After inter-party wrangling which saw Prime Minister Matteo Renzi gain support for the proposed Cirinna Bill on the issue from the New Centre Right party when previous supporters M5S backed away, the vote in favour of civil unions passed by 173 votes to 71. In negotiating for the NCD support, Mr Renzi was forced to drop a portion of the Bill which would have given a biological parent in a same-sex relationship the right to adopt.
The Italian move towards same-sex civil unions was prompted by a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in 2015 in favour of three Italian same-sex couples who argued that the country was denying them human rights as couples. The court on that occasion called on Italy to legislate for civil unions.
The move towards civil unions came despite appeals from two Cardinals in the days leading up to the Senate vote for politicians not to equate the benefits of marriage with civil unions.
In a call on legislators, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin took issue with the government Bill, stating: “The key point is that you do not in any way equate marriage to civil unions and that they remain two completely different disciplines,” he said.
Following this intervention, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, speaking at a conference in Rome stated: “The most sublime aspect…in which every culture talks about love, especially in the context of biblical revelation, is the physical and spiritual communion between a man and a woman in the marriage bond.
“Politicians,” he insisted, “must serve the community and not impose a false ideology.”
