The one morality

“Human life, the family and marriage are no less important than peace, non-violence and justice”, since “they form part of the one morality that has as its horizon a full and shared humanism”, declare the Italian bishops in the final communiqué of the permanent episcopal Council (Rome, 22-25 January), published on 30 January. Turning their attention to the international situation, following the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the EU, the bishops call for “more suitable rules to ensure the effective and harmonious” integration of the continent, and express their concerns about Iraq and Afghanistan, their closeness to the Lebanese population and their solidarity with the Catholics of the Holy Land and the Middle East. At the same time “the attention of the Italian Church” to the countries of Africa “remains high”. The bishops also express their apprehensions “about the nuclear experiments conducted by North Korea” and “about the assassination in Moscow of the journalist Anna Politovskaia”. They also express “deep gratitude to the Holy Father for his participation in the National Congress of the Italian Church in Verona” last October, dedicated to the theme of Christian hope, and “deep admiration” for the way in which he conducted “his mission in Turkey”. THE MAIN EVENTS IN THE COMING YEAR. The main point on the agenda of the meeting of the permanent Council was the choice of the theme for the 57th General Assembly (21-25 May 2007), identified in mission work. “Wide and deep reflection – the communiqué continues – was also devoted to the Congress in Verona with a view to the approval of a pastoral statement of the Italian episcopate on the pastoral guidelines to offer to the local Churches”. During the meeting the bishops also reviewed the activities conducted over the last decade by the Committee for charitable interventions in aid of the Third World: they noted that some 920 million euros had been disbursed for 9,158 projects and for the humanitarian relief of various emergencies. As for youth, the bishops were informed of the forthcoming pilgrimage-meeting at Lourdes (1-2 September), which the Pope is also expected to attend. In view of the 45th Social Week of Italian Catholics (Pistoia-Pisa, 18-21 October), the bishops announced various preparatory meetings, and the publication of an aid for reflection next week. Ancona has been chosen as the venue for the 25th National Eucharistic Congress planned for 2011. THE “GREAT VALUES”. Underlining the Church’s right “to affirm and defend the great values”, the Italian bishops re-affirm that “the family founded on monogamous marriage between persons of different sex” remains paramount. Other forms of cohabitation cannot in any way be granted parity with it, nor can they be accorded legal recognition as such”. As for heterosexual cohabitation, the bishops say that “current jurisprudence is sufficient for the protection of the rights” of such couples and “there is therefore no reason to create a new legislative model for the purpose, which inevitably would give such cohabitation a status similar to marriage, in which rights would not be complemented with equivalent duties”. Turning to the question of euthanasia, and in particular the so-called “anticipated declaration of treatment” currently being examined by Parliament, the bishops reaffirm “their rejection of euthanasia and also of over-zealous treatment”, but this rejection – the bishops stress – “cannot be used to legitimate more or less covert forms of euthanasia and in particular the therapeutic abandonment that deprives the patient of the necessary support for life through alimentation and hydration”. CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS: SUPERFLUOUS LAW. The permanent Council of the Italian bishops – says the communiqué – did not “raise at all” the question of a possible referendum on so-called civil partnerships (or “pacs”). Replying to journalists during the press conference held at Vatican Radio on 30 January, Msgr. Giuseppe Betori, general secretary of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, explained that “at the present time we have no plans of this kind; we must first examine the bill. We don’t know what is the attitude of the Catholic world to it”. As for the possible role of the Italian Church as a “dam” to impede any law that failed to “satisfy” the bishops’ requests in terms of de facto partnerships, Betori explained that such a role “could be performed in various ways”. “We would first have to see what is approved”, he said. “Certainly we would not be able to remain passive”, he added. To the question how the Church could evaluate a law on “civil partnerships”, he replied that any such law would be “superfluous” because “it would result in creating a facsimile of marriage, with equal or almost equal rights, but without the same duties”. “Indeed – he added – this new juridical subject would very probably lead, due to the principle of non-discrimination applied for example in Holland, to the subsequent recognition of other rights typical of the family, to the point of causing de facto the subversion of the very concept of the family at the social and cultural level”.