For some time now, Vatican legislation has been improvised and confused;
this legal chaos is incomprehensible and without rationale, and
undermines the seriousness of Vatican legislation, writes Luis Badilla
in an opinion piece.
A few days ago, the law was published that
converts Decree No. DCCX of the President of the Pontifical Commission
for Vatican City State (SCV) on illegal entry into the territory of the
SCV.
Badilla notes that certain passages of the law (10 articles)
are difficult to read "because they are either incomprehensible or
confusing when common sense is applied".
It seems like a text
that was improvised and written while reading the daily news and
imagining that what is happening in Paris, Rome or London in terms of
illegal occupations could happen tomorrow morning in the Vatican.
The
law was promulgated on 15 March 2025, with some important changes. It
had been approved for promulgation on 19 December 2024. During this
waiting period the decree was amended again.
One was to take
account of the fact that Sister Raffaella Petrini, the President of the
Governorate, is not a Cardinal, although all current Vatican legislation
on the matter requires her to be. The amended article 9, paragraph 3
now states that where the text reads 'Cardinal President of the
Governorate' it should instead read 'President of the Governorate'.
However,
Francis did not change the Fundamental Law and the Laws on the
Governorate, both of which require the President of the Governorate to
be a Cardinal.
Instead, "he chose the path of confusion and
chaos, to the point of making this amendment to article 9 of this new
law, which frankly surprises anyone's intelligence," writes Badilla.
He
asks whether the amendment applies only to this law: "Or can it be
extended to all Vatican legislation that refers to the 'Cardinal
President of the Governorate'?"
Regarding this law, some
independent media have focused on the serious contradiction between
Francis' many words in favour of illegal mass immigration and his
actions in the Vatican to the contrary.
Badilla also notes that
from day one, Francis has had "an almost obsessive concern about how
housing is used and distributed within the Vatican". He used the ability
and right to live in the Vatican as a "tool of government".
If a
person lost this right, Francis was strict about having them removed
from their home as quickly as possible: "There are many orders from the
gendarmerie to speed up the evacuation of apartments once the right to
use them for professional reasons has expired."
As Archbishop of
Buenos Aires, Bergoglio, during an illegal occupation of a property
belonging to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, managed to have the
occupation quickly cleared by the police by appealing to the Minister of
the Interior.
"His firm and uncompromising stance against
squatting has been a hallmark of his relationship with the Argentine
capital in the past," writes Badilla.
Picture: © Mazur, CC BY-NC-ND, #newsNxtllctvtq