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The "CESNUR Case" broke out in September 1998, when we opened this page, presenting documents on the "Centre for the Study of New Religions" of patent-lawyer Massimo Introvigne, who at the time used to present himself as a "sociologist" and as "one of the greatest experts in the world on new religious movements"; CESNUR enjoyed great credit among academics, journalists and politicians inside Italy and out.
The usual legal stuff, for lawyers and anybody else interested in threatening us
A description of CESNUR and the main issues involved
I became interested in CESNUR quite by accident. I had just got
into the world of Internet when I discovered a text by Massimo
Introvigne - whom I knew of already without however harbouring any critical
feelings. In this article, the Turin "sociologist" made a series of
statements about me which were not only offensive, but were also
blatantly false. This was an especially serious matter, since the statements
did not appear in a polemical context, but in something calling itself
a "study". For a biographical note about me, click here.
Massimo Introvigne, CESNUR and the Brazilian right-wing organization, "Tradition, Family and Property" (T.F.P.). A large and detailed (unpublished - July, 1998) critical essay by Miguel Martinez. Download this text in a single file 
Miguel Martinez replies to Massimo Introvigne, November 19, 1998. Massimo Introvigne provides us with a sample of his political agenda in an article on Jonestown. Forged messages, insults and obscenities. May 1, 1999.
CESNUR uses public funds to label all its critics as "extreme terrorists". September 1st, 1999. Introvigne's lawyer denies Introvigne's claim that the Piedmont Region is CESNUR's "only source of funds".October 1st, 1999..
About a document on Jehovah's Witnesses signed by twenty Italian senators on November 29, 1998.
Concerning an article published in Cristianità, the official magazine of Alleanza Cattolica which includes CESNUR's director Massimo Introvigne among its leaders, lavishing praise on former Chileno dictator Pinochet. We have just had the honour of sharing in abducting and hiding away a young lady I shall call Fadija. Name it as you will - rescue, deprogramming, kidnapping. Since apparently not all readers are endowed with a sense of humour, it should be said that this title is deliberately ironical, since Introvigne accuses all his critics of being "deprogrammers": just for the record, I am strongly against deprogramming, even though it was virtually never practised in Italy, and is a dead issue elsewhere. Violent activities of Introvigne's group compared to "Red Brigade" terrorism by mainstream Catholics. Our comments on a bizarre article by Introvigne in Terrorism and Political Violence. A study on the neo-theosophical cult New Acropolis and its founder, which also shows the mistakes Massimo Introvigne made in his study on the same subject. This is also virtually the only study in any language on this group.
This article is also available in Italian, Russian and in Portuguese
A note from the main offices of the Theosophical Society in Adyar, India, on Jorge Angel Livraga's organization, New Acropolis. Almost three years ago, Dr Introvigne threatened to sue us if we had cast doubt on his title as "professor", obtained by teaching for three days a year at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, an institution belonging to the controversial Legionaries of Christ. Along with Introvigne's threat - which was never put into effect - we publish the message of a student of the same Athenaeum declaring that the "Pontifical Athenaeum" is not technically a University. History and state of relations between CESNUR and GRIS, the Catholic association devoted to "pastoral" activities in the field of cults. strange site especially dedicated to Wiccan groups and which claims to co-operate with CESNUR. One thing is certain: the person who is running the site is not telling the truth. A website registered under a false name claims to offer the "confessions" of an alleged repentant conspirator, who reveals the existence of a plot against Scientology set up by the Speaker of the Italian Parliament, a well-known TV journalist, the critical website "Allarme Scientology" and such individuals as "agent AKA" and "agent Kojak". The whole thing would have ended up in a good laugh, if the Italian MP Teresio Delfino had not posed a question in Parliament demanding immediate steps against "Allarme Scientology" on the basis of this one piece of evidence. A story we can only call weird. Many people know of CESNUR and Massimo Introvigne in their role as supporters of "religious