Vatican divorces from Italian law

[IndianaGreen]

Source: BBC News

Page last updated at 02:49 GMT, Friday, 2 January 2009

Vatican divorces from Italian law

By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

The Vatican City State, the world's smallest sovereign state, has decided to divorce itself from Italian law.

Vatican legal experts say there are too many laws in Italian civil and criminal codes, and that they frequently conflict with Church principles.

With effect from New Year's Day, the Pope has decided that the Vatican will no longer automatically adopt laws passed by the Italian parliament.

<snip>

The Vatican has also decided to scrutinise international treaties before deciding whether or not to adhere to them.

It has recently refused to approve a United Nations declaration decriminalising homosexuality.

The wording went too far, Vatican officials said, in placing different sexual orientations on the same level.

Some legal observers believe that the Vatican is simply trying to assert its legal independence in cases involving for example, civil unions, divorce, living wills, or euthanasia.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7807501.stm

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I think Italy should reclaim all of that prime Papal real estate.

[madeline_con]

1. The Catholic church is condoning this divorce? n/t

[Critters2]

8. It isn't a problem unless Italy tries to remarry. That'll require an annulment. nt

[Moonwalk]

12. They weren't married. The Vatican is against gay marriage.

:evilgrin:

[valerief]

2. But I thought the pederasts in flashy skirts didn't approve of divorce!

[tsuki]

7. They gave Newt a divorce. nt

[Warpy]

3. They're reasserting their position as the first estate

and immune from earthly law. It's why they promoted that piece of shit Cardinal Law to the Vatican instead of letting him face the music in the US.

The church has a long history of protecting itself from law and court.

[CatholicEdHead]

23. And continuing the trend of withdrawing from the outside world

with the new neo-retro movement. The only thing that matters is within the Church building walls to them, what matters in the outside world is more and more irrelevant. Most are scared of the outside world and like the current "yes-men" atmosphere that is currently at the Vatican. The Church is seen as separate of the world, not part of the world to them, a major change from past generations what worked with the Church in the world, not apart and detached from it.

[Idealism]

4. "When the Pope does it, [Divorce] it's not illegal"

[atreides1]

17. Exactly

Pope
Main article: papal infallibility
The doctrine of papal infallibility states that when the Pope teaches ex cathedra his teachings are infallible and irreformable. Such infallible papal decrees must be made by the Pope, in his role as leader of the whole Church, and they must be definitive decisions on matters of faith and morals which are binding on the whole Church. An infallible decree by a pope is often referred to as an ex cathedra statement. This type of infallibility falls under the authority of the sacred Magisterium.

This doctrine is held by the Catholic Church. It was definitively defined at the First Vatican Council in 1870, although belief in this doctrine pre-dated this council.

[berni_mccoy]

5. The Vatican is slowly making itself Irrelevant.

[MountainLaurel]

21. We can hope so

:party: :woohoo: :party:

[AnOhioan]

22. The Vatican is "aleady" irrelevant.

[Kittycat]

6. Now they can officially make child molestation not punishable by law.

[IndianaGreen]

11. You are right! The Vatican won't have to turn to the authorities any pedophile cleric

or an enabler of them, like Cardinal Law was.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Separation of Church and State . . . sounds good to me.

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. Peter Griffin has now moved into the Vatican-

In the episode "E Peterbus Unum," patriarch Peter Griffin secedes his property from the U.S. and briefly becomes an independent country complete with flag. It's a white field with the device of Peter Griffin's head with the letters PETORIA

[onehandle]

13. Vatican City is basically a country. They are not obligated to answer to Italy.

I'm surprised they didn't do this long ago.

[IndianaGreen]

14. Italy can always renege on the Lateran Treaty

when Mussolini recognized the Vatican as a sovereign country. The Vatican is run by males, they can't reproduce, they are not a country, and they hold prime real estate as well as property stolen from someone else.

[onehandle]

15. The odds of Italy lifting a finger over this are zero. nt

[acmavm]

16. The Catholic Church is nothing more than another General Electric or

AIG. It's a business that preys on the weakest and the poorest amongst us. The thought that it can chose what laws laws or treaties it wants to recognize is ridiculous. The Vatican has never advanced since the Middle Ages.

[undeterred]

18. Will they get an annulment?

[Zenlitened]

19. Well, it's been divorced from reality for quite a long time...

... so I guess this sort of makes sense, if only for the sake of consistency.

[lovuian]

20. I agree looks like the Pope wants his own city and his own rules

forget about the world....Italy should take the Vatican over

[Hugabear]

24. Kinda hard to bring back the Inquisition with those peksy laws and international treaties

Makes it so much easier to protect pedophiles and harass homosexuals when you make your own fucking laws.

[TankLV]

25. But we're still not allowed to cricicize the fucking NAZI pope here or his church on DU...

The fucking NAZI Pope spent his "christmas" by condemning Gays and comparing them to the worst scum on earth and a THREAT TO HUNANITY - but we're not allowed to criticize this - my posts on this were pulled and locked...

FUCK THE NAZI POPE and his fucking CATHOLIC CHURCH!!!!