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Concordat revision

NZPA-Reuter Rome The Roman Catholic Church will lose special privileges in Italy under official proposals for a sweeping reform of ChurchState relations.

The Prime Minister (Mr Andreotti) has announced that experts appointed by Italy and the Vatican have reached agreement on a drastic revision of the 1929 Concordat, or treaty, governing relations between Church and State.

He told the Chamber of Deputies that the Concordat would be rewritten and reduced from 45 to 14 articles. Under the draft reform the Roman Catholic Church will lose its legal status as Italy’s official religion, and will give up its special rights in marriage laws, religious education, and other privileges. The Concordat has long been criticised as out of date. It clashes with modem realities such as the introduction of divorce into Italy in 1970, and also contradicts the spirit of the 1962-65 Vatican Council which decreed that the Roman Catholic Church was prepared to renounce State privileges.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19761129.2.57.7

Bibliographic details

Press, 29 November 1976, Page 8

Word Count
157

Concordat revision Press, 29 November 1976, Page 8

Concordat revision Press, 29 November 1976, Page 8