Voodoo rites and the crime of enslavement: a new judicial recognition of the cultural variable (note to Criminal Court of Cass., sect. I, 3 February 2022, no. 3796)

ABSTRACT: This contribution analyses the ways in which the Supreme Court dealt with a cultural element, that of the voodoo ritual, in a case of enslavement of some young Nigerian girls, forced into prostitution. Through a focus on the arguments that the judges of legitimacy use to attribute to this cultural variable a leading role in the compression of the personal freedom of the victims, it will be highlighted how the instrument of the anthropological expertise was important to bring out the network of meanings assumed by the ritual in the cultural perspective of the victims and to explicate its binding force. The attention given to the cultural context of the victims is interpreted here as symptomatic of an openness to cultural diversity, capable of providing effective protection and, for this very reason, a model that can also be replicated in other areas of the legal system, such as that of international protection. This point of view is explored through a brief analysis of some of the cultural contexts in which voodoo rituals are widespread and of their potential harm to constitutionally guaranteed rights, even outside of hypotheses strictly related to trafficking and prostitution.

SOMMARIO. 1. I fatti all’origine della sentenza - 2. La trattazione dell’elemento culturale da parte dei giudici - 3. La complessità del fenomeno vudù - 4. Dal diritto penale alla protezione internazionale: vudù, stregoneria ed effettività della tutela dei diritti fondamentali.

Islam and processes of radicalization: a criminological view

ABSTRACT: The process of radicalization of the so-called ‘third wave of jihad’, composed of children of immigrants who grew up at the margins of Western cities, is analysed. Radical Islam has offered such young people an ideology capable of recomposing their fragmented life stories, by making them fighters and martyrs in the West (homegrown fighters) or in the Caliphate (foreign fighters). The paper describes the models of radicalization processes of European jihadists, sketching the biographies of those who have joined the ‘holy war’. The reasons for such a choice are interpreted in light of criminological subcultural theories that move from normative and cultural conflicts and anomic frustration. The jihadist subculture is understood as a collective solution to the problems of adaptation in an exclusionary society, to transform the stigma into a sign of distinction.

SOMMARIO: 1. La radicalizzazione islamica come questione di sicurezza nazionale - 2. Definire la radicalizzazione tra ideologie estremiste e azioni violente - 3. Le fasi del processo di radicalizzazione in Europa - 4. La marginalità urbana e il jihad - 5. L’ideologia islamica radicale violenta come subcultura del riscatto.

Christian conception of history in Carl Schmitt’s Thought

ABSTRACT: The aim of this essay is to analyse the Christian conception of history in Carl Schmitt’s thought, already developed in his previous works, but again recalled and reworked in the 1950s, in order to hinder the technological drift of society. In particular, in outlining this new and different temporal horizon, Schmitt, on the one hand, recalled the solitary and prophetic intuitions of Donoso Cortés and, on the other, the mysterious figure of the katéchon, or rather, one of the most meaningful concepts of Schmitt’s theological-political Weltanschauung.

SOMMARIO: 1. Un nuovo e terrificante scenario - 2. Tramonto o rinascita dell’eone cristiano? - 3. Katéchon versus Éschaton.

Mutual Collaboration in the Service of the Human Person between the Catholic Church and States after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and the Villa Madama Agreements

ABSTRACT: The article examines the ways of expressing the sana cooperatio between the Holy See and the political community in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council and the Villa Madama Accords. It will focus on the its characteristic traits as emerging from the pontificates of John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis and then examine the instruments of cooperatio, in particular the role of the Secretariat of State, the papal nuncios and the concordats.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Chiesa e comunità politica all’epoca dei tre papi “stranieri” - 2.1 Giovanni Paolo II - 2.2 Benedetto XVI - 2.3 Francesco - 3. Gli strumenti della sana cooperatio.

The extraterritorial areas envisaged by the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See, Italy, and the Vatican City State

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the legal regime of the extraterritorial areas envisaged by the Lateran Treaty stipulated between the Holy See and Italy in 1929. These are buildings and functional areas for the best exercise of the Holy See’s own functions, forming part of the territory of the Italian State but enjoying the immunities proper to diplomatic headquarters. In recent decades, an expansive trend has been observed in Vatican legislation and jurisdiction concerning these areas, which the author highlights by emphasizing the discontinuity with respect to the past.

SOMMARIO - 1. Le aree extraterritoriali nel Trattato lateranense. La ratio dell’istituto - 2. Il concetto di extraterritorialità nell’ordinamento internazionale e nel Trattato lateranense - 3. Il complesso sistema di garanzie della Santa Sede nel Trattato lateranense - 4. Gli immobili e le aree soggette a regime di extraterritorialità - 5. Governo civile e legislazione applicabile nelle aree extraterritoriali - 6. L’esercizio della giurisdizione nelle aree extraterritoriali - 7. Giurisdizione penale vaticana e aree extraterritoriali nelle recenti riforme - 8. Giurisdizione ultraterritoriale vaticana e concorrenza di giurisdizioni - 9. Osservazioni conclusive.

Principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of religion in EU law and national approaches to the "neutrality" of the public employee 

ABSTRACT: For the first time, the Court of Justice of the European Union has been called upon to give a preliminary ruling on prohibition on wearing visible signs of political, philosophical or religious belief imposed by a public employer, from the perspective of the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of religion enshrine in the Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 (establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation). After a look at principles of State neutrality in France, Germany and Belgium, the paper examines this issue by taking a cue from the Conclusions presented by the Advocate General in case C‑148/22. According to the Author, national identity, to which Article 4(2) TEU refers, leaves in this particular sector a wide margin of discretion to the Member States.

