Italy’s government made Saint Francis’s feast a national holiday and cast him as an icon of Italian identity, extending a long tradition of political actors repackaging religious figures to unify constituencies. From post‑unification monarchs to fascists and now Meloni, Francis is repeatedly reframed to reconcile Church, language, and nation, even if the theology doesn’t fit the politics.
— It shows how states instrumentalize religious symbols as soft power for nation‑building, revealing the cultural mechanics behind contemporary nationalist projects.
Rod Dreher
2025.12.02
52% relevant
While Dreher’s post is not about canonized saints, its argument that religious motifs are being used in party identity parallels the idea that states and political movements repurpose religious figures and symbols to build national or party unity.
Gabriel Rossman
2025.12.01
45% relevant
Both pieces trace how historical religious figures are repeatedly repurposed by successive cultural actors; the review’s Black Annis/Agnes genealogy shows the same mechanism (saint → demon → goddess → witch) that the existing idea highlights when states or movements rebrand religious symbols for political or identity uses.
Rod Dreher
2025.12.01
60% relevant
Wiman’s discussion of St. Joseph of Cupertino as a phenomenon shaped by communal belief directly echoes the existing idea that religious figures and collective belief can be repackaged or instrumentalized by political actors; Dreher republishing the essay brings the same example (levitation witnessed by crowds) back into contemporary cultural discourse about how belief constructs reality.
Michael Ledger-Lomas
2025.10.07
55% relevant
The article shows Christian symbols and quasi‑canonization being used to unify a political identity: Charlie Kirk is eulogized in saint‑like terms by prominent Catholics (Cardinal Dolan, Bishop Barron) and venerated across denominations; Crusader crosses at Tommy Robinson’s rally function as shared sacred identity markers—parallel to political actors instrumentalizing saints to reinforce national or civilizational cohesion.
Andrea Valentino
2025.10.03
100% relevant
Meloni’s 4 October national holiday for Saint Francis, framed as defending 'Italian identity,' alongside cuts to English in documents and bans on lab‑grown meat.