freedom". Few however know that the leadership of CESNUR, Massimo Introvigne and the whole movement Alleanza Cattolica - the "counter-revolutionary" organization which Introvigne refers to - are currently engaged in a campaign on several levels against one specific religion: Islam. A campaign ironically based on many elements commonly used to delegitimize "cults". In a review on the CESNUR site, Alleanza Cattolica militant PierLuigi Zoccatelli quoted the US scholar Jeffrey K. Hadden as a supporter of the thesis according to which anybody who criticizes Introvigne is a "terrorist", adding an extraordinary twist: if you complain about being called a terrorist, then it means you are a terrorist. On the basis of this review, I wrote an article (no longer available) which was very critical towards Prof. Hadden. Actually, Hadden never said anything of the kind. Besides apologizing to Hadden for not having checked the reliability of Zoccatelli's review, my article provides a few useful elements for understanding the way CESNUR constructs its own reality. TFP, Alleanza Cattolica and other CESNUR friends interfere heavily in the struggle inside the Italian Catholic cult-monitoring organization GRIS. A rather complicated but interesting inside view of the none-too-scrupulous manner in which Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira's Italian devotees try to take over other Catholic organizations. Introvigne publishes a "Manifesto" against France, and also returns to one of his favourite conspiracy theories. In 1999, Massimo Introvigne wrote that claims of links between TFP and Alleanza Cattolica were merely "lies repeated a hundred times". In this article, we comment on an interview granted by Giovanni Cantoni, Alleanza Cattolica founder, to the official magazine of TFP, where Cantoni tells the story of forty years of devotion to TFP founder, Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira and of a "relationship which still lasts" with TFP. A fascinating case of scholarly tit-for-tat: in this document, we can see how the Italian Watch Tower Society, hardly known for its appreciation for "objective sociology", urges its followers to buy copies of a book by Introvigne, providing instructions on how to place mass orders with another Alleanza Cattolica member, bypassing the bookshops. Not surprisingly, the book happens to be a new edition of an older book on the Jehovah's Witnesses, systematically purged this time - as we can see from a comparative table - of any information that the hierarchy of the group might find not to its taste. This same article is also available - on other web sites - in French and German.
Introvigne's views on cults some time before his foundation of CESNUR. The Alleanza Cattolica party line at the time was against cults.
Italian cult-researcher Alessia's fascinating analysis of Introvigne's writings, where he explicitly states that CESNUR was founded as an actor in "the struggle between Revolution and Counter-Revolution" and that "This is why militants of Alleanza Cattolica, together with others, founded and still inspire CESNUR, the Centre for the Study of New Religions." For having said exactly what Introvigne says here, we have had our website censored, been threatened by lawyers and subjected to a mind-boggling campaign of obscenities and insults.
Debate between Introvigne and his critics
The editors of Allarme Scientology replies to Massimo Introvigne, December 25, 1998.
Tradition, Family and Property and the strange story of the "Lodge of Thebes", French Neo-pagans/Neo-nazis and other friends of CESNUR. CESNUR in Italy has managed to find room for itself thanks to a basic misunderstanding: in a country long a monopoly of the Catholic Church, any multinational selling imaginative therapies or ideologies from the USA looks like "progress." So it is hard here to imagine that it is a far-right Catholic group which is defending cults. However Alleanza Cattolica's idea is not contradictory: better reincarnationists than red. "If they want to make Scientology pay taxes today, they might try to do so with Opus Dei tomorrow."
One of the strangest episodes in the history of CESNUR involved Massimo Introvigne as co-founder of the secretive "Lodge of Thebes", a very small group of political and magical extremists who for a short period tried to unite the quarrelsome world of French occultists. By Serge Faubert from L'Événement du Jeudi (4 November 1993).
«The man of the cults, the pride of the Right, the friend of the Masons, the Catholic's who's-who « Speaking to the Catholic news agency "ADISTA", Introvigne confirms to being one of the founders of this curious esoteric and political group (in Italian only.
