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.
The “Church Mission” in the Concordats after the Vatican Council II
ABSTRACT: The Concordat Policy of the Holy Seat went through an unexpected development after the Vatican Council II. The agreements subscribed over the last decades have indeed engaged with lots of European Countries, and the range expanded to the African and Asia continent. The new geography designed to this agreements also matches with innovations in the structure and content of them. This essay aims to analyze this innovation and its strict connection with the documents of the Vatican Council II, enlightening how this has determined a more theological view of the objectives through which the freedom of the Catholic Church defines and details itself. While the concordats of the first half of the past century accompanied, followed and enlarged the trajectory of the Church rights towards spiritualization, this new phase is, indeed, characterized by a theological placement of the interests, whose freedom is indeed the object of the protections granted by the Concordats, which are briefly expressed by the lemma “Church Mission”, found in the first articles of the Concordats. This lemma, in the conciliar texts, is characterized not only by a theological dimension, but also by its direct connection with religious freedom.
Sommario: 1. Una premessa - 2. I precedenti e il contesto dottrinale - 3. I documenti conciliari - 4. La “missione della chiesa” negli accordi concordatari tra XX° e XXI° secolo - 5. Per qualche annotazione conclusiva.
Vatican geopolitics, political institutions and episcopal ordinations in the People's Republic of China. Reflections on State-Church Relations
ABSTRACT: The agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China, concluded in 2018 ad experimentum, has been extended until 31-12-2024.Relations between the Vatican and the Holy See do not follow a linear trend, due to the recurring attempts of some Chinese clergy-so-called patriot clergy-to accept appointments as Diocesan Ordinary without the mandate of the Holy See. In such cases, the relevant regulatory provisions entail excommunication latae sententiae. This contribution, analysing some historical precedents such as the struggle for the endowments and the separation of the constitutional clergy in the period of the French Revolution, proposes an interpretation of the events to understand the Holy See's attitude in the remission of the excommunication to the patriot bishops: the realisation that Catholicism was no longer a phenomenon limited to the European world. The centre of gravity of the Church's influence is irreversibly declining towards non-European areas.
SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Introduzione al tema - 3. Ius publicum ecclesiasticum sinicum - 4. L’accordo del 2018 tra Santa Sede e Repubblica Popolare Cinese - 5. Il primo quadriennio di applicazione. Riflessioni critiche - 6. Storia e controstoria - 7. Le radici medievali dei rapporti tra Chiesa e Stato: tra Gregorio VII ed Enrico IV - 8. L’età moderna. Le aperture del vescovo G.B. Chiaramonti per una 'democrazia cristiana'. Gli 'articoli organici' del periodo napoleonico - 9. Storia e modernità nelle relazioni tra Chiesa e Repubblica Popolare Cinese.
La segregazione etnico-religiosa nel sistema educativo in Irlanda del Nord *
Ethnic-religious segregation in the education system of Northern Ireland
ABSTRACT: After many years of conflict, Northern Ireland still appears today as a deeply divided society that bears the marks of centuries of ethnic hostility with a strong religious connotation. The context in which, more than any other, the segregationist tension between the two communities, Protestant and Catholic, is still clearly perceivable is the education system, which is characterized by a significant separation of students according to their religious affiliation. The paper aims at reconstructing the origins and outlining the focal points of such an education system, which was recently brought to the attention of the Northern Ireland Supreme Court, with reference to discrimination against students belonging to other religions or beliefs.
SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Le origini del conflitto politico-religioso - 3. Le persistenti difficoltà politiche e le ricadute sui rapporti interconfessionali - 4. La segregazione scolastica - 5. Profili di discriminazione religiosa nell’accesso alla scuola - 6. La discriminazione nell’insegnamento della religione: la recente pronuncia della High Court of Justice of Northern Ireland - 7. Conclusioni.
About mysterion tes anomias (2Tess, 2): nomos and human rights in the digital era
ABSTRACT: The paper is a thought starting from the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians by Paul The Apostle in order to analyze the current relevance of nomos as a conceptual instrument helpful to define and settle the juridical systems facing challenges of digital era.
SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. “È già in atto” - 2.1. “Il regno di senso della terra” - 2.2. La rinunzia papale - 2.3. La dissoluzione soteriologica - 3. La profezia schmittiana - 3.1. I Katechon - 4. Il triplice mistero - 5. Un mistero che illumina - 6. L’anomia - 6.1. “Il sistema-mondo” - 6.2. “Ennemos Christou” - 6.3. La volontà di potenza - 7. L’ambivalenza katechontica - 7.1. Il Papa emeritus - 8. La prova - 9. La visione nomica - 9.1 Il processo selettivo - 10. I diritti fondamentali dell’uomo - 10.1. L’inversione anomica - 11. La re-ontologizzazione del Digitale - 12. L’opzione di fondo.
