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Catholic Church, Young People, and Human Rights in Italy

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Religion and Human Rights

Abstract

The Catholic Church is said to still have a strong and influential role regarding social and political issues of today’s Italy. It is therefore relevant to present their official position on some human rights issues to understand the Italian debate about human rights and, through a focus on young Italians’ opinions, also its possible future.

This contribution addresses more specifically two questions: (1) what is the official position of the Catholic Church in Italy on labor rights, immigrants’ rights, reproductive rights and LGBT rights? and (2) what are young Italian people’s views on these same rights?

Firstly, this article suggests that the church champions labor rights and immigrants’ rights whilst opposing various reproductive rights and the recognition of same-sex couples. The second question is answered with reference to a number of surveys regarding young Italians’ views on human rights’ issues. The data reveal that young respondents believe that the right to work is a key human right but is not satisfactorily upheld in today’s Italy, and that they do not consider immigrants’ rights as the most important human rights. However, Italian young people support assisted reproductive technologies and are the only population segment to endorse legal recognition for same-sex couples.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Here the cardinal remarkably calls for respect of the migrants’ human dignity together with respect of the dignity of human embryos.

  2. 2.

    In Italy there is no recognition of civil partnerships, this means that not only homosexual but also heterosexual non-married couples have no legal recognition of their status.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Apulian Theological Faculty, Bari, Italy

    Francesco Zaccaria

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  1. Francesco Zaccaria
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Correspondence to Francesco Zaccaria .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Practical Theology, Würzburg, Germany

    Hans-Georg Ziebertz

  2. Hrvatsko katolicko sveuciliste, Zagreb, Croatia

    Gordan Črpić

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Zaccaria, F. (2015). Catholic Church, Young People, and Human Rights in Italy. In: Ziebertz, HG., Črpić, G. (eds) Religion and Human Rights. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09731-2_7

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