“Giuristi per la Vita” (Lawyers for Life) and “Manif pour Tous” of Italy are promoting a petition on the web to support the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman and to defend the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their moral and religious convictions (www.giuristiperlavita.org and www.citizengo.org). The appeal is addressed to the President of the Italian Republic, the Presidents of the Senate and of the Chamber of Deputies, as well as to those of all the regions.

 

Vatican Radio interviewed the President of the Association “Lawyers for Life,” the attorney Gianfranco Amato, who commented: «The situation is such that one is forced to recall—and in this sense also to make an appeal—something that is as obvious and natural as the fact that a family is based on marriage between a man and a woman. It’s so evident that our Founding Fathers did not feel the need to specify it when they formulated Article 29 of the Constitution. This appeal has two aims: firstly, to recall that the family is the natural fundamental unit of society—as Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledges—and, secondly, the fact that parents have the right to educate their children in conformity with their moral and religious convictions».
 

The petition is “a symbolic act” with no legal effects, but—explains Amato—«we believe that it reflects the sentiment of the people. And politicians, especially those who have responsibilities at the institutional level, cannot avoid listening to the people. We have received hundreds of emails from ordinary citizens thanking us for this initiative and declaring with conviction their adhesion. This means that the people have this sense; this is an idea that is still rooted. The opposite idea is an elitist one that stems from an ideological position, which does not match the true sentiment of the Italian people».