Church in the World

Catholic abstentions swing Italian poll

ITALY?s Catholic bishops, with the backing of the Pope, scored a decisive political and cultural victory last week when nearly three-quarters of the country?s eligible electors snubbed a referendum on assisted fertility and embryo research, thereby voiding the entire vote. The result was the culmination of a four-month campaign by the Italian episcopacy.

?74.1 per cent ? An adult Italy wins!? ran the headline across the masthead of Tuesday?s L?Avennire, the daily newspaper of the Italian bishops? conference (CEI). Those who backed the poll were stunned by their defeat and renewed their criticism of the bishops and the Vatican for meddling in politics. Only 25.9 per cent of voters actually went to the polls last Sunday and Monday, not even close to the 50 per cent-plus-one quorum required to validate the referendum. Few people had expected the quorum to be met, since it is a rarity among Italian referendums. But, with most commentators predicting a 35-40 per cent turnout, many were surprised at the number of people staying at home. According to a survey published on Tuesday in the daily Corriere della Sera, some 35 per cent of Italians abstained on moral grounds, with voter apathy acounting for another 39 per cent of abstentions.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, President of the CEI, said Catholics in Italy had never been more united than on this occasion, though he admitted that the referendum dealt with questions that were extremely technical for ordinary people.

Voters were asked to approve or reject four changes to the human fertility law, which was narrowly passed by the Italian parliament in February 2004. The legislation ? the most restrictive in Europe ? forbids sperm and egg donation, limits the number of embryos created with in vitro techniques to three, and bans all embryo research. One of the referendum clauses sought to change a part of the law that currently recognises the embryo to be a human life. Some groups claimed the bishops would use this provision to push for the abolition of abortion ? where the foetus is not equated with human life ? since the two laws would be contradictory. After the referendum failed, Cardinal Ruini denied that the bishops had this intention.

The Radical Party and most left-wing political groups supported the referendum. The CEI?s weekly news bulletin said the boycotted poll meant the end of these groups? ?hegemony? on the nation?s culture.

Cardinal Ruini drafted the bishops? abstentionist strategy in early January and pressed his fellow bishops to sign up to the initiative. Though several bishops voiced their discomfort with the plan privately, none of them opposed it publicly or at the CEI?s general assembly several days before the referendum. Reform-minded Catholic groups protested, arguing that bishops had no right to impose political choices on individual believers. They also objected to the aggressive methods the CEI employed such as bombarding public spaces with signs and posters urging people not to vote, and flooding many parishes and church institutions with similar pamphlets.

Many secular politicians and commentators were angered by the flagrant CEI ?abstentionist propaganda?, which priests and bishops are technically not allowed to spread. One leading analyst in the left-leaning La Repubblica said the concordat that regulates relations between the Church and Italy should now be scrapped, because the bishops were trying to impose religious beliefs on a secular state. Part of the accord ? first signed in 1929 and updated in 1984 ? guarantees the Church generous funding through the national tax system.

While people can designate their ?religion? tax for any denomination or religious group, nearly 60 per cent of Italians indicate no choice at all, thinking that their tax is retained by the state. However, the non-designated tax is divided proportionately among the country?s different religions, which means the Catholic Church, representing some 85 per cent of the population, gets the lion?s share.
Robert Mickens, Rome