ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to consider in more depth the role of the Church in the context of the wider debate on national identity and immigration. The chapter overviews of the debate on religion and politics in Western democracies as it has developed. It deals with the specific case of Italy and provide a brief account of the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Italian State. Then the chapter focus on the main ecclesiastic documents, encyclicals, pastoral notes, guidelines from the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) released on the two subjects since the Second Vatican Council. The chapter takes into account a number of more controversial documents and particularly the pastoral notes La citta di San Petronio nel terzo millennio and Nota sull'espressione 'chiese sorelle', writtenby Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, at that time archbishop of Bologna and the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, respectively. Finally analyses the reactions of the representatives of other religions, and particularly those from the Muslim community.
