“If he repents…” –

“In the Gospel of Saint Luke it is said that in Heaven there is more celebration for one sinner who repents than for a thousand Righteous… But first, the sinner must admit he is a sinner. And then he must repent…” From the National Unity Festival in Reggio Emilia, Romano Prodi relies on a joke to frame the terms of a possible return of the ‘prodigal son’ Matteo Renzi to the house of the center-left, in that ‘wide field’ which, the father of the Olive Tree notes not by chance, “could also be full of olive trees, eh…”.

The Professor shies away, or rather pretends to, when the issue is raised and with another joke observes that «when asked about Renzi, Kamala Harris would say ‘ask me another question’ but at my age, as they used to say, ‘with that mouth she can say whatever she wants…’». And then Prodi drops the evangelical joke on the table which he follows with an equally famous quote, that of De Gasperi who at the Paris Peace Conference said «I feel that everything, except your personal courtesy, is against me». «Even with him – and here Prodi returns to talking about Renzi – there is always our personal courtesy. Of course, the confessor is not me but Elly Schlein. She takes care of it», he points out.

Outside of metaphor, the former prime minister notes that “politics requires a guarantee of continuity, this is what I have always sought in my life”. And therefore, and here we return to the tracks of the evangelical quote, “we must recognize ourselves as sinners and promise not to do so again”. Prodi also outlines a path made of “a movement in local alliances, a political vision for a project, as a guarantee – this is the message that comes from the stage in Reggio Emilia – that it is carried forward”. How will the PD take Prodi’s words?