At a political rally in 2019, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni famously declared, “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am Italian, I am Christian. You can’t take this away from me!” At another rally, she outlined her social beliefs, proclaiming, “Yes to the natural family, no to LGBT lobbies! Yes to sexual identity, no to the ideology of gender!”
Prime Minister Meloni issued a public statement in support of Charlie Kirk while exposing the hypocrisy of the left. She began by noting that she comes from a political community often under attack, a sentiment she believes Kirk also faced. Her party, Brothers of Italy, presents itself as a defender of traditional Christian culture and values.
In Europe anyone right of center is considered far right, and even in the US the terms center right or right leaning no longer seem to exist. They call everyone far right, even Charlie Kirk, who was quite moderate in his politics and beliefs.
Many of Meloni’s positions are conservative, anti-globalist, Trump-like, and rooted in her Catholic faith, but they are not far right. She champions the motto “Dio, patria, famiglia” (“God, fatherland, family”) and consistently defends traditional family structures.
Meloni said that the same people who have vilified her party also vilified Charlie Kirk. She condemned those “who today remain silent, downplay or even justify or celebrate the premeditated, intentional, cold-blooded murder of a 31-year-old man who was guilty of courageously defending his ideas.”
Many of Meloni’s positions align with American conservatism and with Charlie Kirk’s own views. She opposes euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and same-sex parenting; supports the removal of same-sex parents from birth certificates; and rejects surrogacy, which she calls “utero in affitto” (“uterus renting”), with plans to criminalize it universally. She also backs the anti-gender movement and resists what she terms “gender ideology.” In addition, Meloni promotes pro-life initiatives to encourage motherhood, including free childcare, which she argues is essential to address Italy’s declining birthrate.
In her 2021 autobiography, Giorgia Meloni wrote that “immigration is a tool of globalists to undermine national identities, to create an indistinct mix of cultures.” She accused “globalist elites” of stealing popular sovereignty and argued that globalism shifts power to international organizations and financial interests. Meloni has also attacked figures like George Soros, accusing him of acting as a speculator puppeteer manipulating immigration. She calls for the recovery of national identity and patriotism in the face of what she describes as a “progressive dictatorship.”
She has advocated a naval blockade to halt illegal immigration, opposed migrants sailing from North Africa to Italian shores, and proposed patrols to return them to their countries of origin. Meloni is openly Eurosceptic, describing her stance as “Eurorealist.” She frequently criticizes the European Union, insisting that her first priority is always to defend Italy’s national interests.
Meloni’s religious beliefs and related policies reflect what many conservative Christians in the United States would like to see implemented at home. In December 2023, her ruling party drafted legislation to safeguard the use of nativity scenes in Italian schools, a move consistent with its broader promotion of traditional values. A month later, in January 2025, Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara proposed introducing Bible readings into school curricula, further cementing the government’s cultural direction.
The place of crucifixes in classrooms has also been debated. In September 2021, Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that displaying a crucifix is no longer mandatory but is not forbidden. Instead, the decision rests with each school community and must be reached with “reasonable accommodation” for differing viewpoints. The court stressed that majority opinion should not override the rights of minorities, and it concluded that the crucifix is primarily a cultural symbol that does not, in itself, discriminate against non-believers.
Describing Charlie Kirk, Meloni said he was someone who sat in public, ready to debate anyone on any topic, firmly convinced of his positions. “He did it with a smile on his face. He did it with respect,” she noted. That, she argued, is what made him so frightening to his opponents.
According to Meloni, when people lack arguments, they resort to other weapons, criminalization, insults, attempts to make the opponent unacceptable, and, ultimately, violence. “It always starts as verbal violence but sometimes also becomes physical violence,” she warned. She added that in the days since Kirk’s death, she had seen “many inhumane comments” and even more “frightening ones.”
Meloni cited comments from Pier Giorgio De Fredi, a left-wing intellectual, who had said that “shooting Martin Luther King and shooting a MAGA representative is not the same thing.” She told the crowd she found this statement alarming and asked what exactly he meant. Did he mean, she asked, that there are people it is legitimate to shoot because of their ideas, or that it is less serious to shoot them simply because we do not share their beliefs?
“It means,” Meloni argued, “that we should imagine lesser penalties for those who shoot a right-wing figure, perhaps even considering as a mitigating factor the idea that their opinions are unacceptable.”
Meloni concluded with a warning aimed at the violent left in Italy, though her words could just as easily have been directed at the American left. She said it was time to hold the Italian left accountable for continually minimizing or even justifying violence against those who think differently. Such behavior, she argued, has created an unsustainable climate. “It is time to denounce it and to clearly say that these cases are unacceptable, dangerous, irresponsible, and antithetical to any embryo of democracy,” she declared.
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