Catholic Scouting in Italy

In addition to L’Azione Cattolica Italiana (Italian Catholic Action, which I wrote about last month) AGESCI is another impressive lay group in Italy. AGESCI stands for L’Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani, The Association of Italian Catholic Guides and Scouts.

 A few weeks ago, at the Saturday mass frequented by the children in Azione Cattolica, the youngest children from AGESCI joined us. The children had just chosen their “specializations.”  The specializations are unique skill sets that they will develop throughout the years.  They are intended to aid their own group of scouts as well as others.

There are around 65 specializations, of which I know the names of just two: cook and first aid. I asked the children how many cooks and nurses there were in their group.  In true Italian fashion, in the group of 10 or so children, there were three cooks but no nurses.

I jokingly mentioned that I’d happily go with them to the mountains, since we certainly wouldn’t starve to death.  Dealing with injuries, though, might be much more precarious!

History of European Scouting

Scouting has an interesting history in continental Europe. The various movements claim the English Lord Robert Baden-Powell as their founder.  However, scouting received a particular “Catholic touch” through the means of Venerable Jesuit Father Jacques Sevin in France.  Jean Corbisier added Catholicity in Belgium, and Earl Mario di Carpegna in Italy.[1]  

These touches remain even to this day.  As reported in 2018, fully 97% of scouting activities in Italy were overseen and supported by the Catholic Church.[2]

However, the period of Fascism in Italy saw the suppression of groups like the scouts. Nevertheless, from 1928 to 1945 many continued their activities in secret. This time, is known as the Giungla silente, the Silent Jungle.

This period was of particular importance within the environment of Catholic resistance movements.[3] In the post-war period, various movements of scouts arose, each with its own way of living out the fundamental principles as passed down.

AGESCI was formed in 1974 by the fusion of the two previously distinct groups.   ASCI (Associazione Scout Cattolici Italiani), a group for boys, joined with AGI (Associazione Guide Italiane), a group for girls. This fusion thus produced one group for both boys and girls, and today AGESCI counts over 182,000 members throughout Italy.

Scouting and the Popes: Pope Francis

Given the close relationship between scouting and the Church in Italy, it should come as no surprise that the Popes have often had meetings with groups of Scouts.  They have also spoken about the mission of scouts within the Church and the world.

For instance, Pope Francis has often encouraged the group to continue in its care for the natural world. On April 13, 2024, the Pontiff praised the group, saying:

“Respect, love and direct contact with nature have been particular characteristics of scouting ever since its origin. And they are values we are in great need of today, as we find ourselves ever more powerless in the face of … lifestyles and behaviour[s] that are as selfishly deaf to any call for common sense as they are tragically self-destructive. . . .  In the face of this, the sober, respectful and frugal style of scouts is a great example to everyone!”[4]

Scouting and Pope Saint John Paul II

In the same vein, Pope Saint John Paul II was very encouraging of the scouting movement. In particular, the Pontiff saw in scouting a legitimate path to holiness.  He even emphasized this aspect during many of his discourses to the group. For instance, in 2003, the Pope told the Scouts and Guides of Europe:

“The scouting experience, a priviledged route for spiritual growth, is a valid path that favours the total education of the person. It helps to overcome the temptation to be indifferent and egoistic and to open oneself to one’s neighbour and to society. It can effectively promote the demands of the Christian vocation: to be “salt of the earth and light of the world”.” (cf. Mt 5:13-16)[5]

Years earlier, in 1997, speaking to the members of AGESCI, the Pope also emphasized the primacy of the spiritual life in scouting:

“You are aware of all these challenges in carrying out your educational service, which first demands of you a journey of spiritual and human growth in order to be credible witnesses to the values you propose. We are all quite convinced that—as my venerable Predecessor, the Servant of God Paul VI, said—the world today has greater need of witnesses than of teachers.”[6]

“The world today has greater need of witnesses than of teachers.” This beautiful thought, taken from Pope Saint Paul VI’s Evangelii nuntiandi, highlights the importance of living the faith. Of course, we need teachers of the faith, but, more than just people who can pass on the teachings of doctrine and dogmas.  We need people who can live those truths out convincingly and wholeheartedly.

