Italy invokes contempt law

Italian prosecutors have decided to put Sabina Guzzanti on trial for ‘contempt of the Pope’ under an 80-year-old law signed by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

At a rally in Rome last month, Guzzanti cracked jokes about Pope Benedict XVI’s attitude to homosexuality, saying: ‘In 20 years, Ratzinger will be dead and will end up in hell, tormented by queer demons - not passive ones, but very active ones.’

The 45-year-old comic is being prosecuted under the 1929 Lateran treaty that created the Vatican city state, which makes insulting the ‘sacred and inviolable person’ of the Pope an offence in Italy.

Indictment, however, requires an endorsement from the justice minister, who has not yet replied to the prosecutors' request.

Ms Guzzanti's father Paolo, a centre-right MP, said the move was ‘a return to the Middle Ages’, adding: ‘Perhaps my daughter should be submitted to the judgement of God by being made to walk on hot coals.’

The prosecution may have political overtones as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi – the usual target of Guzzanti’s satire – has been keen to court the Vatican and the Catholic vote.

On her website, Guzzanti wrote: ‘Thanks for all the messages of solidarity.

‘All ideas are valid. If you want to help me, the best way is to take courage and speak. Do not be intimidated by these absurdities, and continue to act as if we were in Europe in 2008.’

Published: 12 Sep 2008