Italian homophobia bill will ‘be used to persecute the Church’

HILARY WHITE lifesitenews.com "The Italian Senate is again considering the “Mancino law,” a bill that proposes to criminalize 'homophobia,'... On Saturday, a large rally was held in Rome against the bill organized by the recently formed Manif Pour Tous Italia, a civil liberties association that is concerned that such laws curtail human rights, rather than defending them. Opponents have been vocal in their concerns that the bill will threaten Article 21 in the Italian constitution that guarantees freedom of thought and opinion and the safeguards of the natural family in Articles 29, 30 and 32 that specify that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, whith degrees in secular law and theology and the head of the Rome office of Human Life International attended the rally and spoke about it to LifeSiteNews.com. He said that the threat of the law is two-fold. First, the bill will “make a crime of homophobia,” which he said is defined so broadly in the legislation that it can be used as a weapon against anyone the homosexual movement dislikes. But second, Msgr. Barreiro said, it is intended to smooth the way forward for the imposition of “gay marriage” or civil union legislation that is already in the works. The bill has been approved by the lower chamber of Italy’s parliament and Barreiro said, 'there is a serious risk that it will pass.' Simply put, he said, the law will likely 'be used to persecute the Church, priests who say homosexuality is a vice.'" to read more: lifesitenews.com