By Francesca D’Angelo
His first parish priest quoted Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball in his sermons: within just two homilies, he had already conquered him and all his friends, nailing them to the pews. The second parish priest (“the other one had defrauded himself in the meantime”) was a born jokester: he made him laugh, even on the saddest days. And then there was that stage, open to everyone, where you could go up, make jokes, propose monologues. Faith has always been before all this, for Roberto Lipari: a smile at life, as intelligent as it is reactionary. “We are often surprised when a comedian professes to be Catholic, like me,” explains Lipari, known for his hilarious monologues on Colorado, Zelig and Only Fun, as well as the face of The news spreadswhich he hosts together with his partner Sergio Friscia. “It is thought that the irreverent drive of a cabaret artist cannot marry with faith, in reality there is nothing more revolutionary than Catholic thought.”
What is the point of contact between these two worlds, apparently so distant?
«Jesus and the disciples were the resistance: the minority that challenged the oppressor. Today, saying “we are all equal” may seem like a message from Miss Italia but at the time it wasn’t like that: it was something radically subversive. And it is this aspect that has always fascinated me about faith.”
Is a true Christian the one who knows how to smile first at life?
«Undoubtedly. I have always chosen guides who had this approach, or rather, this smile: I grew up with the belief that God is full of irony because this is the quality that brings us closest to Him. Science also says so: the last area of brain that has been formed – therefore the most evolved – is that of irony. Brute force is what makes us most like beasts; the smile is the form of intelligence that elevates us.”
Read the complete interview with Roberto Lipari in the issue of Credere distributed in newsstands and religious bookshops from Thursday 21 November and in parishes from Saturday 23 November. Or purchase a digital copy www.edicolasanpaolo.it/scheda/credere.aspx
