Convert Muslims, don't marry them
Italian Catholic bishops call for a clampdown on interfaith marriages
The Asian Age, February 4, 2000

London: The Roman Catholic Church has asked priests in Italy to discourage marriages between Catholics and Muslims. The Catholic clergy has also been urged to focus on "converting Muslim immigrants to Christianity."

A spokesman for the Italian Bishops' Conference, Monsignor Ennio Antonelli, has stated that the Italian Church considered marriage between Catholics and Muslims to be "less than ideal." He has also called for more "rigorous examination" of marriage applications by mixed couples, reported the Times.

Monsignor Antonelli claimed Italian bishops were worried about the "negative traits" of Islam. He also asked the government to be "more aware of them" when granting marriage licences.

In his statement, the Church spokesman added that Christians had a duty to remind Muslims that "Jesus is their saviour too, even though they may not know it."

The drawbacks of Islam, he said, included the denial of equal rights for women and polygamy. "These are infringements of rights guaranteed under the Italian Constitution as well as an affront to Christian values," he said. Most mixed marriages in Italy involve native Catholic women and immigrant Muslim men from North Africa and Asia.

There are about 600,000 immigrants from Islamic countries in Italy, some of whom entered the country illegally. Government statistics indicate there are nearly 12,000 mixed marriages registered in the country. Ten years ago the figure was 6,000. Last year, 100 dispensations were granted by the Catholic Church for Muslim-Catholic marriage ceremonies. But the total number of mixed marriage ceremonies in Italy annually is believed to be much higher as the Church has no say in civil ceremonies.