The tourist encounters Catholicism in Italy through churches and museums tangible relics of a once theocratic state. The resident meets Catholicism in the headlines of free news magazines snatched before boarding the metro.
To the Italian citizen, practicing Catholic or not, religion exists not in its historic identity as reigning legal authority but in its current conflict with the standing democratic structures of state. While it's true that news stories chronicle the pope's travels and statements (his figure is forever in the global magnifying lens), far more frequently does the pope make news when Catholic dogma and government opinions find uncommon ground.
The latest instance of contention parallels the Terry Schaivo case that obsessed the US media in 2005 (a legal battle over whether a woman in a vegetative state ought to be kept on life support). Though Pope John Paul II's insistence that medical professionals sustain patients in vegetative conditions was cited by those who sought to preserve Ms. Schaivo's life, the legal conflict ultimately was between various members of Terry's family, not a religious order and state institutions.
The case that currently holds the attention of Italians concerns a similar debate over bioethical practice. The complexity of church-state relations throughout Italy's history have rendered such a battle over bioethics requiring of a far more tenacious navigation than such a case elsewhere. In Italy, the consequence of a state-run healthcare system has positioned the state in the role of arbiter in the right-to-die case of comatose Eluana Englaro. Though euthanasia is illegal in Italy, the courts declared the suspension of nourishment permissible in Englaro's case. However, Prime Minister Berlusconi, with the backing of Catholic priests and politicians, issued a decree blocking such action—which President Napolitano censured and refused to legitimate with his signature. Though the Catholic Church was not a named player in the legal dispute, Pope Benedict XVI's disapproval of the Italian Courts ruling granting Englaro the right to die was voiced and given political muscle through Berlusconi. The blurring of ethical and legal lines within the domain of politics continues to provoke criticism by hardline politicians who contend that such intrusion of church opinion in political decisions, even through leading state figures, undermines Italy's democratic identity.
The question of morality's place in politics is the principal vestige of Italy's former domination by the Catholic Church. After the Lateran Accords of 1929, which established Catholicism as Italy's official religion and founded Vatican City, the Catholic Church and the political arm of the state ceased to profess or exert influence on one another. It is essential to note, though, that the spirit of the Accords intended to liberate the Catholic Church from pressures levied by the Italian government, not to divorce spirituality and its normative ethical trappings from the civic lives of Italians. For this reason, the guidance of Catholic teaching for decades held sway. Only with the push for liberalization that characterized the mid-twentieth century—and brought the legalization of divorce and abortion in the 1970s—did a visible rift between Catholic creed and civic life emerge. However, aside from legal rights that grew as much out of feminist movements as a slow abandonment of Catholic allegiances, there are few pronounced demarcations between legitimate democratic practice and the sphere over which religion still exercises a controlling hand.
The relation between Vatican City and democratic Italy is nebulous indeed; the Lateran Accords articulated on paper a separation that in practice has proven incomplete—and at times obstinately so. Regardless of its degree of political potency, Catholicism in today's Italy is not confined to museum halls and centuries-old basilicas; it confronts every citizen with continued relevancy.
The latest instance of contention parallels the Terry Schaivo case that obsessed the US media in 2005 (a legal battle over whether a woman in a vegetative state ought to be kept on life support). Though Pope John Paul II's insistence that medical professionals sustain patients in vegetative conditions was cited by those who sought to preserve Ms. Schaivo's life, the legal conflict ultimately was between various members of Terry's family, not a religious order and state institutions.
The case that currently holds the attention of Italians concerns a similar debate over bioethical practice. The complexity of church-state relations throughout Italy's history have rendered such a battle over bioethics requiring of a far more tenacious navigation than such a case elsewhere. In Italy, the consequence of a state-run healthcare system has positioned the state in the role of arbiter in the right-to-die case of comatose Eluana Englaro. Though euthanasia is illegal in Italy, the courts declared the suspension of nourishment permissible in Englaro's case. However, Prime Minister Berlusconi, with the backing of Catholic priests and politicians, issued a decree blocking such action—which President Napolitano censured and refused to legitimate with his signature. Though the Catholic Church was not a named player in the legal dispute, Pope Benedict XVI's disapproval of the Italian Courts ruling granting Englaro the right to die was voiced and given political muscle through Berlusconi. The blurring of ethical and legal lines within the domain of politics continues to provoke criticism by hardline politicians who contend that such intrusion of church opinion in political decisions, even through leading state figures, undermines Italy's democratic identity.
The question of morality's place in politics is the principal vestige of Italy's former domination by the Catholic Church. After the Lateran Accords of 1929, which established Catholicism as Italy's official religion and founded Vatican City, the Catholic Church and the political arm of the state ceased to profess or exert influence on one another. It is essential to note, though, that the spirit of the Accords intended to liberate the Catholic Church from pressures levied by the Italian government, not to divorce spirituality and its normative ethical trappings from the civic lives of Italians. For this reason, the guidance of Catholic teaching for decades held sway. Only with the push for liberalization that characterized the mid-twentieth century—and brought the legalization of divorce and abortion in the 1970s—did a visible rift between Catholic creed and civic life emerge. However, aside from legal rights that grew as much out of feminist movements as a slow abandonment of Catholic allegiances, there are few pronounced demarcations between legitimate democratic practice and the sphere over which religion still exercises a controlling hand.
The relation between Vatican City and democratic Italy is nebulous indeed; the Lateran Accords articulated on paper a separation that in practice has proven incomplete—and at times obstinately so. Regardless of its degree of political potency, Catholicism in today's Italy is not confined to museum halls and centuries-old basilicas; it confronts every citizen with continued relevancy.
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