The presentation of the book “Church and the Italian Language: a path through time and world”, edited by Rita Librandi (ed. Il Mulino) took place on October 19th, 2021 at Palazzo Borromeo, at the invitation of the Italian Ambassador to the Holy See, Pietro Sebastiani, as part of the 21st Week of the Italian Language in the World.
The book was made on the initiative of this Embassy, with the contribution of the Directorate General for Country Promotion of the Italian MFA. It intends to promote a reflection on the many ways the Catholic Church, through the Curia, the Pontifical Academy and the Nuncios, the Pontifical Universities, the religious orders and Institutes and many lay movement, has managed to maintain the role of ‘ambassador of the Italian language’, even in more recent times.
In his opening speech, Ambassador Pietro Sebastiani thanked the authors Edoardo Buroni, Michele Colombo, Francesco De Toni, Francesco Pierno, Giuseppe Polimeni and the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, H.E. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, author of an afterword to the book. Ambassador Sebastiani stressed, in particular, the importance to present this book at Palazzo Borromeo. He explained that San Carlo Borromeo himself – former owner of the palace that is now the seat of the Italian Embassy at the Holy See – “in sixteenth century, raised the question of the preaching language, namely the communicability accompanied by the decorum of rhetoric”. In the presentation of this book, published to coincide with the seventh centenary of the death of Dante, the Ambassador writes that “the Italian language, vehicular for many valuable niches: the Opera, music, archeology, gastronomy…”, has been spread around the world by the Holy Father himself during his travels. Even in Ur of the Chaldeans, focus point of the religion of the book, the Pope spoke in Italian.
Ambassador Ettore Francesco Sequi, Secretary General of the Italian MFA, affirmed that, thanks to the network of Italian cultural institutes, the figure of Dante has been celebrated with more than 500 events all over the world, as Father of the Italian language and an exemplary image of the connection between the universal Church and the Italian culture. The Secretary General pointed out the “indissoluble bond between the Italian language, Rome and the Pope”. He underlined, in particular, that “the activity of spreading the Italian language reaches even some very remote communities of the planet thanks to the work of many Italian or Italian speaking missionaries”. He referred also to the Conference of the Italian missionaries in the world that will take place at the Farnesina on October 28th. Lastly, with regard to the relationship between Italian and Vatican diplomacy, Ambassador Sequi underlined “the deep mutual respect” and the “strong willingness to collaborate”, with a “bond reinforced by the use of the Italian language”. As an example of this collaboration, he mentioned the event “Faith and Science: Towards COP26” to which this Embassy actively cooperated.
In addition to the curator of the book, Rita Librandi, Full Professor of History of Italian Language and Italian Linguistics at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, other participants to the event were Claudio Marazzini, President of the Accademia della Crusca, and Mons. Dario Edoardo Viganò, Vice –Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Moderator: Franca Giansoldati, Vatican correspondent of “Il Messaggero”.
Click here for a recorded version of the event.
Photo Credit: Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See
