Agreement between Italy and the Church of England

The Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has been working on a new bill to become a law, regarding an agreement between Italy and the Church of England that has been agreed with the reverend Vickie Lela Sims.

This news reflects on the fact that new migration flows in Italy practice new religions. The growing number of non catholic ceremonies confirms the need of issuing different functions by legal personalities.

“The Government – according to the “interior ministry” – doesn’t give legal significance to appointing clerical authorities for spiritual processes nor prioritizes fulfilling religious services. His only interest is allowing the priests to implement in the rite legal acts such as religious marriages appliable by the civil law.

Non Catholic Marriages from a legal perspective.

The marriage celebrated at the presence of a non Catholic priest follows the same rules as when it is issued in front of an officer during a civil marriage, exception being made when it is established by a special law regarding specific marriages cases. In recent years, the Italian Government has arranged with different denominations and religions, according to the article number 8 of the Italian Constitution.

The non Catholic marriage doesn’t state a tertium genus compared with the civil marriage; it is indeed similar to a civil marriage but with the difference consisting in being celebrated by a non Catholic priest, which acts as a civil registrar.

The non Catholic priest so far has to be an Italian citizen and his religious activity has to be authorized by a civil registrar and the “Interior Ministry”. According to this new agreement, permission will be not required by institutions anymore, with the only constraint being the issue of a certificate confirming mutual consent -article 143, 144, 147 about the rights of the future spouses (getting during the celebration signatures from your officiant and marriage license witnesses and stating in front of them that you want to get married).

All the rest of the conditions regarding the marriage such as; the minimal requirement to get married and voidability or unenforceability of legal acts, will be endorsed as it is in the case of civil marriages.

Ph Interior Ministry Licence CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 IT: Tuesday 30 July 2019, Palazzo Chigi, reverend Vickie Lela Sims and the prime minister Giuseppe Conte striking a deal.

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