Fifty years after the conference in which Law and Religion Scholars held a dialogue with Constitutional Scholars in Siena, central issues of that discussion are recalled, and those of a future debate are envisaged, with the hope that both disciplines might benefit from it.
Fifty years after the conference in which Law and Religion Scholars held a dialogue with Constitutional Scholars in Siena, central issues of that discussion are recalled, and those of a future debate are envisaged, with the hope that both disciplines might benefit from it.
About the Modification of the Choice to Attend or not Attend Teaching of Catholic Religion. A School Point of View
ABSTRACT: A recent judgement of the Judicial Administration has authorized the free modification of the choice to attend or not attend teaching of Catholic Religion in Italian schools, against the Concordat between Italian Republic and Holy See. The article discusses the judgement formally (highlighting a lack of jurisdiction) and on the substance (a confusion between a cultural and a cultic meaning of the teaching). In addition to institutional relations between State and Church, there are epistemological consequences on the nature of the same teaching.
SOMMARIO: 1. Attualità del problema - 2. La normativa sulle iscrizioni e la scelta di avvalersi o non avvalersi dell’insegnamento della religione cattolica (Irc) - 3. Il caso in giudizio - 4. Sul difetto di giurisdizione - 5. Le motivazioni della sentenza: il richiamo alla libertà di culto - 6. Un Irc culturale o cultuale? - 7. Un bilanciamento poco equilibrato - 8. L’Irc come disciplina scolastica - 9. In attesa di revisioni.
A leading guide for the new generations of Ecclesiastical and Canon Law scholars, the ones who got questions instead of offering answers
ABDTRACT: These brief notes just pretend to suggest some issues concerning a deepened anthology of essays written by an influential scholar, presented and collected by his colleagues of different approaches and generations. It definitely means to underline peculiar and still not completely explored issues in both Ecclesiastical and Canon Law: the liberty of conscience and the importance of religious freedom in defending fundamental human rights, the scientific purpose to investigate and analyse the still ongoing relevance of a renewed "Church" for a changing world. Rinaldo Bertolino's thoughts seem in this sense a gift to the youngest scholars, encouraging them to have more questions than answers.
It is lawful for the faithful to decide to no longer attend those who leave the religious community, and the announcement of the resignation to the faithful does not affect the rights of the resigning person
SOMMARIO: 1. Il fatto - 2. Il punto in diritto - 3. La decisione - Sulla lesività dell’annuncio - 4. La decisione - Sull’ostracismo che sarebbe derivato dall’annuncio - 5. Conclusioni - Appendice.
Abstract: A resigning member who declares that he no longer wishes to be a member of the religious organization but at the same time does not wish to cease his membership of the same confession, is not liable to compensation for psychological and economic damage following the ratification of his resignation and its communication to the local faithful. According to the court, a member's resignation (an associative aspect) corresponds on a confessional level to no longer being considered a member of the confession. Therefore, the damaging nature of the public announcement is excluded. The general principles of law legitimize the actions of the religious organization, which also has constitutional protection in that the internal life of the religious body is regulated by its statutes, as no state interference is admissible. So-called ostracism on the part of members has no legal relevance, since it is rather the free choice of each individual to associate with someone or not, and this right is neither punishable nor harmful. The religious organization that suggests ostracizing behavior does not violate any rights as such teaching falls within the sphere of the lawful. The religious organization that suggests supposedly ostracizing behavior does not violate any legal norms, nor does it harm the interests of those who decides to cease his membership.
SOMMARIO: 1. La nozione di ministro di culto nell’ordinamento italiano - 2. Origini storiche della figura civilistica del ministro di culto - 3. Principi ispiratori dell’attuale normativa sui ministri di culto - 4. La normativa sui ministri di culto: le fonti - 5. Disposizioni restrittive sui ministri di culto - 6. I ministri di culto nel diritto penale - 7. I ministri di culto nella legislazione pattizia - 8. Ministri di culto e giurisdizione confessionale, tra autonomia e tutela dei diritti - 9. Il sostentamento dei ministri di culto - 10. La remunerazione del ministro di culto: natura della prestazione e tutela giurisdizionale - 11. Le molteplici attività socialmente rilevanti dei ministri di culto - 12. Problemi, vecchi e nuovi, e prospettive di riforma - 13. Osservazioni conclusive.
