Interesting. How has the Italian government received that? I imagine if a similar thing were done here, there would be calls to revoke the RCC’s tax exempt status (well, more calls I guess).
That’s where the Pope was clever. The meetings at the Vatican were on natural law and its place in human society (that is, anything violating it cannot be a legitimate law). He built up a very good case for it, and also discussed the role of the legislator, who is not a passive or powerless spectator but affirmatively does something to pass a law. And he simply said that those legislators who want to continue to consider themselves Catholics and remain in union with the Church cannot vote for anything that violates natural law (whether something that permits “gay marriage,” abortion, etc.) and thus, the laws of the Church.
There was a lot of huffing and puffing by Italian politicians, but many of them actually pointed out, on the other side, that it is not mandatory to be a Catholic nor is it something to which one has a right. If you want to vote for a proposition that violates the standards the Pope defined, that’s up to you - it simply means that then you can’t go parading around as a “good Catholic” and marching up to Communion ala Ted Kennedy. Obviously, this will matter to some politicians and not to others.
This, btw, is the thing that is behind the attacks on the Church by gays in Italy right now.
I was surprised that it got so little coverage in the US, because it is obviously something that would apply to our “Catholic” politicians here, too. But of course, we’re back at the usual problem: getting the bishops to enforce it. However, since he made it some kind of a binding statement (I don’t recall the name), I think that the bishops would have to abide by it. So we shall see where this leads us.