An interesting article from Pastor Thomas Gandow, "CESNUR, Alleanza Cattolica und die Religionsfreiheit" (BERLINER DIALOG, 1997).
By Renaud Marhic and Xavier Pasquini (Charlie Hebdo, n. 233, 04.12.1996).
"Tradition, Family and Property" and the other "counter-revolutionary" organizations founded by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira have always tended to avoid publicity, except for a few public campaigns. There is very little information available on the movement anywhere. And this is the only place on the Web you will find a collection of material on the "counter-revolutionary front". We use TFP as shorthand here for all the many organizations around the world which recognize Plinio Corrêa as their spiritual father.
Research project commissioned by New Nation, 1988. Undertaken by Centre for Cultural and Media Studies, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa.
"Foreign Legion", by Rosely Forganes. From ISTOÉ Magazine N. 1558, August 11, 1999.
From TV Crítica, Brazil. With a note by Miguel Martínez on the split between the "official" TFP of Antonio Gustavo Solimeo and the "Arautos do Evangelho" of the new "prophet", Joâo Scognamiglio Clá Días.
A very important debate - which I was only marginally involved in - came out in 1998, when two Italian Catholic psychologists, Alberto Amitrani and Raffaella Di Marzio, brought out documents proving that Introvigne had systematically used a misleading presentation ("misleading" is something of a euphemism) of the supposed denial of the existence of "brainwashing" by the American Psychology Association (APA). The debate perhaps is a little for specialists, but it is very revealing...
The debate opened by the Roman seat of G.R.I.S., Group of Research and Information on the Sects, with the director of CESNUR Massimo Introvigne. By dr. Alberto Amitrani and dr. Raffaella Di Marzio (April, 1998).
A textual comparison between CESNUR's statements and the content of the "APA Memorandum" of May 11, 1987. An english translation of the original anonymous CESNUR Press Release dated April 22, 1998. This document, originally published on the official CESNUR Web site, on August 29, mysteriously, disappeared without a trace... CESNUR used threats to try to remove this press release from our website. Of course we didn't give in.
CESNUR speaks again about the issue, 10-11-1998.
GRIS Rome's commentary on CESNUR's press release, 27-11-1998.
"Brainwashing", mystification and suspicion - by dr. Alberto Amitrani and dr. Raffaella Di Marzio, from the Roman seat of GRIS (July, 1998).
"The strange history of the brainwashing conjecture in the sociology of religion", by dr. Benjamin Zablocki, October, 1997, "NOVA RELIGIO" (The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions).
An interesting essay by Philip G. Zimbardo, former A.P.A. President. From the American Psychological Association's Home Page, May 1997.
Massimo Introvigne responded to the intense affection felt for him by the multinational corporation called 'Scientology' by launching an "appeal" in support of the group; however Scientology's love has caused the CESNUR director some embarrassment as well.
From an appeal sent to German authorities on August 15, 1996, signed by directors of CESNUR Massimo Introvigne (Italy) and J. Gordon Melton (America). Germany's view on Scientology, from official resources.
When Scientology speaks Italian, by Francesco Antonioli. From Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the italian Bishops' Conference. Tuesday, December 1st, 1998.
About the curious connections between CESNUR and the new CAN, organization accused of being a Scientology front group. By Harry & Martini, Christmas 1998.
CAN isn't reliable; Scientology is engaged in «more or less "covert" operations». By Martini, January, 1999. Also available in FRENCH 
The strange story of the mysterious MIAS (Italian Anti-Cult Movement), their lies and connections with the Church of Scientology - by Martini, Christmas 1998.
On Le Monde Diplomatique, investigating journalist Bruno Foucherau tells how the US are tryiong to impose unlimited freedom of action for their "religious" multinationals in Europe too. Diplomatic pressure in the name of the free market. With a note on the activities of CESNUR.
