CHURCH’S ANTI-GAY DIRECTIVE CAUSES ITALIAN POLITICAL UPROAR
Political uproar in the wake of a Church directive telling Catholic politicians to vote against gay rights legislation has promted new charges of church interference in domestic Italian affairs.
The directive came from the Italian Bishops Conference as politicians consider a law to give homosexual and heterosexual unmarried couples more rights.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s center-left coalition has tabled a bill in Parliament that guarantees rights to unmarried couples in such areas as inheritance and health care. Some opponents fear it could eventually lead to gay marriage in Italy.
The Bishops directive said that Catholics could not hide behind “the principle of pluralism” or compromise on what it called the ethical needs of society.
It added that Catholic politicians had “the moral duty to clearly and publicly voice their disagreement and vote against any proposed law that would recognize homosexual couples.”
While some Catholic and centrist politicians welcomed the directive as food for thought, other lawmakers and civil rights groups condemned it as outright interference.
“This continuous, daily interference by the church in parliament’s activity is intolerable,” said leftist senator Luisa Boccia. “What’s next, excommunication?”
Two weeks ago, Pope Benedict said the church’s opposition to gay marriage was “nonnegotiable” and that Catholic politicians had a duty to oppose it.
Prodi, a Catholic, has said the draft law should not be seen as a threat to the traditional family. But some of his ministers have vowed to fight it in Parliament, and some are expected to attend a big demonstration planned for May 12 in defense of the traditional family.
Commentators said the strongly worded note and the equally passionate reaction has raised a simmering conflict between the church and the state to a new level.
Source: gcn.ie