Methodism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Italy==== [[File:Ponte - memoria Gavazzi e chiesa evangelica 1130333.JPG|thumb|The Methodist chapel in [[Rome]] houses Italian and English-speaking congregations]] The [[Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy|Italian Methodist Church]] ({{lang-it|Chiesa Metodista Italiana}}) is a small Protestant community in Italy,<ref>{{cite web |title=Opera per le Chiese Metodiste in Italia |url=http://www.metodisti.it/cms/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023053809/http://www.metodisti.it/cms/ |archive-date=23 October 2013 |access-date=22 April 2013 |publisher=Evangelical Methodist Church in Italy |language=it |df=dmy-all}}</ref> with around 7,000 members.<ref name="italy1">{{cite web|title=La diaspora Valdese |url=http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/storia/dove_viviamo.php |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724023747/http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/storia/dove_viviamo.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 July 2012 |publisher=Chiesa Evangelica Valdese |access-date=22 April 2013 |language=it }}</ref> Since 1975, it is in a formal covenant of [[Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches|partnership with the Waldensian Church]], with a total of 45,000 members.<ref name="italy1" /> [[Waldensians]] are a Protestant movement which started in [[Lyon]], France, in the late 1170s. Italian Methodism has its origins in the Italian Free Church, British [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] Missionary Society, and the [[American Methodist Episcopal Mission]]. These movements flowered in the second half of the 19th century in the new climate of political and religious freedom that was established with the end of the [[Papal States]] and unification of Italy in 1870.<ref name="Italy">{{cite web|title=Italian fact sheet|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/wc_italian_factsheet.doc|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=22 April 2013|format=Microsoft Word document}}</ref> [[Bertrand M. Tipple]], minister of the American Methodist Church in Rome, founded a college there in 1914.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/01/26/100671159.pdf | work=The New York Times | title=METHODISTS BUY ROME SITE; Will Build a College in Connection with Mission Work | date=26 January 1914}}</ref> In April 2016, the World Methodist Council opened an Ecumenical Office in Rome. Methodist leaders and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, [[Pope Francis]], jointly dedicated the new office.<ref>{{cite web|title=World Methodist Council opens new ecumenical office in Rome|url=http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/04/06/world_methodist_council_opens_new_ecumenical_office_in_rome/1220756|website=en.radiovaticana.va|publisher=Vatican Radio|access-date=21 May 2016|date=6 April 2016}}</ref> It helps facilitate Methodist relationships with the wider Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite web|title=About the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/relationships-with-other-denominations/ecumenism-in-europe/the-methodist-ecumenical-office-rome/about-the-methodist-ecumenical-office-rome|publisher=Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page