Vatican Splits Off From Italian Law

Vatican will no longer rubber stamp Italian laws before adopting them
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 2, 2009 1:59 AM CST
Vatican Splits Off From Italian Law
Pope Benedict XVI has decreed a historic split from Italy by announcing the Vatican will no longer automatically endorse Italian law.   (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

The Vatican is getting a divorce from Italian law. The Pope has decreed his city-state within Rome will no longer automatically endorse Italian legislation, but will scrutinize bills for conflicts with Roman Catholic doctrine before adopting them. It's the first time the Vatican has distanced itself from Italy's laws—and treaties—since it became an independent state in 1929. The Vatican recently refused to approve a United Nations declaration decriminalizing homosexuality.

Italian laws are too numerous, too confusing and too often conflict with Catholic doctrine on issues such as civil unions, divorce, living wills and euthanasia, a Vatican lawyer said recently.  An Italian minister has conceded that Italian laws are often difficult to understand. The government is currently culling thousands of obsolete laws from its books.
(More Vatican City stories.)

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