Church-State Crisis In Italy

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31728, 11 July 1968, Page 17

Church-State Crisis In Italy

(N.Z.PAReuter—Copyright) ROME, July 10. Mr Giovanni Leone’s interim ChristianDemocrat Government is facing a ChurchState crisis over the question of whether the Vatican owes taxes to Italy.

The minority Government which has barely got down to business yet is expected to squeeze through a crucial Parliamentary vote of confidence later this week. Apart from the Vatican tax

question, the Government is confronted by a promise from the Italian Communist Party of a long, hot summer of labour unrest.

Three major Italian unions joined on Monday in a call for a 24-hour strike tomorrow by all industrial and agricultural workers. Presenting his Government’s programme to Parliament last Friday, Mr Leone said the Vatican must pay taxes on its investments in Italy. What was more, he said, it must pay up the tax owing for the last four years while politicians argued over its claims for exemption. The tax question, along with divorce, is among the most potentially-explosive issues between the State and the Roman Catholic Church, and the Vatican has already indicated that it will not submit without a fight. The Vatican newspaper, “L’Osservatore Romano,” has condemned the move as “unilateral and contrary to the basic principles of international law.” It did not explain why. The Vatican has only 109 acres of sovereign territory, protected by agreements with Italy, but it owns vast areas of land and property in Italy itself and, if it wished to put its shares on the market, it could create economic chaos.

The Church has persistently refused to disclose the amount of its shareholdings, but the previous Government officially estimated them as equivalent to $NZ142,938,000.