Two laws that would liberalize government treatment of religious minorities in Italy, bringing practices into line with principles already set down in the country’s new constitution, have been introduced in the Chamber of Deputies. A group of members of the Republican, Social-Democratic and Socialist Parties is backing both measures.
One draft would abrogate the old law on “Admitted Cults,” which was adopted in 1929, when Mussolini framed his Concordat regulating relations between the state and the Vatican. Under the new measure, a special agreement, or “Small Concordat, ” would be drawn up to regulate relationships between the state and religious minorities in the same manner as the government’s relationship with the Catholic Church.
The second law would remove many restrictions affecting religious minorities who. now, must have special permits for meetings in public places. The old law, restricting freedom of assembly, also dates back to the prewar Fascist regime.
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