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.
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.
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.
The long road after WWII until today (1944-2023): from the reinstatement of the rights denied to Jews victim of the racist laws of fascist Italy to recovering the Memory of the Holocaust to fight against prejudice and antisemitism
ABSTRACT: This paper who served as a basis of the author’s speech at the official remembrance of the Holocaust at the residence of the President of the Republic of Italy (Quirinale palace) on 27 January 2023 examines the various phases of this process. First from 1944 to the mid-1980 the key element is the enactment of more that 90 pieces of legislation abrogating the antisemitic laws of 1938-45 and granting some compensation to the victims. In a second phase (until the end of the XX century) Judaism is recognized as religious entity with parity of rights as compared with the Catholic Church (the Agreement - “Intesa” - between the Italian State and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities of 1987) thus empowering Judaism in Italy to be an active and distinct contributor to Italy’s society. In that period the “Mancino law” of 1993 enacts criminal provisions to fight racism in Italy more effectively. The last phase from 2000 until to-day, witnesses, after the official recognition of the “Holocaust Remembrance Day” each 27 January (“Giorno della Memoria”) witnesses an engagement of Italian institutions to fight antisemitism through education and cultural initiatives.
SOMMARIO: 1. La reintegrazione nei diritti negati: un processo lungo e faticoso (1944-1987) - 2. Dal completamento del disegno costituzionale con l’intesa tra Stato e Comunità ebraiche (1987-89) alla repressione del razzismo con la “legge Mancino” (1993) - 3. La riflessione sulla Shoah quale insegnamento per l’oggi: il Giorno della Memoria (2000) - 4. La strategia europea contro le discriminazioni e l’antisemitismo: protezione ed educazione - 5. La strategia e le iniziative italiane - 6. In conclusione.
Emergency contraception with EllaOne, an over-the-counter drug dispensed without a prescription
SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Contraccezione di emergenza e libertà di coscienza: profili generali - 3. La determina del Direttore generale dell’AIFA dell’8 ottobre 2020 che ha eliminato l’obbligo della prescrizione medica per la dispensazione e vendita anche alle minorenni dell’Upristal acetato (EllaOne) - 4. Prima il TAR del Lazio e poi il Consiglio di Stato respingono il ricorso presentato da un gruppo di Associazioni impegnate nella difesa della vita ritenendo che l’azione di EllaOne sia quello di interferire l’ovulazione senza esercitare alcun effetto incapacitante l’annidamento dell’ovulo fecondato - 5. La contraccezione di emergenza esula davvero dal perimetro dell’atto medico? Una discutibilissima forzatura che spegne gli effetti del principio-guida del consenso informato quando la donna è minorenne - 6. Conclusioni.
ABSTRACT: The Author, starting from the decision of the Director General of AIFA of 8 October 2020 who liberalized the dispensation to the public of EllaOne, comments on the recent sentence of the Council of State which rejected the appeal presented by some associations for its annulment. And he criticizes the contents, highlighting the incompleteness of the scientific reconstruction regarding the effects of emergency hormonal contraceptives and the danger of the choice to alienate the dispensing of over-the-counter drugs from the general rules of health treatment. Especially in the case of minor women whose sexual and reproductive health requires not abandoning them but really taking charge of them without medicalising their choices.
The Tragic Choices during the Covid Health Emergency: When the Resources are Limited, Who Should be Cured First among Several Patients? A Comparative Law Analysis
SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. L’approccio italiano: le raccomandazioni di etica clinica della SIAARTI e le linee guida SIAARTI-SIMLA - 3. La gestione della scarsità di risorse sanitarie a livello comparato - 4. Considerazioni (finali) comparatistiche - 5. Uno sguardo verso il futuro.
ABSTRACT: During the Covid-19 health emergency, a situation of scarcity of resources of different nature, albeit all somehow connected with the “medical world” (e.g. nurses and doctors), dramatically unfolded. This organisational “catch-22” induced the SIAARTI (the Italian Medical Society) to issue some recommendations of clinical ethics. The last ones turn out to be the subject matter of multiple criticisms: given the potential criteria of allocation of resources, one of those adopted the chronological one. Starting from this reflection, the paper discusses and analyses, from a comparative perspective, the approach taken by further countries: in this respect the demarcation lines existing between the Italian responses to the pandemic and those coming from other European - but not EU, namely Switzerland and the United Kingdom - countries will be highlighted.
SOMMARIO: 1. Sempre a proposito dell’art. 7 d.p.r. n. 285 del 1990 - 2. Un recente caso locale - 3. Una nuova frontiera del “classico”? Citare un testo che non esiste - 4. Qualche precisazione in materia di circolari - 5. Conclusione.
The sleep of argumentation produces (legal) monsters
ABSTRACT: This writing is intended to reply to certain allegations concerning the burial of aborted foetuses in the absence of the mother’s consent. A recent local news case is also reported. In addition, some theoretical and practical aspects of the legal instrument of the circular are clarified.
Papers presented at the panel "The spatial ramifications of religion: new and traditional legal challenges " held at the Annual Conference 2022 of EuARe (European Academy of Religion), which took place in Bologna from 20th to 23rd June 2022 and was organised by FSCIRE.
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.