Article 1 of the Albertine Statute identified Catholicism as the single religion of state but declared that other existing confessions were tolerated in conformance with the laws.[1] This declaration led rapidly to the opening of the ghettoes and the emancipation of the Waldensians. Toleration was limited however: Article 28, while declaring that there should be a free press, stated specifically that Bibles, catechisms, liturgies and prayer books could not be printed without episcopal permission; religious propaganda was also prohibited by the state.[2] Nevertheless, in the years leading up to the unification of Italy the Kingdom of Sardinia was more tolerant than other states on the peninsula: in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany the practice of religions other than Catholicism was punishable by imprisonment or exile.[2]
The Kingdom of Italy inherited in effect the Piedmontese-Sardinian constitution and on 18 March 1871 a major advance in religious freedom in the country was made by an order of the day introduced by the liberal reformist Pasquale Stanislao Mancini which established that all religions should be treated equally.[2]
The Fascist period was marked by the Concordat between the state and the Catholic Church, known as the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Other Christian denominations and other religions, however, faced renewed repression. In 1935 the Pentecostals were declared prejudicial to the integrity of the race. Salvationists and Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as the Pentecostals were liable to imprisonment or exile while other minority Christian groups faced notable restrictions.[2] Although antisemitism was not embedded in Italian Fascism from the start, in order to please his ally Adolf Hitler, in the late 1930s Benito Mussolini approved the Italian Racial Laws. In the latter stages of World War II, in particular during the period of the Italian Social Republic and of German occupation of much of the peninsula, many Jews, as well as non-Jew political dissidents and even Catholic priests, were deported to the Nazi death camps.
The 1947 Constitution of the Italian Republic enshrined religious freedoms in passages including the following:
All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinction of […], religion [….] (Article 3)
All religious confessions are equally free before the law. (Article 8)
All have the right to profess freely their own religious faith in whatever form […], provided that the rites are not contrary to morality. (Article 19)
Various laws enacted during the Fascist period remained in force, however, and a number of trials took place involving Pentecostals and Jehovah's Witnesses. This changed in 1955 with the advent of the Constitutional Court which abolished or modified legislation on relevant matters which it found inconsistent with the constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.[2]
In 1984, following a revised accord with the Vatican, Catholicism lost its status as the official religion of the Italian state[3] and Italy became a secular state.
Controversy however remains, particularly abroad, over certain Fascist-era laws about crucifixes that are still in force and that have not been declared unconstitutional. In 2009 the European Court of Human Rights, in a case brought by an Italian mother who wanted her children to have a secular education, ruled against the display of crucifixes in the classrooms of Italian state schools. It found that 'The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities… restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions' and that it restricted the 'right of children to believe or not to believe'.[3] This ruling was in marked contrast with the position of the Italian courts that had ruled in 2005 that crucifixes were allowed to be present in polling stations and, in 2006, that display of crucifixes in state schools was allowed on the basis that the crucifix symbolised core Italian social values.[4]
Italy guarantees full freedom of religion, but the Catholic Church holds influence on several political parties. The fact that the Catholic Church has influence on political parties is object of debate among those who favour the independence of politics and in particular among those whose views on divorce, abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriages are opposed to Christian ethics and in particular to Catholic doctrine.[citation needed]
Usage of Catholic symbolism (especially crosses) in courts and schools has been contested by minorities, but was ruled legal; some contend that this is in violation of the principles of religious freedom outlined in the Constitution of Italy.[citation needed]
In 2023, the country was scored 4 out of 4 for religious freedom.[7]
See also
Eight per thousand - the law through which Italian taxpayers allocate 0.8% ('eight per thousand') of their income taxes to legally recognised religions or to the State.
↑ 'La Religione Cattolica, Apostolica e Romana è la sola Religione dello Stato. Gli altri culti ora esistenti sono tollerati conformemente alle leggi.' Article 1 of the Statuto albertino. Full text of the Statuto from Wikisource.
The Lateran Treaty was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel III and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle the long-standing Roman Question. The treaty and associated pacts were named after the Lateran Palace where they were signed on 11 February 1929, and the Italian parliament ratified them on 7 June 1929. The treaty recognized Vatican City as an independent state under the sovereignty of the Holy See. The Italian government also agreed to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States. In 1948, the Lateran Treaty was recognized in the Constitution of Italy as regulating the relations between the state and the Catholic Church. The treaty was significantly revised in 1984, ending the status of Catholicism as the sole state religion.
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular state and to disestablishment, the changing of an existing, formal relationship between the church and the state. Although the concept is older, the exact phrase "separation of church and state" is derived from "wall of separation between church and state", a term coined by Thomas Jefferson. The concept was promoted by Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke.
