The Vatican and marriage don’t always “get married,” there’s no doubt about that, but things seem to be changing lately with Pope Francis I. In 2018, a door was opened to change (“improve”) its position on homosexual unions, among others, and this is probably the biggest challenge that the Catholic Church will have to face sooner or later. In any case, there is one marriage they do not experience in the Vatican: between workers.

News. Italy’s media called them the Romeo and Juliet of new times. Who are they? A young newlywed couple laid off from their jobs at the Vatican bank (August). Their “sin”: They apparently violated the ban on marriage between employees.

Romeo, Juliet and nepotism. The name is not unimportant. Given an option from the Vatican for one of the two to resign and the other to keep his job within 30 days, the newlyweds’ response was clear, they rejected that option, so they were both fired after the term expires Tuesday. In the background, an amendment to the charter of the “church bank” a few months ago introduced a rule prohibiting marriage between employees in order to prevent nepotism.

According to the statement made by the Vatican, a “difficult decision” was reached to terminate the employment contracts “since the formation of a married couple among employees is in fact clearly contrary to the existing regulations within the institute.” He added that the main purpose of the marriage ban was to prevent reputational risk arising from accusations of nepotism and “to prevent the emergence of possible conflict of interest situations in the activities of the institute, in order to protect the integrity of the institution and its service to the institution.” customers”.

New policy. In reality, history within history takes us back in time. The Vatican bank, which has spent much of the last decade cleaning up its books and reputation after restructuring prompted by various scandals, announced the rule in April. A policy that had been in the works for some time, it was implemented only after one of the spouses of the last remaining married couple on the bank’s staff retired.

In addition, under the new statute, staff are also prohibited from marrying anyone working at another Vatican institution, details that were only made public after disgruntled employees shared the details with the Italian press.

Apply to Francis. After learning of their dismissal, the couple went to the church’s highest authority, Pope Francis (who approved the new rule), in a long letter to appeal and condemn what they saw as an “unfair” situation, even leaving the door open. The case reached the Vatican court.

“Unity” to the rescue. ADLV, the Vatican’s association of lay workers, meanwhile issued a statement defending the interests on behalf of the couple, arguing that “the birth of a new family should not be jeopardized by bureaucratic regulations.”

It is difficult to know how far the case will go, mainly due to its unusual nature. This is not the case with labor disputes in the Vatican. In May, dozens of Vatican Museum employees launched an unprecedented legal dispute over working conditions and workplace safety. In this case, they demanded that overtime and health and safety packages for their employees be increased.

Image | Nacho Arteaga, Lindsay Docherty

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