Luckily for him, Massimo Introvigne does not pass all his time in the boring circle of Alleanza Cattolica. His friends include Satanists, vampires and... media tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi. However even among vampires, Introvigne never can really get away from Alleanza Cattolica: in summer '98, Cristianità, the official magazine of the extremist group, opened a new box in its column on "The Good Battle" (which regularly lists the militant activities of the group). The box was entitled "Vampires", and was placed between "Education and Instruction" and "Political Categories" (presentations of the "Black book on Communism", training courses organized by Alleanza Cattolica for the leadership of the former neo-Fascist party, Alleanza Nazionale, and so on). The box listed, among other items, a lecture by Introvigne with the lovely title "Neverending Thirst: Before and After Dracula."
Massimo Introvigne, a scholar closely involved with the political Right (Corriere della Sera, January 19, 1999).
We are publishing this news item on Introvigne's activity as a vampire fan only because it provides a pleasant diversion from the issue of cult apology. «Coffin Break To Vampires Everywhere, Fangs for The Memories»; article by Carol Bidwell, The Los Angeles Daily News - 23.7.1997
"A naked woman, a short coupling with the 'priest', they mumbled invocations to the Devil" - from Epoca, with a large interview with Introvigne, September 28, 1993.
The world of mutually legitimizing sociologists, some authentic and some not, whose livelihood depends on keeping on the right side of the 'subjects' they study - the so-called 'cults' - of course does not include only Introvigne. Another leading character is James Gordon Melton, a Methodist preacher who also collects books and runs CESNUR-USA together with a Mormon lawyer named Michael Homer.
Article from Esquire Magazine, June, 1997, by Jeannette Walls.
From Massimo Introvigne to Eileen Barker and J. Gordon Melton: Extremely amusing. By Tilman Hausherr, 1999.
Article by Michiel Louter from De Groene Amsterdammer, published in Holland on August 13, 1997. Also available in DUTCH From Apologia Report, a journal edited by Rich Poll (Volume 2, Number 5 - August 7, 1998). Review of a remarkable paper by Dr. Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi.
Some excerpts from a large article by Dr. Benjamin Zablocki published on "NOVA RELIGIO", The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (October, 1997).
Three articles from The Straits Times, Singapore, July 17-18, 1997, by Tan Ool Boon.
Articles from The Washington Post (May, 1995, T.R. Reid) and Los Angeles Times (May 6, 1995, Teresa Watanabe). A critical essay by Joe Szimhart, July, 1998. Notes on cult apologists James Gordon Melton, Ralph Underwager, James Lewis, David Bromley and Massimo Introvigne. July, 2004.
Some people have criticised us for having included this material. Apart from the fact that we are against any kind of censorship, anybody can understand that the most interesting criticism against Introvigne and Alleanza Cattolica can only come from those who know them well: Catholic traditionalists and the so-called radical Right. Introvigne has tried to make use of these criticisms in order to show that he himself is not a right-wing extremist. However the reason certain minorities on the far Right criticism is quite different: Catholic traditionalists have a lot to say against a movement which they consider millenialist and to a certain degree esoteric, whereas other members of the radical Right object to Alleanza Cattolica's attempts to take their world over.
From "Alleanza... Massonica?", by Father Torquemada. Published in Sodalitium, December, 1997, n. 46, p. 64-76. Whatever one may think of the viewpoint (and the pseudonym) of "Father Torquemada", there is no doubt he knows his man: he has known Introvigne - and shared his ideas - since they were both adolescents. The full articles appear on our Italian pages.
Global domination and religion as a weapon. An article by Lucio Tancredi published on Orion, VII, n. 9, September, 1998. Orion is a magazine which represents every shade of opinion on Italy's variegated "radical Right" except racism. Authors include CESNUR critics like Tancredi, CESNUR scholars like Marco Pasi and Alleanza Cattolica supporters like Massimo Maraviglia.