In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion and its varied aspects: its beliefs, doctrines, rituals, customs, rites, and personal roles. In Western and secular culture, religious education implies a type of education which is largely separate from academia, and which (generally) regards religious belief as a fundamental tenet and operating modality, as well as a prerequisite for attendance.
A state religion is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion, while not a secular state, is not necessarily a theocracy. State religions are official or government-sanctioned establishments of a religion, but the state does not need to be under the control of the clergy, nor is the state-sanctioned religion necessarily under the control of the state.
The relations between the Catholic Church and the state have been constantly evolving with various forms of government, some of them controversial in retrospect. In its history, the Church has had to deal with various concepts and systems of governance, from the Roman Empire to the medieval divine right of kings, from nineteenth- and twentieth-century concepts of democracy and pluralism to the appearance of left- and right-wing dictatorial regimes. The Second Vatican Council's decree Dignitatis humanae stated that religious freedom is a civil right that should be recognized in constitutional law.
Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". Historically, most incidents and writings pertaining to toleration involve the status of minority and dissenting viewpoints in relation to a dominant state religion. However, religion is also sociological, and the practice of toleration has always had a political aspect as well.
An edict of toleration is a declaration, made by a government or ruler, and states that members of a given religion will not suffer religious persecution for engaging in their traditions' practices. Edicts may imply tacit acceptance of a state religion.
The predominant religion in Brazil is Christianity, with Catholicism being its largest denomination.
Clerical fascism is an ideology that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with clericalism. The term has been used to describe organizations and movements that combine religious elements with fascism, receive support from religious organizations which espouse sympathy for fascism, or fascist regimes in which clergy play a leading role. It is a Christian form of the more general concept of Theofascism, where religious ideology is combined with Theocracy.
Christianity is the most widely professed religion in Argentina, with Roman Catholicism being its largest denomination. This historical background is very much due to the Spanish influence brought about through the newly conquered territories. However, affiliation with Protestant churches is increasing and immigration throughout the 20th century has brought other religions from various regions to Argentina.
Anti-Protestantism is bias, hatred or distrust against some or all branches of Protestantism and/or its followers, especially when amplified in legal, political, ethic or military measures.
La Civiltà Cattolica is a periodical published by the Jesuits in Rome, Italy. It has been published continuously since 1850 and is among the oldest of Catholic Italian periodicals. All of the journal's articles are the collective responsibility of the entire "college" of the magazine's writers even if published under a single author's name. It is the only one to be directly revised by the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and to receive its approval before being published.
Religion in Italy has been historically characterized by the dominance of Catholicism since the Great Schism. According to a 2023 Ipsos survey, 61% of the country's residents are Catholic, 4% are Protestants, 3% other Christians, 28% are irreligious, 2% prefer not to say, 1% are Muslims, and 1% adhere to other religions. Italy's Catholic patron saints are Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena.
Religion in Switzerland is predominantly Christianity. According to the national survey of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, in 2020, Christians accounted for 61.2% of the resident population, of whom 33.8% were Catholics, 21.8% were Swiss Protestants, and 5.6% were followers of other Christian denominations. The proportion of Christians has declined significantly since 1980, when they constituted about 94% of the population; during the same timespan, unaffiliated Swiss residents have grown from about 4% to 31% of the population, and people professing non-Christian religions have grown from about 1% to 7% of the population. In 2020, according to church registers, 35.2% of the resident population were registered members of the country's Catholic Church, while 23.3% were registered members of the Protestant Church of Switzerland.
When it comes to religion, the Ecuadorian society is relatively homogeneous, with Christianity being the primary religion. Catholicism is the main Christian denomination in the country. There are also minorities of other religions.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Costa Rica, with Protestantism being its largest denomination. Catholicism is also the state religion, but the government generally upholds people's religious freedom in practice.
The predominant religion in Honduras is Christianity, with Catholicism and Evangelicalism being its main denominations. The country is secular and the freedom of religion is enshrined in the nation's constitution.
The status of religious freedom in South America varies from country to country. States can differ based on whether or not they guarantee equal treatment under law for followers of different religions, whether they establish a state religion, the extent to which religious organizations operating within the country are policed, and the extent to which religious law is used as a basis for the country's legal code.
Freedom of religion in Slovakia refers to the extent to which people in Slovakia are freely able to practice their religious beliefs, taking into account both government policies and societal attitudes toward religious groups.
Freedom of religion in Ukraine refers to the extent to which people in Ukraine are freely able to practice their religious beliefs, taking into account both government policies and societal attitudes toward religious groups.
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