Vatican casts adrift from Italian law
The Vatican has announced that it will no longer automatically adopt laws passed by the Italian Parliament. The move came into effect at the start of January and ends a treaty between the pope and Italian law makers which has endured for 80 years.
Concern has been growing in Vatican circles that too many laws in the Italian civil and criminal code conflicted with the Church’s principles. The Vatican City State, the smallest sovereign state in the world, will now consider laws passed by parliament on an individual basis before adopting them as their own.
The decision also applies to international treaties and follows its recent refusal to approve a UN declaration advocating the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
