Screening Piety, Invoking Fervour: The Strange Case of Italy’s Televised Mass

This paper discusses the television broadcasting of Catholic Masses in Italy today from an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates theology with religion and media studies as well as television studies. After a brief overview of the history of television broadcasting of the Mass and a discussion of its rapid theological acceptance, the paper analyzes the unique success and “proliferation” of televised Masses in Italy. Looking at some of the common characteristics of televised Masses across Italian broadcasting channels, the paper concludes with a reflection on the specificity of (televised) Mass as a ritual action.