Always another protest...

Seems some Italians are pretty perturbed about what they read as the Pope's "interference" in public and government affairs. Sigh....From the IHT :

Meeting with Italian politicians last week, Pope Benedict XVI repeated his opposition to gay unions and to the abortion pill, RU-486, which he said hid the "gravity" of taking human life.
"The Vatican is free to express an opinion, but Italy must remain a lay state and the government can't become a megaphone for the church just to get the Catholic vote," Anna Annunziata, a regional counselor from Tuscany with the Democrats of the Left, the nation's largest leftist party, said as she marched Saturday in Milan.
Organizers at the demonstration in Milan said the protest had drawn 150,000 people, but the police put the figure at 60,000. About 1,000 protesters joined the march in Rome, police officials said.
"In Italy, the pope speaks as though he's a member of the government," said one of the demonstrators in Milan, Daniela Labella, a civil servant, who complained about the church's continued challenges to the abortion law.
Although the issues of abortion and gay unions have become controversial topics before the hotly contested general elections set for April, members of the Berlusconi government dismissed the demonstrations on Saturday, reiteratering their support for the "traditional family."
Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli said he had found the demonstration in Rome in favor of same-sex unions "nauseating," the ANSA news agency reported. The culture minister, Rocco Buttiglione, who is close to the Vatican, said the government had called for an inquiry into the abortion law to strengthen the "bond between mother and child."
The Vatican won a major victory in June when it campaigned to defeat a referendum to ease Italy's strict fertility law, which took effect in 2004. The church is now moving to put abortion and traditional marriage on the electoral agenda.
Though Italy's center-left opposition advocates the recognition of civil unions as part of its campaign platform, centrist members of the coalition have stopped short of calling for the legalization of same-sex unions.
MILAN Protesting what they see as the growing interference of the Roman Catholic Church in domestic politics, tens of thousands of Italians took to the streets here over the weekend in support of abortion rights, while demonstrators in Rome gathered to endorse the legalization of same-sex unions.
In Milan, protesters chanted slogans against Silvio Berlusconi's government, which they accuse of planning, with the support of the church, to undo a 1978 law that makes abortion legal during the first three months of pregnancy.
Meeting with Italian politicians last week, Pope Benedict XVI repeated his opposition to gay unions and to the abortion pill, RU-486, which he said hid the "gravity" of taking human life.
"The Vatican is free to express an opinion, but Italy must remain a lay state and the government can't become a megaphone for the church just to get the Catholic vote," Anna Annunziata, a regional counselor from Tuscany with the Democrats of the Left, the nation's largest leftist party, said as she marched Saturday in Milan.
Organizers at the demonstration in Milan said the protest had drawn 150,000 people, but the police put the figure at 60,000. About 1,000 protesters joined the march in Rome, police officials said.
"In Italy, the pope speaks as though he's a member of the government," said one of the demonstrators in Milan, Daniela Labella, a civil servant, who complained about the church's continued challenges to the abortion law.
Although the issues of abortion and gay unions have become controversial topics before the hotly contested general elections set for April, members of the Berlusconi government dismissed the demonstrations on Saturday, reiteratering their support for the "traditional family."
Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli said he had found the demonstration in Rome in favor of same-sex unions "nauseating," the ANSA news agency reported. The culture minister, Rocco Buttiglione, who is close to the Vatican, said the government had called for an inquiry into the abortion law to strengthen the "bond between mother and child."
The Vatican won a major victory in June when it campaigned to defeat a referendum to ease Italy's strict fertility law, which took effect in 2004. The church is now moving to put abortion and traditional marriage on the electoral agenda.
Though Italy's center-left opposition advocates the recognition of civil unions as part of its campaign platform, centrist members of the coalition have stopped short of calling for the legalization of same-sex unions.
MILAN Protesting what they see as the growing interference of the Roman Catholic Church in domestic politics, tens of thousands of Italians took to the streets here over the weekend in support of abortion rights, while demonstrators in Rome gathered to endorse the legalization of same-sex unions.
In Milan, protesters chanted slogans against Silvio Berlusconi's government, which they accuse of planning, with the support of the church, to undo a 1978 law that makes abortion legal during the first three months of pregnancy.
Meeting with Italian politicians last week, Pope Benedict XVI repeated his opposition to gay unions and to the abortion pill, RU-486, which he said hid the "gravity" of taking human life.
"The Vatican is free to express an opinion, but Italy must remain a lay state and the government can't become a megaphone for the church just to get the Catholic vote," Anna Annunziata, a regional counselor from Tuscany with the Democrats of the Left, the nation's largest leftist party, said as she marched Saturday in Milan.
Organizers at the demonstration in Milan said the protest had drawn 150,000 people, but the police put the figure at 60,000. About 1,000 protesters joined the march in Rome, police officials said.
"In Italy, the pope speaks as though he's a member of the government," said one of the demonstrators in Milan, Daniela Labella, a civil servant, who complained about the church's continued challenges to the abortion law.
Although the issues of abortion and gay unions have become controversial topics before the hotly contested general elections set for April, members of the Berlusconi government dismissed the demonstrations on Saturday, reiteratering their support for the "traditional family."