Seventh-day Adventist children worshipping in a Roman Catholic Church.
The Italian Adventist Scout Association (AISA) is part of the Youth Ministry Department of the Italian Union of Seventh-day Adventist Churches. AISA is the Italian equivalent of the Pathfinders and Adventures youth organizations in North America. On Sunday, November 10, 2024, regional and local leaders of the Italian Adventist Scout Association decided to join with Roman Catholic scouts in the city of Mazara del Vallo, on the Island of Sicily, Italy, to celebrate 100 years of scouting during a ceremony that started with a Eucharistic mass celebration in a Roman Catholic Church.
The Adventist delegation of children, youth, and church leaders.
Local news outlet Prima Página TV, in Mazara del Vallo, reported that three Catholic organizations and a Seventh-day Adventist scouting group met at a Catholic church with the local Catholic bishop:
• “About 500 scouts yesterday morning participated in the event “100 years of Scouting in Mazara del Vallo,” organized by AGESCI (Italian Catholic Guides and Scouts Association), AISA (Italian Adventist Scout Association), FSE (Italian Association of European Catholic Guides and Scouts), and MASCI (Italian Catholic Scout Adult Movement). The aim of the organizers, as underlined in the various speeches, was to “create a bridge between the past and the future to keep the scout spirit alive in society.” [1]
• “Our editorial team followed the various moments of the entire celebratory day. The program saw the gathering of the various departments of the associations in Piazza della Repubblica with the flag-raising ceremony, which saw the participation of the bishop of the diocese, Monsignor Giurdanella, who underlined the importance of the service. At the Basilica Cathedral “S.S. Salvatore” (Most Holy Savior), at 9 am, the Eucharistic celebration was held presided over by the same monsignor.” [1]
The local Adventist Church’s Facebook page.
The local Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mazara del Vallo, Italy, stated on their Facebook page that they had joined the other Catholic scouting groups in the effort to “build bridges, not walls.” With the caption, “sharing moments of joy and brotherhood,” the Adventist Church even shared photos of its members with the Roman Catholic Bishop. [2]
Adventist youth leader Manuela Erbini (left), Adventist Pastor Alessandro Butera (second from left), and Roman Catholic Bishop Giurdanella (right).
Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Alessandro Butera, the regional leader for the Italian Adventist Scout Association in Sicily, along with Manuela Erbini, the AISA leader for the Adventist community in Mazara del Vallo, joined with Roman Catholic Bishop Angelo Giurdanella inside the Catholic Basilica “S.S. Salvatore” (Most Holy Savior) in Mazara del Vallo for worship and to commemorate 100 years of scouting.
Catholic bishop (left) with Adventist Pastor (right).
It is one thing for church officials to participate in interfaith initiatives to strengthen their relationship with the papacy at their own expense, but it is quite another for them to exploit the innocence of children as political leverage in the search for unity with Rome. Children and young adults do not fully understand or agree with what is happening in the Catholic Church. Our pastors and leaders should protect our young people rather than positioning them as leverage in these unbiblical interactions.
Pastor Alessandro Butera is the regional representative for AISA in Sicily.
“The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed!” (Great Controversy, p. 563).
Adventist youth leader (left) with Roman Catholic bishop (right).
The Adventist Scout Association in Italy is bringing Seventh-day Adventist children into a Eucharistic mass celebration and exposing them to Catholicism. What example are the youth being given? They are being taught to embrace the papal power of prophecy, which claims to have the authority to change God’s moral law. This is the same power that claims that its pedophile priests can forgive sin. This system teaches people to pray to the dead and to bow down before idols that cannot hear or see. This is the same power that, according to Bible prophecy, is determined to bring back all the churches, including ours, to “Rome Sweet Home.”
Manuela Erbini, an Adventist youth leader, participates in a Catholic church procession.
The Bible strongly condemns causing harm or leading the innocent, particularly children, into sin or confusion. In Matthew 18:6, Jesus warns that “whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” This verse highlights God’s deep concern for protecting children from any form of scandal, abuse, or harmful influence.
Jesus’ teaching underscores that children hold a special place in God’s heart, and their purity and trust are to be preserved and cherished, not exploited. The Bible’s message is clear: those who are entrusted with children’s care, especially within the church, bear a great responsibility to guide them in truth, love, and respect, ensuring that they are shielded from any moral or spiritual corruption.
Have we completely lost our minds that we would embark on a journey with our youth into the arms of Rome? Can we not grasp the magnitude of what is happening? Leave the kids out of these interfaith engagements. This is damaging the young, vulnerable minds of our youth. It is God’s design that we teach the young people our historic, Protestant, Seventh-day Adventist heritage. God wants to use our kids to help finish the work during the outpouring of the Latter Rain.
“After this I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.” Joel 2:28.
We are called to finish the work of the Reformation by embracing and proclaiming the messages that God has given us. Sadly, some of our people have adopted an “ecumenical” mindset, and this will lead many to surrender the faith and abandon the Three Angels’ Messages.
The various Catholic logos next to the Adventist one, circled.
While the trend continues and as more and more people embark down the dangerous path towards Rome, God is calling His people to have a completely different experience. He is calling us to an experience of unity in the Three Angels’ Messages—and not into a unity of sin or transgression or into an unbiblical belief scenario. May God have mercy on us all and on our kids. May He help us stay the course He has given us.
Another SDA youth leader working closely, hand in hand, with Catholic leaders.
“Our work is to proclaim to the world the first, second and third angels’ messages. In the discharge of our duties we are neither to despise nor to fear our enemies…We are to treat with kindness and courtesy those who refuse to be loyal to God, but we are never, never to unite with them” (Testimonies, Vol. 7, pp. 107, 108).
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Here we are taught that finite man is not to be placed where God should be. He is not to be honored as a god, or to be bowed down to. “Worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” The man of sin is worshiped in the person of the pope, and his representative, the cardinal. But God has not given this power to pope or prelate. The pope is not regarded by God as anything more than a man who is acting out in our world the character of the man of sin, representing in his claims that power and authority which Satan claimed in the heavenly courts. {5MR 102.2}