Marriage, friendship and (civil) partnership: cultural phenomena or predefined entities? A biblical discourse with society

Johanna Friedl

University of Vienna, Faculty of Catholic Theology

Abstract

In Italy, both church and civil marriages are declining. At national level, the number of civil marriages has meanwhile surpassed the number of Church marriages. In addition,
separations and divorces as well as civil second (and third) marriages are on the increase. In May 2016, same-sex and “de facto” partnerships were legally recognised. In Italy as
a whole, there have been profound changes in the realities of life in partnership, marriage and family. Although they can be seen as a crisis of the traditional form of family and its
credibility, they are socially tolerated and accepted to a large extent. The Italian Church has so far reacted to these changes primarily by intensifying efforts to a qualified preparation
to marriage, on the one hand, and by developing a particular pastoral concern for “injured families” on the other, i. e. for marriages and families in difficulties or who have
failed. As the example of the diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone, which held a diocesan synod in 2013–2015, shows, pastoral work in future has to go beyond the areas of qualified preparation for marriage and accompaniment of couples and families, especially in the case of wounded and failed marriages, and to deal more intensively with the question of how also the faithful living in non marital partnerships, can be supported pastorally and be more actively involved in the life of the Church

Keywords:

Family in Italy, unioni civili, registered partnerships, de facto partnerships, civil and ecclesiastical marriage, statistics of separation and divorce, family pastoral, diocesan synod Bolzano-Bressanone