Saturday, February 17, 2007

Il Papa Told To Back Off By Politicians (Rome)

Prominent Catholic leaders in Italy fired back at the Vatican on Thursday to stop interfering in politics -- particularly with the civil partnership bill that passed Prime Minister Romano Prodi's Cabinet last week and is now going through Italy's lower house.

On Monday, Pope Benedict XVI dubbed the bill "subversive" and has consistently pressured Catholic politicians to defeat the measure.

Former Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, a highly regarded Catholic, hit back at the pope Thursday, saying that defeating the measure would compromise political integrity.

"Should such an intervention take place . . . it would destroy the freedom and dignity of Catholic lawmakers in parliament," he told Italian newspaper La Republica.

A coalition of Catholic intellectuals also sent an open letter to the Vatican on Thursday, criticizing its constant involvement in the country's political arena. The letter strongly advised the Vatican to respect Italy as a secular nation.

La Repubblica also published a poll showing that 80 percent of Italians support the civil partnership legislation.

The conservative party's leader, Silvio Berlusconi, however, has aligned himself with the Vatican and pledged to defeat the bill.

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