Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa has warned Italy not to liberalise
its restrictive laws on issues such as embryonic research, euthanasia
and gay marriage just to keep pace with the rest of Europe.Cardinal Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), told fellow bishops on Monday that the country - which will elect a new Government in three weeks' time - should continue to defend the so-called "non-negotiable" moral and social principles the hierarchy has championed.
"It's amazing to hear that plans are under way to move away from [such principles] as a necessary step to ‘enter' fully into the advanced Europe," the cardinal said.
But he said this would further move Italy towards "nihilist secularism" and would mark an "anthropological and social U-turn".