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Chronology

Key dates of religious history

20 September 1870: The breach of Porta Pia and the Roman question (la questione romana).
11 February 1929: Lateral Pacts.
24 Lune 1929: The 1159 law on “admitted religions”.
1 January 1948: the republican Constitution entered into force establishing the following provisions:
 Article 2 that protects the inviolable rights of persons, both as individuals and as members of the social groups in which their personality finds expression;
 Article 3 guaranteeing equality before the law, which also implies respect for the diversities, including religious ones;
 Article 7 regulating the relationship between State and the Catholic Church;
 Article 8 stating that all religious denominations are equally free before the law;
 Article 19 affirming the right to freely profess religious beliefs in any form, individually or with others, and to promote them in public or in private.
 Article 20, according to which no special limitation or tax burden may be imposed on the establishment, legal capacity or activities of any organisation on the ground of its religious nature or its confessional aims.
18 February 1984: On the basis of Article 7.2 of the Italian constitution the Italian government and the Holy See signed the Villa Madama agreement, which was ratified by the Parliament with the 1985 law (No. 121).
21 February 1984: On the basis of Article 8.3 of the Italian Constitution, the Italian government signed the first intese (agreement) with the Waldensian Church. Since then, it has engaged other understandings following Article 8.3; eleven of which have been approved by the Parliament between then and 2020.
12 April 1989: The Italian Constitutional Court issued a decision (No. 203) stating that secularism (laicità) is one of the supreme principles of the Italian constitutional order (uno dei principi supremi dell’ordine costituzionale). This principle does not imply indifference towards religions, but it recognises a special status to denominations while affirming the equidistance and impartiality of the State. This principle expresses a positive attitude towards confessions, whose importance is also delineated through the principle and the method of bilateralism.
23 March 2016: The Italian Constitutional Court issued a decision (No. 52) stating that the government’s refusal to launch the negotiations for signing an intesa (understanding) with a minority religion is a political act, meaning it cannot be subject to judicial review.

D 15 February 2021    AFrancesco Alicino ASimona Attollino

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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