Rome - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi hopes to defuse a row with the Roman Catholic Church over a draft bill granting rights to homosexual couples during a meeting Monday with top officials from the Holy See.The afternoon meeting marks the yearly anniversary of the signing of the 1929 Lateran Pacts, which regulated dealings between the two sovereign states, and their subsequent revision, in 1984.
Relations between Prodi's centre-left government and the church hierarchy have been severely strained by a recent decision to grant new rights to de facto couples, including those of the same sex.
The 'rights of cohabiting people,' or 'DICO' bill, was inspired by France's 'civil pacts of solidarity' and was drafted in a special cabinet meeting held on February 8. It must now be submitted to parliament for approval.
Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly warned Catholic lawmakers against adopting legislation that may threaten the traditional family, dismissing civil unions as 'pseudo-matrimony.'
A poll published on Monday by Corriere della Sera suggests Italians are split down the middle over the issue, with 45 per cent of respondents expressing support for DICOs, compared to 47 per cent of those against.
Speaking ahead of Monday's meeting, Prodi defended DICOs by saying they were designed to grant some form of protection to some of the weakest groups in society.
'We want dialogue and cooperation (with the Vatican) on the most important problems facing us, including the family and our bill draft,' Prodi told state television RAI.
Prodi was expected to hold talks with a Vatican delegation headed by the Vatican's Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and the head of the Italian Bishops Conference Cardinal Camillo Ruini.
Prodi Tries to Close Rift With Vatican Over Same-Sex Unions
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi met late yesterday with the Vatican's top diplomat to try to end the Catholic Church's public attacks on proposed legislation that paves the way for same-sex unions.
``The Italian state's relationship with the Holy See has been strengthened by these talks,'' Prodi's office said in an e- mailed statement.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini on Jan. 22 attacked a government plan to permit both homosexual couples and unmarried heterosexual couples to share benefits such as residency, pension and health care. Ruini said the proposed measure represented a first step toward gay marriage, which the Vatican opposes. Prodi's government on Feb. 8 sent the bill to parliament.
The legislation's passage is threatened because Prodi's ally and Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, who is the head of a Catholic party, has vowed to vote against it. His three votes in the Senate could sink the bill, where Prodi counts on honorary life-appointed Senators to pass any laws.
``We will conduct a dialogue'' with the Vatican ``on the theme of the family and about the bill that we proposed that protects the weakest categories of our society,'' Prodi said before the meeting, referring to the bill giving rights to unmarried couples.
Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State at the Vatican, said after meeting with Prodi that the two sides had ``clarified their respective positions'' on the proposed legislation.
Regardless of Sexuality
The bill probably will be voted on in the Senate, where the premier's majority is just one vote, before the Chamber of Deputies, and debate may begin as early as next week.
The draft law would permit couples who have lived together for a set number of years to register their union, regardless of their sexuality. Most rights, including transferring a lease, will require three years of co-habitation. Others like hospital visitation rights have no time limit, while couples need to have been together nine years to pass on an inheritance.
Pressure to introduce a gay-rights measure comes from an alliance that includes the Radical Party, which rejects the Catholic Church's influence on politics and lawmaking, and the Refounded Communist Party, one of whose members is the first transsexual in Italy's parliament.
Two-thirds of Italians favor legalization of de facto couples, regardless of sexual orientation, Rome-based research institute Eurispes said in its 2007 annual report released Jan. 26. Among practicing Catholics, 45 percent are against, a separate poll by SWG Srl showed.
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