The ministers of religion in Italian law
ABSTRACT: This contribution analyses the status of ministers of religion in the Italian legal system. It starts from a description of the historical foundations, which lies in Nineteenth-century liberal legislation, and arrives at a synthetic representation of the regulations currently in force in the unilateral State law and in the Concordat and Treaty legislation. The regulatory evolution, which is still in progress, describes the transition from a uniform and homogeneous concept of minister of religion, inspired by the Catholic priest and placed at the basis of a mostly restrictive legislation, to a more articulate and comprehensive one, reflecting the growing confessional pluralism of Italian society and the assertion of the right to religious freedom. This new approach represents the premise for a legislation that increasingly aims at protecting and promoting the status and the manifold activities of ministers of religion, particularly in the context of the strong enhancement of the Welfare State and of the Third sector. Finally, the article focuses on some problematic issues of the current legislation and on the apparent paradox that, in the face of a more favorable State legislation, nowadays the status of the minister of religion, and in particular that of the Catholic priest - who still represents the main reference for Italy’s legislation - is undergoing a strong identity crisis in the ecclesial order, thus posing a series of problems also for society at large.
SOMMARIO - 1. L’ente ecclesiastico: una figura soggettiva complessa - 2. Il diritto speciale nella disciplina dell’ente ecclesiastico - 3. La specialità derivante dal carattere bilaterale della normativa sugli enti: il caso emblematico della responsabilità amministrativa derivante da reato - 4. L’espansione del diritto comune nella disciplina dell’ente ecclesiastico - 5. La specialità di regime degli enti ecclesiastici nell’evoluzione dell’ordinamento - 6. Diritto speciale e diritto comune nella riforma del Terzo settore.
Ecclesiastical bodies between special rules and general law
ABSTRACT: This contribution examines the relationship between special law rules of a treaty nature and general law in the Italian discipline of civilly recognized ecclesiastical bodies, in particular those of the Catholic Church, which still represents most part of these entities. This aspect is examined with respect to the latest regulatory evolution, in particular the reform of the Third sector, which tends to confirm the duplicity of regime of ecclesiastical bodies. It also highlights the growing attention and protection of the normative peculiarities of this category of legal entities by the State legislator.
SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. La circolare misteriosa - 3. Sulla presunta “forza normativa” di una circolare - 4. Vedere il proprio nome su una tomba: un problema “giuridicamente irrilevante”? - 5. Il sonno della ragione genera mostri.
About the ‘scarlet letter’: A ‘legally irrelevant’ problem? Some considerations
ABSTRACT: The contribution, stimulated by a rebuttal article, delves into the issue of the unsolicited burial of foetuses; it reconstructs the research work on the Cattin Circular, which founds the moral duty of such burial. The Circular cannot be found at the Ministry of Health itself.
SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. The temporal goods of the Church and the principle of subsidiarity - 3. The notion of common goods in Italy - 4. Some practical cases of ecclesiastical heritage as common goods in Italy- 5. A comparative perspective with Belgium: the strategic plans for the future of churches in Flanders - 6. Future perspectives and conclusions.
ABSTRACT: According to recent studies, there are about 600,000 places of worship and several thousands of monasteries and convents in Europe. The process of secularization, the decrease and displacement of the population, the reduction of vocations to the sacred life can be held responsible for the redundancy of the assets of the Catholic Church. These buildings represent an impressive heritage of faith, work and creativity of the communities which made them over the centuries. Most of them are considered as “cultural heritage” by the legislation of the European States, because of their historical, cultural and artistic values. Up to now, the main solution to this phenomenon has consisted in the alienation of these properties. However, the selling and the disposal of these goods by ecclesiastical bodies cannot always be the only and preferable solution. Drawing from the analysis of some case studies in Italy, this paper aims to investigate the role of civil society participation in the regeneration process and the possibility of applying “collaboration pacts” for the management of “common goods”. In the light of the European scope of the phenomenon, a comparison is proposed in line with the legal instrument of “strategic plans”, drawn up by the diocesan bishop and local authorities in Flanders (Belgium).
SOMMARIO: 1. Osservazioni introduttive circa la disciplina degli enti religiosi alla luce del codice del Terzo settore - 2. Cenni al binomio sport-religione - 3. Il caso del Centro Sportivo Italiano (CSI) - 4. Brevi considerazioni conclusive alla luce del documento “Dare il meglio di sé”.
Religious inspired sports bodies. The ‘Centro Sportivo Italiano’ case.
ABSTRACT: After an overview and highlighting of the most recent changes introduced to the Code of the Third Sector and of the wide range of interplay and frictions between religion and sport, from a legal perspective, the contribution focuses on the religious inspired sports bodies. Among these, the paper discusses the case of the Centro Sportivo Italiano and examines its statutes and association pact that outline the Catholic religious orientation. The essay ends by considering the 2018 document “Giving the best of yourself” of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, which can be described as the first real Catholic manifesto on the Catholic perspective on sport and human person.