observation of the Sabbath for Adventists. This was important because the institutions had made provisions in favor of the Church. All this, regardless of our numbers, made us the second, after the Waldensians, to sign an Agreement.”
Law 515, of November 22, 1988, brought various benefits with it, “regarding”, expounded D. Bognandi, “both the Sabbath and spiritual assistance in nursing homes, hospitals and prisons. We were able to access the ‘8xmille’ (the Italian tax revenue program) and we were able to obtain tax reductions. These are benefits that we often think of as being available for a long time but they are rather thanks to the Agreement.”
“We should not undervalue what we have gained thanks to the Agreement,” she continued, “because in the hierarchy of Italian regulations, this specific law ranks high because it actualizes a constitutional provision (art. 8).”
Live streaming
The ceremony will be nationwide and will be transmitted via live audio and video streaming so that the churches in the various Italian cities can connect and follow the program.
“The Communications Department will try to record the whole event,” explained Vincenzo Annunziata, National Director of the Department, “streaming the services for both Friday evening and all day on Saturday. This will allow all the churches that want to log on and join us virtually for this special Sabbath.
