Panascia Street , Palermo
Protestants in Italy are quite used to being generally non-interesting people . The fact that some historians ( such as Giorgio Spini whose textbook for sixth-formers was widely used around Italy ), politicians ( such as Gianni De Michelis and Valdo Spini ), artists ( Paolo Paschetto and Filippo Scroppo ), film directors ( Luigi Comencini and his daughters Cristina and Francesca ), and even coffee manufacturers like Illy are Protestants , is considered less than a private matter , more of a weird accident .
So , when ‘ LutherMania ’ struck Europe in 2017 , for the fifth centenary of the publication of Martin Luther ’ s Ninety-five Theses , Italian Protestants were quite surprised by becoming interesting people , even for a short time . All of a sudden , some Italian City Councils felt the urge to dedicate a square ( Rome ), a garden ( Florence ) or a park ( Bergamo ) to Martin Luther .
While I was pastor of the Waldensian Church in Palermo , Mayor Leoluca Orlando told me that he would like to dedicate a street to Martin Luther . I told him : ‘ Thank you , but no , thank you ’. The mayor became interested in my refusal : ‘ Why not ?’ ‘ Well , I would not like the city of Palermo just to be nice to us , even if I love that the city of Palermo is nice to us . I would rather prefer the city of Palermo to acknowledge the contribution of Protestants in Palermo , by dedicating a street to Rev Pietro Valdo Panascia , a man who struggled for the common good .’
‘ Actually , Via Pietro Valdo Panascia sounds more appropriate in Palermo than Via Martin Lutero ’, Mayor Orlando said .
Who was Pietro Valdo Panascia ? Born in Reggio Calabria in 1910 , after being ordained in 1937 he served the Waldensian Churches of Genoa Sampierdarena , Campobasso , Messina and Reggio Calabria . In 1956 he became pastor of the Church of Palermo , in Via dello Spezio , leading the largest Waldensian congregation in southern Italy . In 1961 , Rev . Panascia had the Synod acknowledging Palermo to be an ‘ Autonomous Church ’ ( like the Churches in the Valleys , with the right to elect its pastor ), for the centenary of its establishment . In 1963 , Rev . Panascia was the first Christian leader in Italy to condemn the Mafia , as seven people ( four carabinieri , two soldiers , one policeman ) were killed by a car-bomb in Ciaculli , in the outskirts of Palermo on 30 June . This led to a raw confrontation with then R . C . Archbishop Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini , a Mafia denier . Paul VI had just been elected pope on 21 June , and his Secretary of State asked the Archbishop why he did not say anything about Mafia . ‘ It is not “ Mafia ”, it is just some criminal gangs . Mafia is an invention of Waldensians and Il Gattopardo [ The Pietro Valdo Panascia .
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