About this site
This site was created with the intent of collecting and publishing alternative information – unlikely found elsewhere – regarding violations of civil rights, particularly those related to freedom of worship, thought and expression.
The Constitution of the Italian Republic – the first law of the State – sanctions and protects the fundamental rights of the citizen, often disregarded.
We are particularly referring to the rights and freedoms described at articles 3, 8, 19, 20 and 21 of the Constitutional Chart, all included in the fundamental principles and in title1, 1st part.
Article 3 – All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, personal and social conditions.
It is the duty of the Republic to remove those obstacles of an economic or social nature which constrain the freedom and equality of citizens, thereby impeding the full development of the human person and the effective participation of all workers in the political, economic and social organization of the country.
Article 8 – All religious denominations are equally free before the law.
Denominations other than Catholicism have the right to self-organization according to their own statutes, provided these do not conflict with Italian law. Their relations with the State are regulated by law, based on agreements with their respective representatives.
Article 18 – Citizens have the right to form associations freely and without authorization for those ends that are not forbidden by criminal law.
Secret associations and associations that, even indirectly, pursue political aims by means of organizations having a military character shall be forbidden.
Article 19 – Anyone is entitled to freely profess their religious belief in any form, individually or with others, and to promote them and celebrate rites in public or in private, provided they are not offensive to public morality.
Article 20 – No special limitation or tax burden may be imposed on the establishment, legal capacity or activities of any organization on the ground of its religious nature or its religious or confessional aims.
Article 21 – TAnyone has the right to freely express their thoughts in speech, writing, or any other form of communication.
The press may not be subjected to any authorization or censorship.
Seizure may be permitted only by judicial order stating the reason and only for offences expressly determined by the law on the press or in case of violation of the obligation to identify the persons responsible for such offences.
In such cases, when there is absolute urgency and timely intervention of the Judiciary is not possible, a periodical may be confiscated by the criminal police, which shall immediately and in no case later than 24 hours refer the matter to the Judiciary for validation. In default of such validation in the following 24 hours, the measure shall be revoked and considered null and void.
The law may introduce general provisions for the disclosure of financial sources of periodical publications.
Publications, performances, and other exhibits offensive to public morality shall be prohibited. Measures of preventive and repressive measure against such violations shall be established by law.
Over fifty years after the adoption of this Constitution, the above listed rights are far from being protected and respected, especially in terms of freedom of thought and worship. On the contrary, such rights are being regularly violated, often with the active participation or the connivance of State bodies.
The existing relation between the Italian State and the Catholic Church itself represents an institutionalized discrimination towards the non-Catholic religions.
The text of article 7 of the Constitution, apparently in alignment with articles 3 and 8, is contradicted by the Lateran Pacts which, at all effects, are laws made to measure for the Catholics, and not granted to other religions that have to “be contented” with the Treaties.
Article 7 – The State and the Catholic Church are independent and sovereign, each within its own sphere.
Their relation is regulated by the Lateran Pacts. Amendments to such Pacts which are accepted by both parties shall not require the procedure of constitutional amendments.
Last example, in order of time, certainly not the first and certainly not isolated, of interference of the State in terms of obstruction of these rights, occurred in 2006, with the establishment inside the Ministry of Interior of an “Anti-Cult Squad” (S.A.S.) that, making use of private citizens, what’s more not qualified, amongst whom even a Catholic priest – don Aldo Bonaiuto, put in place, at taxpayers’ expense, activities that cause useless alarmism and further discrimination towards non-Catholic religious groups, treacherously labeled as “destructive cults”, “plagiarizing cults”, “psycho-cults”, “secret cults”, and so forth.
Libero Credo