Rome, Italy, May 23, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Italy's recently elected Prime Minister Romano Prodi issued a public reprimand Tuesday to three of his ministers who publicized their positions on the Vatican-sensitive issues of abortion and same-sex unions, reported Reuters.
"Ministers cannot express their opinions,” said Prodi, whose party is not united on abortion and civil same-sex unions. “They must speak about decisions, their consequences and their implementation.”
An editorial in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, had criticized comments by Italy's health minister, Livia Turco, in favor of the abortion pill. It called the RU-486 abortion pill, which is not available for general use in Italy, a weapon to carry out "carefree murder.”
Turco said she favored controlled trials of the abortion pill as a "safe and alternative method" to terminate a pregnancy.