Cronaca Vera is a lovely Italian tabloid, dedicated to improbable stories of every kind. It published an interview, accompanied by some unique photos, with Massimo Introvigne, where the CESNUR director claimed he was working on a secret mission to fight the Devil in the Italian region of Puglia. Introvigne denied he had ever granted the interview. The whole episode greatly amused Newsgroup readers who followed the story.
In an interview with the Italian "gutter-press", Massimo Introvigne claims secret nomination as ghostbuster. By Miguel Martinez, March, 1999. Also in PORTUGUESE
You can listen to this one... the Brazilian hardcore/punk group "Blind Pigs" ("harmonies that will stick in your head after it's been smashed against the wall. 14 tunes in 26 minutes go by like a swift kick to the groin...") expresses its unenlightened opinon on Introvigne's maitres à penser.
Articles - some critical, some not - on recent CESNUR conferences
Facts, impressions, meetings and "events", minor and major, at an international meeting. By Dr. Raffaella Di Marzio, from the Roman seat of G.R.I.S., Group of Research and Information on the Sects.
By Stephan E. Wolf. From Ex ZJ Infolink, Infoservice of the Network of Former Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany, November, 1998. The Brooklyn leadership had to drop out of attending the CESNUR conference when ordinary JW's heard that their bosses intended to share in a meeting with Catholics, pagans, and others. CESNUR as usual threatened to sue the critics who had put the information out on the Net, apparently for having let the grassroots know too much. Available also in GERMAN
Most CESNUR supporters outside Italy are probably unaware that CESNUR here is constantly organizing lectures and seminars in Catholic institutions of every kind, teaching the "theologically correct" viewpoint on "new religious movements." To do so, CESNUR describes itself as a Catholic organization, under the patronage of a bishop. This is why we publish this document.
From a note signed by Mons. Michael L. Fitzgerald, Segretary for the Pontificio Consiglio per il dialogo interreligioso, City of Vatican (September 27, 1996). Also in FRENCH
It's an international association which promotes studies on... vampires. The American chapter of the TSD is run by Gordon Melton, the Italian one by Introvigne, who publicizes the TSD on a "secret page" at CESNUR's site...
These are links to some sites which for various reasons are close to CESNUR. Unlike us, they tend not to make links to sites they disagree with in any way. We use the term "neo-Fascist" here in a technical, not a derogatory sense.
"When one searches for Scientology at http://goto.com, the first entry is http://www.cesnur.org/testi.htm, with a disclosure that $0.12 is paid by the advertiser. I wonder if Massimo Introvigne paid this himself, or if scientology paid this to get an "independant" site on top that isn't criticizing the criminal cult" (post by Tilman Hausherr, alt.religion.scientology, 25 Oct 1999).
"An independent research facility tucked into the top floor of the United Methodist Church in Isla Vista, California" (John Mardas, interview with J. Gordon Melton in "Speak Magazine", No. 2, Summer 2000) is run by the Reverend J. Gordon Melton, a member of the board of directors of CESNUR International.
Massimo Introvigne, J. Gordon Melton and Eileen Barker actively work together on a journal called "NOVA RELIGIO", The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions.
"News and support for the counter-revolutionary battle." A typical page of an Alleanza Cattolica militant, with links to CESNUR and Una Voce Grida...! The website is called "Corneliu" in honour of the founder of the Rumanian Iron Guard.
This is the website of a small Catholic Charismatic group run by Tarcisio Mezzetti. However, the best known follower is certainly Andrea Menegotto, a CESNUR member with many ties to Introvigne. A look at their manifesto shows what they mean by scholarship: "Information and comments on the hidden dangers of popular/journalistic culture of our times, on new religiosity, the world of magic, of superstition and of the occult, for use in the New Evangelization, in order to fight error, distinguishing without discriminating, and in order to bring the people of God back to the faith."
