Something worrisome, however, has popped up in the Italian news section of the BBC. The Vatican has done something quite interesting and reversed the statutes of the Lateran Treaties - from now on, the Vatican - as a nation - will no longer automatically pass Italian law. What I find disturbing is not the Vatican's actions, however, but the sheer lack of coverage this is getting in the mainstream media (I myself only found it when specifically searching for Italian news.)
The implications of this are momentous. This is not only a subtle dig at the inefficiency of the Italian bureaucratic system, nor is this a sheer act of reactionary defensiveness against the possibility of Italy legalizing gay marriage or euthanasia, which the Vatican state would have been required to do as well under the old accords. Rather, this is the Vatican - the sovereign state, as opposed to the Church - asserting its political as well as ideological independence from Italy at large.
Does this herald the return of the Borgias or Medicis of powerful popes using their office for political purposes? Most unfortunately for aspiring Michelangelos and Raphaels, it does not. But it is a powerful act - one that asserts that the Vatican is more than the Church, it is a sovereign state in its own right, and one that is unafraid to challenge the status quo if need be. It requires discussion, debate. Sadly enough, the coverage of this story has been meager at best, and seems to be limited to a summary judgement that "the Church wants to prevent gay marriage."
This is so much more than that.
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