Campaigners pushing for a limit on the Vatican's political influence will hit the streets of London today, in a march coordinated with protests in Rome. A 'No Vat' demonstration will take to the streets of the Italian capital, given impetus by the Vatican's involvement in an Italian controversy over a father who wanted to remove the feeding tubes of his brain damaged daughter this week.
Eluana Englaro, the 38-year-old Italian woman who spent 17 years in a permanent vegetative state, died just after 20:00 on Monday night, quickly ending efforts by prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to implement a law which would have made the termination of her force-feeding illegal.
The case threw the Vatican's highly-conservative hierarchy into action, with many Catholic activists threatening clinics who were supposed to supervise the last stages of her life while politicians worked behind the scenes to stop the procedure – all against her father's wishes.
"This situation has brought Vatican bullying and influence into sharp focus," said Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association (BHA), which supports today's march.
"In recent months we've also seen the Vatican refusing to endorse a UN resolution calling for decriminalisation of homosexuality, a move widely condemned as lending credence to states which execute people for the 'crime' of being gay'."
The Vatican has observer status at the UN and concordats with many EU member states.
Gay rights groups OutRage! and the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association are also supporting the march, which will begin at the Natural History Museum before making its way to the Italian embassy.
It is the first 'London for a Secular Europe' to be held in the UK.
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(Source: PCUK)