Italy - Religion
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respected this right in practice. There is no state religion; however, an accord between the Roman Catholic Church and the government gives the Catholic Church certain privileges. For example, it may select Catholic religion teachers, whose earnings were paid by the government. In accordance with the law, government had understandings with organizations representing non Catholic religions pursuant to accords that allow the government to give them support (including financial); some non Catholic confessions have such accords.
The country has an area of 116,347 square miles and a population of 59.6 million. An estimated 87 percent of native-born citizens are Roman Catholic, but only 20 percent regularly participate in worship services. Members of non-Catholic Christian groups, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Baha'i Faith adherents, and Buddhists constitute less than 5 percent of the population. Significant Christian communities include Christian Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, Assembly of God, the Confederation of Methodist and Waldensian Churches, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and other small Protestant groups.
Immigration--both legal and illegal--continued to add large groups of non-Christian residents, mainly Muslims, from North Africa, South Asia, Albania, and the Middle East. According to an independent research center in 2008, 1.3 million immigrants were Christian Orthodox, 1.25 million Muslim, 0.14 million Protestant, and 0.1 million Hindu or Buddhist.
The Ministry of the Interior reported that there are 258 places of worship for Muslims (mainly "garage" mosques) concentrated in the regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Lazio, Emilia Romagna, and Tuscany. The Jewish community is estimated at 30,000 and maintains synagogues in 21 cities.
The Government recognizes the Holy See as a sovereign authority. The revised concordat of 1984 accords the Catholic Church certain privileges regarding instruction in public schools. For example, the Church is allowed to select Catholic teachers, paid by the state, to provide instruction in "hour of religion" courses taught in the public schools. Such courses are optional, and students who do not wish to attend are free to study other subjects or, in certain cases, to leave school early. While in the past this instruction involved Catholic priests teaching catechism, church-selected instructors may now be either lay or religious, and their instruction is intended to include material relevant to non-Catholic religious groups. Problems may arise in small communities where information about other religious groups and the number of non-Catholics is limited. The Constitution prohibits state support for private schools; however, the law provides tax breaks for parents with dependents in private schools.
Under the 1984 revision of the concordat with the Catholic Church, the state is secular but maintains the practice of state support for religion, which also could be extended, if requested, to non-Catholic confessions. In such cases, state support is to be governed by legislation implementing the provisions of an intesa (accord) between the Government and the religious group.
An intesa grants clergy automatic access to state hospitals, prisons, and military barracks; allows for civil registry of religious marriages; facilitates special religious practices regarding funerals; and exempts students from school attendance on religious holidays. If a religious community so requests, an intesa may provide for state routing of funds, through a voluntary check-off on taxpayer returns, to that community. The absence of an intesa does not affect a religious group's ability to worship freely; however, the privileges granted by an intesa are not always granted automatically, and a religious community without an intesa does not benefit financially from the voluntary check-off on taxpayer returns.
In April 2007 authorities signed accords with several others, including the Buddhist Union, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, the Apostolic Church, the Orthodox Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate, and the Hindu community. These accords were submitted to parliament for ratification, but no action was taken by the end of the year. Divisions among the country's Muslim organizations, as well as the large number of Muslim immigrant groups, hindered the Muslim community's efforts to conclude an accord with the government, although some Muslims attributed the lack of an accord to a lack of political will.
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