Vatican expert Leonardo de Chirico analises "celebrity" status of Pope Francis and shares insight from an Italian point of view.

Italian Vatican expert Leonardo de Chirico looks back to the first 2 years of Pope Francis: “His popularity is more of a social media phenomenon than a real one”. 

“We need people with a vocation in the public square who can influence society with the gospel”, says Italian Evangelical Alliance’s Stefano Bogliolo.

“Life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed. One of them is family”, Domenico Dolce said. Elton John and other LGBT activists have called for a “boycott”.

“We don’t have easy answers but we will play our part by praying for the authorities and by being a real presence in the area”, evangelicals write in an open letter to the local government.

Over 200 people attended a conference entitled “The Giuliano-Dalmata diaspora: a journey from tragedy to hope”. Evangelicals identify with exiles and their struggles as a minority.

According to Pope Francis, the “true face” of the Church is where the maternal and the hierarchical dimensions are intimately connected to one another and form the core of the church’s identity.

Head of the Republic Sergio Mattarella is described as “a man who knows how to listen and engage.”

“There is a general sense of hopelessness because our processing system is slow and ineffective,” says Italian pastor Leonardo de Chirico.

New churches in northern Italy will need to have large parking sites and a “minimum distance” to other places of worship. Evangelicals fear “damage to freedom of religion” and denounce new rules might be “unconstitutional.”

Human Rights Watch's 2015 report denounces issues in Croatia, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, UK, Poland, Netherlands and France. “Over 155,000 people had reached EU shores, 3,000 died at sea."

Meetings helped “build relations” between Christian communities “for continuing local cooperation”. Impression from Czech Republic, Italy and Spain.

Even though I feel horror at the barbarity of Islamist terrorists, I could not recognize myself in the slogan 'Je Suis Charlie', but not because I feel offended by the blasphemous cartoons but because to me, true freedom is not saying or drawing whatever comes to our mind.

The problem is particularly felt in Lombardy, due to a regional planning law, of 2005, commissioned by the Lega Nord, which prevents the use for purposes of worship of buildings that are not born with the intended use. There are already over a dozen places of worship forced to close. 

According to Calvin the Papacy is totally invalid because in the New Testament there is no injunction given to Peter to find successors in a juridical sense. To keep the unity of the Church, Christ is all we need.