Evangelicals have known for centuries that Rome is a ‘mission field’.
It is no coincidence that as soon as the breach of Porta Pia opened in 1870 (when Rome was liberated from Papal power and the Pontifical State ended), Bibles and Christian tracts were immediately smuggled in to further the evangelisation of the city. Rome was a mission field because it prevented the free circulation of God’s word in the vernacular language and suppressed any attempts to bring about a Biblical reformation.
Since 1870, much water has passed under the bridges of the River Tiber. Today, even the Roman Catholic Pope says Rome is a ‘mission field’. Meeting with the Roman Catholic clergy on 13 January, Francis said just that: the heart of Roman Catholicism, the seat of the papacy, the centre of Roman Catholicism, the city that Popes have claimed their own, is a ‘mission field’.