CADR is a small group made up by Alleanza Cattolica militants Paolo Di Giovanni, Aldo Carletti, Manzoni and Trolli, who are trying to introduce CESNUR's point of view into the Catholic institutions of the diocese of Milan. Notice that the homepage of CADR used to be hosted on the website of Una Voce Grida...! The URL in fact was http://members.tripod.com/~unavocegrida/CADR.htm.
Personal site of the student Emiliano Fumaneri, sympathizer but not militant of Alleanza Cattolica. Fumaneri is Introvigne's main defender on Italian language newsgroups . His site defends the S panish inquisition, the despoiling of the native peoples of America, the Syllabus and the Crusades, and attacks the theory of evolution, homosexuals and the French revolution. His site links CESNUR together with TFP, Alleanza Cattolica and its various emanations, Una Voce Grida...!, the Pontifical Atheneum Regina Apostolorum and something called "Why the Crusades". "Leggenda Nera" fully deserves its place here among the "friends of CESNUR", first because Fumaneri has earned special praise for having read every word of Kelebek, looking for weak points to attack; secondly, because Fumaneri, after having tapped my wrist on the Newsgroups for not having read his site, then refused to provide me with the URL because he - wrote - he did not want his site to end up listed here.
This branch of the former neo-Fascist "Alleanza Nazionale" party, chaired by Franco Maestrelli, regularly hosts all the activities of Alleanza Cattolica and CESNUR. Whoever Charlemagne may have been in real history, the name in this case was chosen in praise of his extermination of pagans and his wars against the Muslims. On their website, we can see a lecture by PierLuigi Zoccatelli (militant of both Alleanza Cattolica and CESNUR) presenting his book "Al supermercato delle religioni: dal New Age al Next Age." A book published by Di Ci, in a series... edited by Massimo Introvigne. The "book information" page on this site suggests only the following books: one by Jean-François Mayer (CESNUR) and two by Introvigne on cults, plus the incredible hate-book, Islam: anatomia di una setta ("Islam, Anatomy of a Cult"), by Stefano Nitoglia. All four books are published by the far-right publisher, Effedieffe.. The site, by the way, has only three links: one to Alleanza Nazionale, of course; one to Alleanza Cattolica and one to CESNUR.
("Islam: Anatomy of a Cult")
This 'Historical Institute of the Right' has the following words of praise for Alleanza Cattolica: "it is committed to training a counter-revolutionary élite, in order to restore the spiritual kingdom of Christ through the 'common good' based on 'natural law."
Alfredo Mantovano, magistrate, Undersecretary of State in the Berlusconi government, is not only one of the top leaders of the former neo-Fascist party Alleanza Nazionale (where he is the person "responsible for State issues"); he is also a leader of Alleanza Cattolica, which he joined when he was eighteen.
This militant of Alleanza Cattolica is especially disliked by users of Italian Newsgroups. In his role as moderator of it.politica.cattolici, he censors any post remotely critical either of CESNUR or of the political Right. To make up for this, he posts every message from CESNUR - sent via Menegotto - even when written in English.
A TFP offshoot devoted to spreading the message of Fatima. Here you can download "Revolution and Counter-Revolution" - the book that inspired Massimo Introvigne - for free, but in Italian only.
Named to celebrate the victory over the Muslims, this group is a TFP offshoot independent however from Alleanza Cattolica. Its founder, Prof. Roberto de Mattei, regularly quotes Introvigne in his writings and shares CESNUR's point of view on cults. Centro Lepanto claims that its purpose is "to defend the principles and institutions of Christian Civilization and to represent a point of attraction for thought and action of the conservative and traditional area."
An important offshoot of Alleanza Cattolica. In February 1996, it started to publish a weekly page on Secolo d'Italia, the official daily of the former neo-Fascist party Alleanza Nazionale, called Dizionario del Pensiero Forte. Massimo Introvigne wrote the article on "Anti-Cult movements and Campaigns" for this "Dictionary", where he "dealt directly with the problem of the attack of persecution which weak thought has been launching against religious freedom" (Andrea Morigi, Cristianità n. 271-2, p. 24).