A Completion and Complement

The late Pope noted that scouting and Catholicism find in each other, not antagonism, but a natural completion and compliment.  This is precisely because the scouting method focuses on developing the human person.  Scouts learn to be responsible, thoughtful, and discerning:

“The encounter of scouting with the Catholic faith did not relegate to the background, but enhanced and stressed even more the beauty and importance of the human values that characterize its educational method, rich in harmony and points of contact with Gospel values and the foundations of an anthropology that respects the plan of God the Creator and the dignity and basic rights of the human person.”[7]

Scouting and Holiness

In my experience in the United States, the Boy Scouts (now called Scouting America) or the Girls Scouts  aren’t typically associated with holiness. This is not to say that the groups are evil, of course.  It simply means that the element of faith and sanctity does not come into play.

Last month, when I wrote about Azione Cattolica, I neglected to mention the many saints, blesseds, and venerables associated with the movement. These include Saint Riccardo Pampuri, Blessed Pierina Morosini, Venerable Giorgio La Pira, Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati, Blessed Odoardo Focherini, Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, and many more.

Similarly, in Italy, there are future saints among the scouts.  Venerable Father Jacques Sevin, SJ, the founder, is one of them.  Also included are the Blesseds Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi and Maria Corsini, the first married couple to be beatified together.[8]

Both Luigi and his wife began working with ASCI (Associazione Scoutistica Cattolica Italiana – The Italian Catholic Scouting Association) in 1916.  Within a few years, Luigi found himself as president of one of the branches (1917).  He was also a member of the Central Commission (1918), and then general councilor for the group (1921-1927), until the Fascist government suppressed the group entirely.

A True Path to Holiness

I think there’s a lesson to be learned here. Any ‘group’ we are part of should one that is helping us get to heaven.

On the one hand, this means the group does not actively impede us.   A drug-dealing, gun-shooting gang might be considered a community, for instance.  However, it is not a group that will get us to holiness and to heaven.

On the other hand, being a holy person means being a whole person.  A whole person  is one who is balanced and able to work and relate with others.  Most importantly, a whole person is alive with the life of grace. This is a point made well by Pope Benedict XVI when he spoke to a group of scouts in 2007:

“For a century, through games, action, adventure, contact with nature, a team spirit and service to others, an integral formation of the human person is offered to everyone who becomes a Scout. Made fruitful by the Gospel, scouting is not only a place for true human growth but also for a forceful presentation of Christianity and real spiritual and moral development, as well as being an authentic path of holiness.”[9]

Games, action, adventure, contact with nature, etc., are not a waste of time, or activities unsuitable for a Christian. Rather, they are pieces of the puzzle in an integral human formation. With the touch of the Gospel, a decent human formation can become an excellent superhuman or supernatural formation for living the life of grace and holiness. Perhaps we would all do well to consider what groups we are a part of, and how they are making us holier (or not).

[1] See https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2012/05/10/97001-20120510FILWWW00653-le-fondateur-du-scoutisme-venerable.php and https://uigse-fse.org/the-scouting-method/#pll_switcher

[2] See the interesting article, https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2018/06/as-churches-debate-scouting-in-u-s-in-italy-its-a-catholic-affair, for a comparison between scouting in the US and in Italy.

[3] https://www.agesci.it/lo-scoutismo/

“[4] https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2024/april/documents/20240413-consiglio-scout-cattolici.html

[5] https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2003/august/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20030807_scout-europa.html

[6] https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1997/august/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19970802_agesci.html

[7] https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1997/august/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19970802_agesci.html

[8] https://express.adobe.com/page/3irMyY8URpWtr/

[9] https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20070622_scoutisme.html