Romanitá is, or should be, a natural Catholic instinct, our Church both as a whole and in parts draws its' identity from being Roman. The Roman influence on our theology, liturgy and spirituality is impossible to deny, St. José Maria Escivira goes so far as to say that the word "Roman" for him is synonymous with the words universal, ecumenical and Catholic. The Church of Christ is Roman because the city's first bishop was St. Peter, the rock on which God incarnate built His Church. She is Roman because God in his providence decreed that Christianity, steeped in a Roman form, would be given a viable and exceptional dispersion from that very city. A Christian missionary zeal is here combined with Roman expansionism and Roman virtues, together they produce a potent mix. From here, countless throngs have gone out to proclaim the message of Christ, not a few of them aware that they were walking or sailing towards certain martyrdom. Romanitá is a faithfulness to Jesus Christ, it is a missionary spirit, a dogged stubbornness in clinging to the faith that was given to us through the Apostles and especially through Sts. Peter and Paul, the first apostles of Rome. It is a loyalty to the Successor of Peter, the source and guarantor of the faithful transmission of the truth revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Romanitá does not signify "triumphalism" or "self-referentiality", rather, it entails the only authentic "ecumenism" that there can be. Namely, it presupposes a desire to enlarge the heart, to open it to all with Jesus' own eagerness to seek all so that they may come to Him and have life and life in abundance in Him. Romanitá, then, is the virtue that helps us to be faithful to the Successors of St. Peter, to hold on to the faith that was given to us and zealously make it known to others.
There is, however, a particular aspect of Romanitá that may seem somewhat controversial at first. An important ingredient in Romanitá is the "mos maiorum" literally translated "the custom of the ancestors". The Roman 3rd Century historian Suetonius describes it well in saying that;
"everything new that is made in violation of our ancestral customs and traditions seem to be wrong."
Ennius, the father of Roman poetry, agrees and says;
"Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque"
which roughly translates as: "The Roman State stands on ancient customs and heroes". Substitute "heroes" for "Saints" and "state" for "Church" and you will instantly have applied the poet's statement to the Romanitá of the Church that is written of here.
Romanitá thus entails a distrust of new ideas, interpretations and practices. This aspect of Romanitá is the realization that the Church's authority and legitimacy is derived from her faithfulness to Tradition. It entails an instinctive Roman conservatism that makes no exceptions. Not even the Pope himself is exempt. John XXIII, for instance, is said to have been shocked when he as the newly elected pope was confronted with the fact that there were cardinals and others in the Curia who, respectfully but firmly, refused to obey, saying "no" to him on the grounds that what his Holiness commanded was contrary to the ancient usage. Although this aspect of Romanitá can have exaggerated expressions -e.g. resistance to installing advanced computer systems in the Curia- it is basically an healthy attitude. It is, at best, an expression of a Roman fortitude that despite opposition flatly refuses to compromise the faith that was given to us through St. Peter, even if it is St. Peter's successor himself who demands the compromise. St. Paul, who also was a good Roman, is a great example of this; he stood up to St. Peter and resisted him to the face when St. Peter, in his actions, failed to live up to the faith which he had received from Christ. This aspect of Romanitá is the realization that the faith is an invaluable treasure, that we must preserve that which we have received through those who have gone before us in order to, in our turn, be able to pass the same faith on unchanged to those who come after us. An authentic Romanitá demands this dogged, Catholic stubborness regardless of who wants us to dilute the faith, be it the local parish priest, a pope or even an angel.
Again quoting St. Escriva; it should be natural for us to want to become more and more "Roman" - after all, we can hardly be Catholic -or Christians at all- and not in some way be Roman.