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Vatican urges Italy to stop proposed anti-homophobia law
Source: The Guardian
Vatican urges Italy to stop proposed anti-homophobia law
Law calls into question church’s ‘freedom of organisation’ and threatens ‘freedom of thought’, letter claims
Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Tue 22 Jun 2021 14.11 BST
The Vatican has made an unprecedented intervention urging the Italian government to change a proposed law that would criminalise homophobia over concerns it will infringe upon the Catholic church’s “freedom of thought”.
A letter delivered by the British archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary of relations with states, said parts of the legislation violated a treaty made between Italy and the Catholic church in the 1920s that secured the freedoms and rights of the church, Corriere della Sera reported.
The move was confirmed on Tuesday by a Vatican spokesperson. “A note verbale from the secretary of state was informally delivered to Italy’s embassy to the Holy See on 17 June,” the spokesperson said, without revealing the contents of the letter.
The intervention has further stoked a fiery debate surrounding the law, designed to make violence and hate speech against LGBT people and disabled people, as well as misogyny, a crime, while further impeding efforts by supporters to get the bill passed.
The Vatican’s letter argued that the anti-homophobia law called into question the church’s “freedom of organisation” and threatened “freedom of thought” among Catholics, Corriere said, and also raised concerns that private schools would be forced to organise events as part of the creation of a national day against homophobia. “We ask that our concerns be accepted,” the letter reportedly concluded.
-snip-
Law calls into question church’s ‘freedom of organisation’ and threatens ‘freedom of thought’, letter claims
Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Tue 22 Jun 2021 14.11 BST
The Vatican has made an unprecedented intervention urging the Italian government to change a proposed law that would criminalise homophobia over concerns it will infringe upon the Catholic church’s “freedom of thought”.
A letter delivered by the British archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary of relations with states, said parts of the legislation violated a treaty made between Italy and the Catholic church in the 1920s that secured the freedoms and rights of the church, Corriere della Sera reported.
The move was confirmed on Tuesday by a Vatican spokesperson. “A note verbale from the secretary of state was informally delivered to Italy’s embassy to the Holy See on 17 June,” the spokesperson said, without revealing the contents of the letter.
The intervention has further stoked a fiery debate surrounding the law, designed to make violence and hate speech against LGBT people and disabled people, as well as misogyny, a crime, while further impeding efforts by supporters to get the bill passed.
The Vatican’s letter argued that the anti-homophobia law called into question the church’s “freedom of organisation” and threatened “freedom of thought” among Catholics, Corriere said, and also raised concerns that private schools would be forced to organise events as part of the creation of a national day against homophobia. “We ask that our concerns be accepted,” the letter reportedly concluded.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/22/vatican-urges-italy-to-stop-anti-homophobia-law
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“They’re worrying about being fined for hate speech.”
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