The State of Vatican has just started a sort of diplomatic war against Italy while the Italian Parliament gets ready to discuss a law against Homophobia.
If Italy is a very socially advanced country where finally same-sex unions are granted by the legislation and have almost same rights as a heterosexual marriage, surely it is still not a country where the LGBT+ population is fully protected against discrimination and abuse
We have already spoken here about the Zan Bill Proposal (aka DDL Zan) and that still, after more than year since the PM Alessandro Zan proposed this bill, and after the thousands of revisions that the entire bill received from the right and conservative opposition, the Italian Parliament was almost ready to start the final discussion in order to approve and pass the bill.
Unfortunately, as if the very bumpy road the bill had to take to get to the latest stage was not enough, the State of Vatican decided that they had to have their say and interfere with the normal – and already very complicated – process of approving a law in Italy, the country that “hosts” their churches and the Vatican.
In an unprecedented move, the Vatican formally asked the Italian government to stop the Zan bill, the bill against homotransphobia, because it would violate “in some contents the agreement revising the Concordat“.
In the document delivered by Monsignor Gallagher, the Holy See expresses their concerns about the bill, sayin that “some current contents of the legislative proposal under examination in the Senate, reduce the freedom guaranteed to the Catholic Church by the article 2, paragraphs 1 and 3 of the agreement revising the Concordat”.
According to the Vatican, in fact, some passages of the Zan bill would not only question and deny “freedom of organisation” – for example, article 7 of the bill would be under accusation, which would not exempt private schools from organising activities on the occasion of the upcoming National Day against homophobia, lesbophobia and transphobia, but they would even attack, in a more general sense, the “freedom of thought” of the Catholic community.
This is yet another disrespectful and very dangerous attempt to prevail over the secularism of the Italian state and to impose, as it has already happened too many times in the past, a religious law that prevents the social advancement of a nation like Italy, where the Holy See unfortunately has always played with power to the detriment of those social minorities, who – apparently – according to their God, do not have the right to a respectful and dignified life.
Mario Draghi, the Italian Prime Minister, respectfully reported to this letter in a public speech in the Italian Parliament. He said: “Italy is a secular, non-denominational State, and the laws always respect the Constitution and treaties. Parliament is always free to discuss and more. Our system contains all the guarantees to respect international commitments, including the Concordat. […] secularism is not indifference of the state towards the religious phenomenon, but the protection of pluralism and cultural diversity”
Of course, the far right parties leadered by racist and homophobic politicians like Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini, quickly sympathised with the Holy See and in a classic populist-style, urged the Italian Parliament to stop this bill and not to approve it.
Mario Draghi, though, proved once again not to be afraid of the Vatican and invited his colleagues to continue the discussion for the approval of this bill, and he made even more. He is amongst the 16 signatories of the letter the EU sent to Orban (Hungary) as a warning against the enactment of a very homophobic and dangerous law, inviting the Hungarian president to withdraw it.
