The Italian Platform for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Giuseppe D'Angelo
The legal status of the religiously characterized bodies included in the Third Sector and the interpretations of the principle of subsidiarity. Legislative framework and unresolved issues.
Keywords: Religious bodies; Horizontal Subsidiarity; Social Utility Interest; Purpose of Religion and Worship; Third Sector Code
The article focuses on the legal status of the religiously characterized bodies performing social utility activities, in the light of the constitutional principle of horizontal subsidiarity. A special attention is reserved to the inclusion of religious bodies in the context of the recent Third Sector Code, in order to outline the existence of a significant relationship between the evolution in interpreting both the principle of horizontal subsidiarity (art. 118, par. 4, of Italian Constitution) and the legal concept of the «purpose of religion and worship» (art. 20 of Italian Constitution).