Vatican protests bill on homophobia

[Matthew]

Vatican protests against 'unprecedented' Italian bill on homophobia https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57570467

 

We’ll see how this works out for them!

 

 

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[califlorican]

I don’t understand what they’re upset about. As far as I read, the bill just means that violence due to homophobia would now be classified as a hate crime. Does anyone else know what the Vatican would find issue with? Those laws already exist in a lot of countries, right? 

[Shawnster]

The news article in the above link outlined the Vatican's objections.

 

Quote

 

The Vatican believes it would violate the Lateran Treaty, signed by the two in 1929, which recognised Vatican City as an independent state.

 

According to Il Corriere newspaper, the Church has objected to Catholic schools not being exempted from a proposed national day against homophobia and transphobia, to be held on 17 May.

 

It has also expressed concern that Catholics could face legal action for expressing their opinions on LGBT issues.

 

So, the Vatican is concerned that Catholic Churches and institutions would be forced to condone homosexuality.  They feel that the law will be interpreted to prevent even the teaching or expressing the opinion that homosexuality is wrong.

 

This article from a Catholic website goes into further detail https://catholicreview.org/vatican-expresses-concern-about-proposed-italian-law-on-homophobia/

Quote

 

The Vatican note, Corriere said, asserted that aspects of the proposed law could violate the formal treaty between Italy and the Holy See, originally signed in 1929 and updated in 1984, which guarantees to the church “freedom of organization, public exercise of worship, exercise of the magisterium and the episcopal ministry” and the freedom of Catholics to gather and to share their opinions and beliefs “by word, writing and any other means of dissemination.”

 

The note, the newspaper said, expressed concern that under the law as currently drafted the church and individual Catholics could risk being taken to court for upholding church teaching on the creation of human beings as man and woman, on sexuality, marriage and parenthood.

 

Corriere also said the Vatican is concerned that no exemption is allowed for Catholic schools in the draft bill’s mandate that schools participate in the May 17 celebration of a national day against homophobia, with educational activities aimed at “promoting a culture of respect and inclusion and fighting prejudices” against gay and transgender persons.

 

The leadership of the Italian bishops’ conference published a statement April 26 saying it supported every effort to recognize the full dignity of every human person;  “however, a law that intends to combat discrimination cannot and must not pursue the goal with intolerance, questioning the reality of the difference between men and women.”