God, Country and Family. The three cardinal values ​​of the Italian right are systematically called into question every time a “scandal” erupts. Now, without going into the details of the story that revolves around the former minister Gennaro Sangiuliano and the possible judicial implications it could have, there are some considerations to make regarding the so-called “gossip”.

Is it a crime for a politician to have a lover? No, former French President Francois Mitterand even had a daughter out of wedlock. Is it a sin? Yes, but it is well known that even John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, a Catholic of Irish origins, cheated on his wife Jacqueline Onassis with Marilyn Monroe. Both, certainly, were not fervent conservatives who professed the ideals of God, Country and Family.

The crime of having a lover

Conservatives are expected to be more coherent, yet many right-wing leaders, starting with the founder of fascism Benito Mussolini, have led or continue to lead a private life that is very D’Annunzio-like. But who demands so much coherence? Those who demand it are mostly the opponents of the conservative world rather than the center-right voters. Why? Because basically liberals don’t care how many lovers their leader may have, while center-right Catholics are used to judging the sin, but not the sinner, and they remember well the lesson of Christ: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone…”.

Note also that Jesus Christ himself said: “Those who are healthy have no need of a doctor, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” I know, it may seem like a theological discourse, but it is not. The crux of the matter is simple: it is the concept of the traditional family that is misinterpreted.

The traditional family

It’s 2024, people are getting married less and less and are getting divorced more and more. The ‘Mulino Bianco family’ does not exist, but no supporter of the centre-right expects their representatives to be an example of a model that not even their own voters can follow. The point is not to be married, separated, divorced or to have three wives and two lovers. The real crux of the matter, at least for the more traditional centre-right electorate, is that the concept of the “natural family”, composed of father, mother and children, is not affected.

The Italian right cannot accept the ‘woke’ drift coming from predominantly Protestant Western countries that would like to transform the mother and father into “parent 1” and “parent 2”. Two men or two women who can generate a child only through a test tube and/or through the practice of “renting a womb” (and, therefore, often paying) cannot fall into the category of “natural family”. But not only that. Abroad, it has already happened that a woman has carried out a transition to become a man while keeping her womb intact and it has even happened that she has procreated a baby. It has even happened that a man who has become a woman has married a woman who has become a man. Now, all of this, in Italy, cannot be defined as ‘family’. At least it cannot be accepted by those who define themselves as center-right. In the same way, an Italian conservative, if he believes he is truly one, cannot but totally reject the concept of gender identity that, directly or indirectly, also undermines that of natural family.

Being Patriots Today

Let’s come to the concept of Homeland. The sovereignism of the 2000s cannot be compared in the slightest to the nationalism of the 20th century that led to two world wars. Paradoxically, today, some right-wing populists are even accused of being pro-Putin because they would like an end to hostilities in Ukraine. But how? If they declare themselves sovereignists, it is very strange and contradictory that they side with the enemy. Here too, those who contest the concept of homeland are making a blunder and do not understand what it really means for men of the right. No, it does not mean going to take back Istria and Dalmatia or Eritrea and Ethiopia or expelling all foreigners.

Homeland means recognizing that Italy is not an indistinct state like Switzerland or multiethnic like the United States. Italy is a Nation, that is, a State united by a universally recognized language, a cuisine famous throughout the world and some traditions born of ‘Italian parochialism’. Homeland is no longer an exclusively right-wing term, at least not since it was cleared by the former President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, a man of proven anti-fascist faith. Being patriotic today means at least aspiring for Italy to truly count in the international context and no longer passively submit to the dictates of Brussels as has happened in the recent past. Whether or not they succeed is another matter, but it is important to take off the clothes of those who continue to be those who only know how to say ‘yes sir, yes sir’. Being patriotic means, regardless of the citizenship law that one intends to have in one’s own legal system, not giving in to the temptation to import failed integration models such as multiculturalism and assimilation.

We cannot but call ourselves Christians

And finally, God. For a center-right voter, atheist or believer, a country like Italy that hosts within it the enclave of the Vatican State and that for almost 50 years has been governed by the Christian Democrats, cannot fail to recognize the Christian faith as a central element of its existence. It is the concept of “we cannot not call ourselves Christians” of Crocean memory. In short, the Italian right can embrace extreme capitalism or the social doctrine of the Church, guarantorism or justicialism, but either it is ‘God, Country and family’ or it is not right.