“If it’s a concern for the Holy See, it is certainly a concern for each of us,” said Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Vatican Office for Laity, Family and Life, when asked about the letter at a press conference on Tuesday. “And a concern that we naturally agree with.”
An official at the Vatican State Secretariat said the letter was not detailed but referred to an article in the Lateran Treaty that clearly assured the church of religious freedom in the practice and teaching of its beliefs. He said the proposed law, if passed that way, would trample on those rights.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not empowered to discuss the contents of the letter, said that while the Vatican had frequently sent such letters after laws were passed, in this case it had decided early on during to intervene in the legislative process, to try to stop it. According to the official, the Vatican saw itself in its rights to do this in view of the terms of the contract.
According to the Vatican’s interpretation of the law, only admitting men to the priesthood, restricting marriage to one man and woman, and refusing to teach gender theory in Catholic schools would be viewed as discriminatory and a crime. When asked why the Vatican has not intervened so heavily in other countries that have passed similar laws, the official said the proposed law, as far as the Vatican understood, went further than elsewhere.
The letter addressed to the Italian government affirmed that in the long tradition and teaching of the Church, differences between the sexes are critical and that recognition of these differences is not discrimination but part of their belief system. He added that the treaty guarantees that the church has the right to practice and teach this difference in Italy.
On November 4, the Italian Lower House of Parliament approved a bill to add anti-LGBT motives to an existing law, making discrimination, violence or incitement based on a person’s race or religion a criminal offense punishable by up to four years in prison can be. In order to increase awareness and sensitivity of the issue, the law also provides for a national day to raise awareness of the dangers of anti-LGBT violence, including in schools.
Most Western European democracies have implemented similar laws, but in Italy their passage in the Senate met with opposition from Catholic associations, right-wing politicians and even some feminist groups.
