Mediterranean Religions and Romani People

Facile generalizations by older anthropologists and other commentators about the opposition between organized religion and Romani culture have been challenged by the mass adherence of Gypsies to Pentecostalism since the 1950s and an answering later growth of religiosity by Roma within the traditional religions of the Mediterranean area: Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and Islam. It is argued here that the previous marginality of Romani adherents of these religions was a response to exclusionary tendencies within these religions, which was exposed by the Pentecostal revival. A papal discourse of 1991 acknowledging the need for change is analyzed. It is shown that this discourse, which makes use of sociological concepts such as ‘transnationalism’ proferred during the preceding lobbying process, is in itself an example of the normalization of Romani participation in organized religion which has been facilitated by antiracist understandings.