There is a reason if melancholy defines the character of Italians today

The climate of “great disillusionment” does not depend only on the pandemic, the war, the energy crisis, inflation. The Censis report and the lost spirit of Christmas

Once the times of the city were marked by liturgical times. They were the times of the Church, the ordinary time and the so-called “strong” times, which marked the times of civil life, weekdays and holidays. But today that is no longer the case. Religious holidays are now celebrated as if religion did not exist. No surprise, therefore, if, almost everywhere, we have seen the Christmas lights come on well before the start of Advent and if the usual films about Christmas have already begun to be broadcast on television in November. A pervasive sadness full of good feelings, but no mention of God who in Jesus becomes one of us: perhaps too strong a joy for our softened minds. Better not be under any illusions. As the latest Censis report also tells us, “it is melancholy that defines the character of Italians today”. “We are no longer willing to make sacrifices”, we are in a spasmodic search for “immunizations from risks”, almost plunged into a climate of “great disillusionment”, all words of the same Censis report, which not only indicate the distance of Italians from the spirit of Christmas, but forcefully lead to a question: are we really like this? And if so, how was this possible?