This is run by Marco Invernizzi, who also happens to be the officer of Alleanza Cattolica entrusted with Lombardy and Veneto. A certain Marco Albera is actually a simultaneous member of Alleanza Cattolica, CESNUR and ISIN. ISIN does a necessary job of exploring a lost page of history - the uprisings in 1799 against Napoleon; however its express purpose is to delegitimize the secular state and create a new "historical memory" for Italy.
The purpose of this 'School', established by Alleanza Cattolica militants Leonardo Gallotta and Massimo Martinucci, is no less than that of providing "the correct interpretation of historical, political and social events." To celebrate the inauguration, in 1996, Gallotta presented the Archbishop of Ferrara with a copy of Revolution and Counter-Revolution.
This site is dedicated to "value-based politics", i.e. to politics in line with Alleanza Cattolica's mission.
Homepage of the regional deputy of Forza Italia (the party of media tycoon Berlusconi) and Alleanza Cattolica militant Alessandro Pagano.
Homepage of the regional deputy of Alleanza Nazionale (former neo-Fascist party) and Alleanza Cattolica militant Pietro Macconi.
Gordon Melton, not yet a CESNUR leader but already Pastor of the Emanuel United Methodist Church in Evanston, Illinois, after having attended a Scientology wedding, certifies that "the Church of Scientology is very much a religion in the fullest sense of the word." Evidence is not lacking: "the Church of Scientology regularly holds its Sunday worship service which, though not the main focal point of the week as in the Methodist Church, nevertheless provides the community worship for the group."
Published by Evelyn Dorothy Oliver; James R. Lewis; Joseph Waligor; Massimo Introvigne; Eileen Barker; David G. Bromley; Charles L. Harper; Evelyn Dorothy Oliver; J. Gordon Melton; Susan J. Palmer; Gary Shepherd; John M. Bozeman. The review has hosted articles by authors of many different kinds.
Edited by Massimo Introvigne of CESNUR and Alleanza Cattolica, the series "Religioni e movimenti" is monitored by PierLuigi Zoccatelli of CESNUR and Alleanza Cattolica who sees to it that no author who disagrees with the official line gets by. The series has published books by Silvia Scaranari Introvigne, who is a member of both CESNUR and Alleanza Cattolica as well as coincidentally being Massimo Introvigne's wife; by PierLuigi Zoccatelli; by Jean-François Mayer of CESNUR; by James Gordon Melton of CESNUR; by Father Pietro Cantoni of Alleanza Cattolica, who happens to be the brother of Alleanza Cattolica "regent", Giovanni Cantoni. A kind of home publisher.
A large collection of articles and links by Rick Ross regarding CESNUR's members: Massimo Introvigne, J. Gordon Melton and Eileen Barker.
Several writings in french about Massimo Introvigne by Roger Gonnet, author of the essay on Scientology La Secte - Secte Armée pour la guerre.
An entire page dedicated to Massimo Introvigne and CESNUR.
A French analysis of a recent paper by Massimo Introvigne and J. Gordon Melton, from Mickael Tussier's huge site.
During recent years, CESNUR and Alleanza Cattolica have established excellent relations with the Catholic congregation of the "Legionaries of Christ", established in Mexico. The lawyer Introvigne claims the title of Professor because he used to teach for three days a year in an institution belonging to this organization. Like TFP, the Legionaries of Christ are certainly a highly political organization which is held to be very controversial inside the Catholic Church too. Like TFP, the Legionaries of Christ have received serious accusations from former members. First of all, they are accused of exercising a kind of pressure totally contrary to Canon Law in order to turn sympathizers into priests. More seriously, no less than nine former members - including the founder of the first US branch - have accused the founder, Marcial Maciel Degollado, of having abused them sexually.
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