Free to become martyrs? The right to refuse medical treatment on religious grounds in a comparative perspective

This study focuses on the right of patients to refuse medical treatments on religious grounds and on the (supposed) right to the parents to refuse medical treatments on behalf of their children, emphasizing the links and connections between the freedom of religion, the right to self-determination and the right to refuse medical treatment based on religious motivations. After a comparison between the norms devoted to rule the exercise of these rights in the English (and Welsh) and Italian legal systems, the article suggests that the approach of medical staff towards a Refusal of Medical Treatment on Religious Grounds ought to start an intercultural process. This process ought to be a cross-cultural dialogue devoted not only to translate medical language in a language which can be fully understood by the patient, but also to create a reciprocal comprehension between the (mainstream) ethnocultural communication codes and instances of the staff and the (nondominant) ethnocultural (and religious) communication codes and instances of the patient (or of his/her parents)

Churches and Federal State in Europe: the paradigm of Germany and Switzerland

Facing a renewed role of religion in the public square, we can say that Germany and Switzerland are facing off a “positive secularism“ which implies, for the State legal system and for its institutions, the respect of religious facts, having its embodiment in the neutral and pluralistic acceptation of cultural differences and aiming at shaping their coexistence and the construction of their meaning. Positive secularism implies that the factual presence of religious confessions in the civil society is an essential condition to the positive start of a process of "secularisation of secularism", implying first of all the overcoming of political hegemony on every dimension of human experience - thing to which any thought open to the hypothesis of transcendence can effectively contribute. According to this concept, the secularism of a democratic State must free itself more and more from any ideological assumption, in order to open to cultural and religious pluralism and to let this pluralism become an instrument of promotion of the development of a person. For this reason, the State ruled by positive secularism cannot be completely indifferent to the religious phenomenon - even if it guarantees the free practice of religion by individuals - and only qualify confessions as simple expressions of the associative autonomy of private citizens

Free to become martyrs? The right to refuse medical treatment on religious grounds in a comparative perspective

Article peer reviewedSUMMARY: 1. Aim of the study - 2. Defining medical treatment- 3. Treatment, consent and “religious grounds” - 4. The right to express one’s religion and medical consent - 5. The legitimate limitations on the right to refuse a treatment on religious grounds - 6. Capacity to refuse a treatment - 7. The genuineness of consent - 8. Refusal and children’s best interest – 9. Conclusive remarks. ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the right of patients to refuse medical treatments on religious grounds and on the (supposed) right to the parents to refuse medical treatments on behalf of their children, emphasizing the links and connections between the freedom of religion, the right to self-determination and the right to refuse medical treatment based on religious motivations. After a comparison between the norms devoted to rule the exercise of these rights in the English (and Welsh) and Italian legal systems, the article suggests that the approach of medical staff towards a Refusal of Medical Treatment on Religious Grounds ought to start an intercultural process. This process ought to be a cross-cultural dialogue devoted not only to translate medical language in a language which can be fully understood by the patient, but also to create a reciprocal comprehension between the (mainstream) ethnocultural communication codes and instances of the staff and the (nondominant) ethnocultural (and religious) communication codes and instances of the patient (or of his/her parents)

Churches and Federal State in Europe: the paradigm of Germany and Switzerland

English alternate version of the paper “Libertà religiosa e federalismo in Europa: i precedenti della Repubblica Federale di Germania e della Confederazione elvetica” presented at the 2010 Meeting of ADEC (Associazione dei docenti di diritto ecclesiastico e canonico) that will be published on the review “Il Diritto ecclesiastico”. I want to thank Prof. Enrico Vitali – director of “Il Diritto ecclesiastico” - for the authorization to publish this English version.SUMMARY: 1. What do we mean about “Federalism”? – 2. Federalism and religions in Germany – 3. Federalism and religions in Switzerland

Dai principi alle regole? Brevi note critiche al testo unificato delle proposte di legge in materia di libertà religiosa

Il presente contributo intende verificare – per lo meno in alcuneparti – se ed in che modo il testo unificato (predisposto da parte delrelatore On. Zaccaria ed adottato nella seduta del 4 luglio 2007 dalla ICommissione della Camera dei Deputati) delle proposte di legge C. 36 eC. 134 in materia di libertà religiosa sappia tradurre in regole i principisanciti dal costituente in materia ecclesiastica

La libert\ue0 di culto al tempo del coronavirus: una risposta alle critiche

SOMMARIO: 1. Parole e toni - 2. La bilateralità dimenticata - 3. L’art. 14 dell’Accordo di Villa Madama preso sul serio - 4. L’uomo non è un’idea

Dai principi alle regole? Brevi note critiche al testo unificato delle proposte di legge in materia di libertà religiosa

Contributo destinato alla pubblicazione sul prossimo numero de Il diritto ecclesiastico.SOMMARIO: 1. Il testo unificato delle proposte di legge C. 36 e C. 134 di fronte al principio di laicità – 2. La questione della libertà di propaganda - 3. Libertà religiosa e mutilazioni rituali - 4. Brevi note in tema di tutela della libertà religiosa dei lavoratori, di otto per mille e di crocifissi nelle aule - 5. Considerazioni conclusive -Nota bibliografica

Lavoro, retribuzione e diritti nell'opera di Charles Péguy: suggestioni e riflessioni per il canonista

Both in "Marcel: premier dialogue de la cité harmonieuse" and in "L'argent", Charles Péguy creates an aesthetic of work that emphasizes the fundamental relationship between the creative activity of man, spirituality and fraternity. Manual labor is at the same time an instrument of creation of the social bond and the fulcrum of the connection between the temporal element and the spiritual one. At the same time, Péguy appears very critical of the commodification of labor in capitalist society, where money is not a mere tool for exchange but an economic goal in itself. The dignity of work and respect for the principle of fraternity are today in question following the recent reforms of the Italian labor legislation; reforms that seem far removed from the perspective outlined in the writings of Charles Péguy

Liberdade para a prática religiosa e “secularismo positivado” em alguns sistemas legais europeus: o caso italiano

Apesar de sabermos que nenhum dos modelos ideais utilizados para descrever as possíveis relações entre o Estado e as Igrejas pode ser encontrado na realidade complexa e dinâmica, nós podemos por indução afirmar que o comportamentoinstitucional italiano tem mostrado uma clara regressão ao confessionalismo. Isso é obviamente um neo-confessionalismo. Nós não estamos a falar sobre o confessionalismo clérico-fascista de 1929, porque o catolicismo não é mais estabelecido pela Igreja da Itália e porque a Constituição republicana não permiteque a autoridade pública dê suporte a qualquer dogma religioso. O neoconfessionalismo italiano é baseado no reforço legal dos princípios morais católicos