ABSTRACT
The majority of Italians are in favour of financing churches through the 8x1000 system, an opinion more common among women and residents in the South of Italy and Islands, which notably diminishes passing gradually from the oldest age group to the youngest. The continual condemnation of abortion by the ecclesial leadership is approved of by about 70 per cent of the elderly, residents in the South of Italy and those characterized by a low cultural capital. On that occasion the Church leadership took up a very precise official position, inviting all Catholics and more generally all citizens to boycott polls, with the precise aim of causing the abrogative referendum to fail. The group of convinced and active Catholics is by far the category that most ardently justifies Church public intervention and its propositional rights on socially important issues. The Catholic Church in particular should not enjoy the privileges unbefitting whoever holds an important public role.
