Posted on 06/25/2021 6:46:59 PM PDT by marshmallow
ROME – In response to a formal protest from the Holy See to the draft of an anti-homophobia law on grounds of religious freedom, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi Wednesday evening said Italy is a secular state and as such, can decide on its own whether a proposed legislation is constitutional.
Speaking to members of the Senate’s upper chamber during a scheduled June 23 address, Draghi said that Italy “is a lay state, a lay state, so it’s not a confessional state,” meaning that the Italian parliament “is free” and able to deliberate, discuss, and draw its own conclusions.
“Our regulations have all of the guarantees to ensure that laws always respect constitutional principles and international commitments, among which is the Concordat with the Church,” he said, referring to the 1929 Lateran Pacts, which established the Vatican City State as a sovereign entity and regulate relations between the Holy See and Italy.
Referencing a sentence in Italy’s constitutional court from 1989, Draghi insisted that the concept of laïcité, meaning the separation of church and state in a secular state, does not interfere with religious freedom, but is rather “the guarantee of pluralism and cultural diversity.”
In terms of the Holy See’s complaint, Draghi said “the government is following this, but this is the moment of parliament, it’s not the moment of the government.”
Draghi’s remarks come the day after the Holy See invoked its sovereign status under the Lateran Pacts to protest the so-called “Zan bill” – named after Alessandro Zan, an openly gay legislator who introduced it – which is designed to combat homophobia, but which the Vatican argues could infringe on the religious freedom that is guaranteed under the 1929 treaty.
(Excerpt) Read more at cruxnow.com ...
Draghi Queen.
Weird story. Supposedly the Vatican (which is a separate state) sent the Italians a note reasonably warning that this law might result in Catholics being criminalized for basic Catholic beliefs on these issues, and that they were opposed to it. This theoretically came through the Secretary of State, Parolin…who released another letter or formal statement this morning saying that the earlier note was not meant to be made public, was sort of just for form’s sake, and that of course he agreed with Draghi that religious considerations were inappropriate for a secular state.
First of all, the majority population of that state is Catholic, whether practicing or not, and many of its institutions are run by Church-related groups, so obviously the state has some responsibility at least to refrain from criminalizing them for adhering to their faith and moral principles. So it’s hardly “interference” with the secular state but simple protection of the Catholic citizens to ask that the rights of Catholics be respected. So there’s nothing to apologize for there.
Secondly, it shows as usual that something weird is going on at the Vatican. Bergoglio comes and goes on this transgender issue, saying one thing and doing another, and is very pro-gay; so in that case, why did the Vatican send the first note at all? Obviously, once Bergoglio found out about it, he had Parolin go out and say it was all a big mistake.
Probably some saner heads at the Vatican realized that this bill would effectively eliminate Catholics from many areas (for example, teaching in certain programs, running adoption agencies or providing other medical charitable activities). There are probably a few faithful people still left in some sub-basement at the Vatican. And even if they don’t have any faith, they’d realize that the Church would be eliminated from providing these services…for which it gets paid. And they can’t afford to lose a single euro these days.
Very strange. If nothing else, it reveals that there’s about as much confusion on the loose at the Vatican as at the White House. Maybe Bergoglio has dementia too.
Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
-Luke 17
“...as usual that something weird is going on at the Vatican...”
to the point
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.