State-religion relations
The Ministry of Interior is responsible for entertaining relations with both Roman Catholic Church and other religions’ bodies and ensures the compliance with the principles of the Italian Constitution that guarantee equal treatment of persons irrespective of religion.
Relation between State and religions
Relations between State and Catholic Church, governed by constitutional principles, are regulated by a legislation arising from a number of agreements and carry out the task of regulating matters originally governed by canon law according to civil law.
Article 7 of the Constitution provides that ‘The State and the Catholic Church are, each within its proper order, independent and sovereign’ and their relations are regulated by legal provisions based on agreements, which explains the extraordinary nature of these rules as opposed to ordinary ones.
The Ministry of the Interior fulfils the sensitive task of regulating matters originally governed by canon law according to civil law, thereby mediating between the interests of different legal systems, each designed to meet different standards, rules and needs. This activity virtually consists in granting legal status to Church bodies.
Non-Catholic religions
The Constitution provides that religious denominations are equally free before the law and have the right to organize themselves according to their own by laws. Their relation with the State is regulated by a legislation based on agreements with their representatives. The right to religious practice allows Italian citizens, foreign nationals and stateless people to freely disseminate and exercise one’s own faith, provided that rituals are not contrary to public morality.
This role is becoming increasingly important in a context of proliferating new religions, massive migrations and social transformation of our country since the ‘60s. It should be underlined that over the past few years a strong interest in religions other than Catholic has emerged, as is testified, among others, by the high number of students who apply to the Ministry staff for an interview or for an exchange of opinion in view of drafting their degree thesis. Some researchers also apply for access to archive documents offering them useful tips and hints for developing their researches.
For new religions emerging in Italy, the set of rules on ‘admitted faiths’ adopted in 1929, later modified by some Constitutional Court rulings, still apply. As to the confessions having entered into an ad hoc agreement with the State, i.e. the ‘intesa’ (accord) envisaged by the former article 8, paragraph 3, of the Constitution, the above legislation is replaced by the rules implementing these agreements in our legal system.
