Italy’s first female prime minister vowed to protect ‘God, family, country’ but some call her a fascist… should we be worried?

Giorgia Meloni became the first female Prime Minister in Italy’s history last week. She has been labelled a fascist by her dissenters, but is this true? Is she actually a conservative Christian with family values? In 2019, she made a speech that came to define her: “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am a Christian, and you can’t take that away from me.”

Now I know that in politics, saying you are a Christian, and acting in a Christ-like way are two very different things. However earlier this year Meloni outlined her priorities in a speech to Spain’s far-right Vox party. She said: “Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology… no to Islamist violence, yes to secure borders, no to mass migration… no to big international finance… no to the bureaucrats of Brussels!”

“I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am a Christian, and you can’t take that away from me.”

In this day and age, her words are bold, and very unpopular to many. Is that why she is being called far-right and fascist Writing for The Telegraph, journalist Nicholas Farrell disputes the fascist accusation. He said: “A famous left-wing Italian historian of fascism Emilio Gentile once drew up a ten point list to check whether someone is, or is not a fascist. While Vladimir Putin would unquestionably be regarded as a fascist on nearly all of the ten points, Meloni and her party unquestionably fail on every single one. Her use of the slogan ‘God, Fatherland, Family’ as a rallying call encapsulates precisely why she is like a red rag to a bull as far as the liberal left is concerned, most of whom do not believe in God because they are atheists, the fatherland because they are globalists, and the family because they are woke.”

So who is Giorgia Meloni? At 45 years old, she is only a year younger than Liz Truss. She is not married to her partner, Andrea Giambruno, although they have a daughter together. Meloni was raised by a single mother, and comes from a working-class Roman background. She worked various jobs, including as a waitress and as a nanny, before becoming a full-time politician

In her 2021 autobiography I am Giorgia, Meloni says she found a new family aged 15, when she joined a local youth section of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), created in 1946 by supporters of the disgraced fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Meloni won her first local election when she was 21. She became Italy’s youngest ever minister when at the age of 31, she was given the youth portfolio of Berlusconi’s 2008 government.

We wait to see where Meloni will lead Italy, and in the mean time we can pray for her, that she will be guided by truth, and that she will look to God.

Apparently in her office are pictures of her five year old daughter, the Pope and Mother Theresa. Not bad to have them looking at you as you make decisions on policies and government. In a recent speech to her party The Brothers of Italy (FDI) who she has led since 2014, Giorgia said: “We will defend God, country and family….” She then quoted G.K Chesterton, the English writer, philosopher and lay theologian, saying: “G.K Chesterton wrote, more than a century ago: ‘Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer. That time has arrived. We are ready.’”

She is on a mission to bring family values and unity back to Italy. We wait to see where Meloni will lead Italy, and in the mean time we can pray for her, that she will be guided by truth, and that she will look to God. Meloni is quoted as saying: “When you are a woman you are often underestimated, but that can help you.” I think it can also be said that we often underestimate God and His power. So let us not underestimate what he can do with Meloni, a professing Christian, to bless our Italian brothers and sisters, and bless Italy.