SOMMARIO: 1. Notazioni introduttive - 2. La rivendicazione del diritto della dipendente comunale belga di indossare il velo islamico e l’oggetto della questione sollevata davanti alla Corte di giustizia - 3. Le peculiarità nelle declinazioni nazionali del principio di “neutralità” dei pubblici dipendenti di Francia, Belgio e Germania. La “neutralità esclusiva” francese - 4. (segue) Il caso emblematico della particolare posizione dei genitori che in Francia accompagnano i figli nelle gite scolastiche - 5. (segue) L’approccio tendenzialmente inclusivo della Germania - 6. (segue) Le incertezze interpretative riguardanti la neutralità belga - 7. La sostanziale “privatizzazione” della controversia operata dall’Avvocato generale - 8. Accezioni “forti” e “deboli” di neutralità del pubblico dipendente e il discutibile profilarsi di un loro diverso impatto sull’identità costituzionale degli Stati membri - 9. Una conclusione provvisoria.

A legal monster of the twentieth century: from technological warfare to its humanistic overcoming?

ABSTRACT: The Author attempts to reconsider the dispute that has opened between Russie and Ukraine in the light not only of the evident flagrance of an abrupt, illegitimate ‘punitive expedition’ by Moscow towards a key territory for the control of the Black Sea, but also in the context of the great game of a power confrontation, never really concluded, between the two military blocs, despite the agreements on nuclear desarmament stipulated between Reagan and Gorbachev in the constituent phase of an unprecedented Russian Federation, after the passage from the start of a troubled liquidation of the Stalinism to the announced overcoming of the blockade policy. A context, against which NATO’s failure to comply with the mutual commitment of the two parties to the complete cessation of mutual hostile conduct, prior to perestroika, seems full and flagrant. The essay recognizes in the event the clear failure of an apparent opening of trust towards the post-communist counterpart, internal to the substantial maintenance of an armed peace with a world to be kept for a long time in a sort of quarantine on the margins of “Western civilisation”, for an indefinite period and under the strict control of an internationalized military apparatus of exorbitant dimensions. A dead-end road, destined to produce even partial moments of exploitation of the repressive functions of the UN, rather than supporting its fundamental role of “saving future generations from the scourge of war”. To such a logic the A. tries to escape, in an attempt to bring the cooperation relationships laboriously woven into the fabric of international relation back to a framework of substantial good faith, from human subjects whose trust and honor always seem due, until rigorously proven otherwise; in the belief that progressive success can only come to these relations by restoring a framework that favours the basic ethical choices on the UN statute, as an indispensable background for constructive settling of potential situations of conflict of interest, which arise between member states in the course of their peaceful cooperation towards an orderly sharing of the planet’s resources.

SOMMARIO: 1. Preambolo - 2. La guerra ‘giusta’ in Occidente. Tra Tarda Antichità e Medioevo del diritto - 3. (segue) Evoluzione del problema nell’età dell’imperialismo - 4. Interrogativi sulla resistenza non violenta come verità più profonda sull’uomo - 5. (segue) Fra realismo politico e profezia del Regno (Mt. V, 38-48) - 6. Centralità della Croce: l’imitazione del processo a Gesù negli “Acta martyrum” - 7. (segue) Fede e ragione. Il doppio registro dell’economia salvifica - 8. Quadro sintetico dei residui ostacoli sulla via di un mondo diverso e solidale - 9. (segue) Sull’incompatibilità tra deterrenza e trattativa. L’ammonimento cinese - 10. Etica confuciana, diritto romano, diritto canonico. La Cina, oggi - 11. Dal ‘maschio alfa’ al giudice. Agli albori del divieto di vendetta privata - 12. (segue) Su un’Autorità addetta al controllo dell’aggressività interstatale - 13. Verso una nuova guerra ‘giusta’? Dubbi di fondo sulla nozione di aggressione - 14. Una NATO senza legge verso un gioco, di cui nessuno è responsabile? - 15 (segue) Sottrarre la neutralizzazione all’autonomia degli stati? - 16. È già irricevibile una tardiva ’actio finium regundorum’ sotto garanzia ONU? - 17. Quali altre vie per la missione di una ‘Russia eterna’, nella fraternità dei popoli? - 18 (segue) Quasi una conclusione.

The Supervision of the economic administration of the Roman Curia

ABSTRACT: This paper analyses the new system of supervision of the economic administration of the Roman Curia introduced by the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium. Then, it focuses on the role that has been recently assigned in this area to the ‘Istituto per le Opere di Religione’ (IOR) and on that of the Vatican penal jurisdiction, both of which constitute highly innovative elements.

SOMMARIO: 1. Le fonti normative della riforma - 2. Gli organismi di vigilanza - 3. Le plurime tipologie di vigilanza - 4. Analisi del nuovo sistema di vigilanza sull’amministrazione economica della Curia Romana - 5. Il ruolo peculiare dell’Istituto per le Opere di Religione - 6. La duplicazione del sistema di vigilanza tra Curia Romana e IOR - 7. Aspetti positivi del sistema e sue criticità - 8. Vigilanza canonica e supplenza della giurisdizione penale vaticana - 9. Osservazioni conclusive.

SOMMARIO - 1. Confessionale, laico o pluralista? La difficile classificazione di un modello sui generis - 2. Tra conflitto sociale e accomodamento politico - 3. Dal pluralismo religioso al pluralismo istituzionale. La questione del matrimonio civile.

Institutional loyalty, religious fidelity and moral integrity in a democracy

ABSTRACT: The deontological and contractualist ethical approach in support of democracy has limits because it does not respect personal moral autonomy. This does not allow the single person to be loyal to public institutions, faithful to religion and morally consistent. Therefore, a consequentialist approach to the rules is proposed.

SOMMARIO: 1. Democrazia e religione - 2. Laicità e libertà - 3. Ragione e morale.