Council of Italian Ministers Confirms Law Recognizing Juridical Rights of Jewish Religion and Commun

The Council of Ministers has confirmed the law introduced in the Italian Chamber of Deputies last May by the Minister of Justice, Signor Rocco, providing for the recognition of the juridical rights of non-Catholic cults, a law made necessary by the Treaty and Concordat between the Holy See and Italian state by which Catholicism became the state religion. The law defines the regulations in connection with the legalization of the Jewish and Protestant communities, their supervision by the government and the appointments of religious heads.

According to the law Jewish clericals conducting marriage ceremonies and those exercising their duties chiefly among Italians must be Italian citizens, which means that a person who is not an Italian citizen cannot exercise the functions of a rabbi. The Protestant clergy are not restricted as to Italian citizenship because they function chiefly among non-Italians. While Italian Jewry is dissatisfied with the regulations governing marriage, divorce and education, they realize that the law which compels membership in the Jewish community will be a strong preventative against assimilation.

As a result of this new law and the Concordat, Italy is today the only country in the world where the Jews find it more difficult to obtain a divorce, or rather an annulment, than a Catholic. Whereas annulment effected by the ecclesiastical court is valid, the rabbinical court is not entitled to annul the marriage of a Jew, even on similar grounds. A Jew is able to obtain annulment of marriage only from a civil tribunal which is much harsher. This creates not merely a difference in jurisdiction, but a difference in the treatment of Catholics and of Jews, the canonic law sanctioning annulment in such cases which the civil law does not admit.

Italy under the Concordat recognizes as valid a marriage ceremony performed by a Catholic priest, officiating on behalf of the Catholic Church and deriving his authority from the Canon law. A rabbi, however, performs the marriage ceremony only as a deputy representing the state, carrying out this function in accordance with the civil code. This difference in status makes itself evident when the question of divorce or annulment arises. As the legal situation stands today, neither the Canon nor the civil law allow divorce. The only way open for dissolution of marriage is annulment.

In order to mitigate the situation, the rabbinate approached the government in order to determine whether the canonic law could not be applied to the Jewish community. This step, unprecedented in Jewish history, met with a negative response. In this direction it is pertinent to note that Catholic newspapers and spokesmen repeatedly pointed out that the change in the status of the Jewish community from that of a “tolerated” to a “recognized” community makes little difference, indicating that the position of the Jewish religion in Italy has not been essentially improved.

Much more difficult is the situation with regard to education. Prior to the adoption of the Concordat the state schools were secular and the Jewish children were therefore able to attend them without involving a religious question. Even before the Concordat, Professor Gentile, Fascist Minister of Education, had carried out in 1923 an education reform law that transformed the schools into Catholic confessional institutions. Article III of the Gentile law states that the teaching of Christian doctrine according to the Catholic religion should be the basis and aim of elementary educational stages.

Article 36 of the Concordat creates even greater difficulties for the Jews. It reads that “Italy considers the teaching of Christian doctrine, according to the form handed down by Catholic tradition, as the foundation and capstone of public education. Therefore, Italy agrees that the religious instruction now given in the public elementary school shall be further developed in the secondary schools according to a program to be agreed upon by the Holy See and the State. This instruction is to be given by teachers and professors who are priests or religious approved by ecclesiastical authority and who will be aided by lay teachers and professors holding for this purpose proper certificates of fitness and capacity, these certificates to be issued by the diocesan Bishop.”

As a result of this article Jewish parents, by sending their children to state schools, lend their hand to proselytization for the problem has not been changed by the exemption of the Jewish children from periods of religious study as the entire school system is saturated with Catholicism.

The situation in Italy is of historic significance. Whereas only a decade ago the question of establishing Jewish schools in Italy would have been regarded as absurd, today the Jewish Community has officially and repeatedly approached the government on this matter. The Jewish community feels that unless Jewish schools are established the Jewish children will be driven to conversion.

Establishing Jewish schools has different meaning in Italy from that in Poland or Lithuania where the question of the Jewish language is the main basis for such a demand. Jewish schools in Italy mean Italian schools but with Jewish religious instruction. Repeated efforts have been made by the Jewish community to obtain from the government measures which would remedy the situation, but they have met with no success. The government has also refused the request of the Jewish community to grant a subsidy to Jewish schools. There is , for example a Jewish school in Rome which has been established by the community and which follows the ordinary educational program prescribed by the government but substitutes Jewish religious instruction for Catholic.