ABSTRACT: The current article analyzes the inextricable and instrumental link between intangible religious heritage and tangible religious heritage. More specifically, UNESCO’s nomination processes are examined in order to investigate the evolution and the approach of national and global institutions to intangible religious heritage. Rituals, architectural techniques of constructions and several UNESCO’s nomination dossiers of religious towns are used to shed a light on problematic aspects. Among them, we should wonder if intangible religious heritage underwent a process of political “instrumentalization”, “scientificization” and “objectivization”: which are the consequences of this institutional activity?
SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. Intangible Heritage and Legal Framework - 3. The National Dimension of UNESCO’s Nomination Processes - 4. The Global Dimension of UNESCO’s Nomination Processes - 5. Intangible Religious Heritage and Criticalities: Is There a Political Instrumentality? - 6. Architectural Techniques of Construction: Uncharted Aspects and Legal Issues - 7. Architectural Techniques of Construction and UNESCO - 8. Rituals: Uncharted Aspects and Legal Issues - 9. Rituals and UNESCO - 10. Conclusions.
SOMMARIO: 1. Dalla bioetica alla biogiuridica. - 2. Etica e diritto. - 3. Profili di diritto ecclesiastico nella dimensione bioetica. - 4. Questioni bioetiche e valori costituzionali.
Juridical horizons of the bioethical dimension
Abstract: In his broad cultural, legal and academic experience, Giuseppe Dalla Torre has also dealt with issues relating to bioethics and biolaw. His thought contribution on the subject has proved to be of great scientific importance both because from a temporal point of view he was one of the first Italian jurists to take an interest in bioethics; and because he has indicated criteria and solutions that have profoundly crossed the dynamics characterizing the debate and studies of the bioethical phenomenon in Italy. The paper intends to testify to the continuing relevance of the fundamental contents of his teaching in the bioethical sector, highlighting that they have accompanied the evolution of Italian biolaw from the very first steps.
SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. The SMOM self-qualification as full member of the international community: critical notes - 3. The nature and scope of the international legal subjectivity of SMOM - 4. The non-relevance of the canonical status and the relationship with the Holy See for the international subjectivity of SMOM - 5. Conclusions.
ABSTRACT: The presence of the Order of Malta (acronym SMOM) on the international scene, because of its singularity, has been the subject of debate and discussion among scholars of international law as well as canon law. In fact, the SMOM’s juridical subjection to the Holy See because of its nature as a Catholic Religious Institute is a critical point under the traditional international legal theory that seems to be inconsistent with the Order’s international subjectivity. The aim of this study is to point out that, using a broad and modern notion of international subjectivity, there is no incompatibility between the canonical nature of the Order of Malta and its membership in the international community.
The Catholic Church and abuses in the reform of canonical criminal law: the still uncertain appeal of secular law
ABSTRACT: Sanctioning clergy abuse without denying the soul of canonical criminal law is a challenge that the Catholic Church has been confronted with for two decades now, ever since John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic Letter Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela in 2001 intending to combat this scourge. This process has recently resulted in the reform of Book VI of the Code of Canon Law. In investigating the new elements introduced by this reform, this contribution questions the relationship between canon law and secular criminal law.
SOMMARIO: 1. Sanzionare gli abusi senza rinnegare l’anima del diritto penale canonico - 2. Dagli scandali alla certezza della pena: nuovi principi a garanzia dell’effettività del diritto penale della Chiesa - 3. Le fattispecie: un’attenzione crescente per i diritti inviolabili della persona - 4. Sulla natura e la funzione dello ius Ecclesiae in dialogo con lo “ius civile”.
1 - Questo incontro mi offre l’opportunità di esprimere qui oggi, anche in qualità di allieva più anziana di una scuola nutrita, il profondo e sincero compiacimento per aver goduto della fortuna di poter attingere ininterrottamente, ormai da più di quarant'anni, a una sorgente tanto preziosa di conoscenza e di riflessione scientifica.
Proverò a sfruttare l’occasione di una coincidenza temporale del tutto casuale per evidenziare, in sintesi, uno dei principali meriti che sono stati nel tempo e sono ancora riconosciuti da più parti al professore Salvatore Berlingò e agli scritti raccolti nel volume di cui discutiamo.