Italian Supreme Court of Cassation (Corte di Cassazione italiana), Criminal Section IV, No. 34576/2021, 17 September 2021

Inexistence of the prohibition of bis in idem in relations between State and canonical jurisdiction

Art. 7 Italian Constitution
Art. 23 Lateran Treaty
Can. 1344 Code of Canon Law

1. Excluding in the first place that the existence of the principle of ne bis in idem between State and Canon law can derive simply from the principles laid down in articles 2 and 3 of the Italian Constitution, given that no reference, not even implicit, to ne bis in idem can be found in them, and that, as already affirmed by the Constitutional Court, it must be excluded that such a principle, with reference to the effectiveness of foreign criminal sentences, must be recognised as inherent in the inviolable rights of the human person under the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights.

2. Nor can the principle of ne bis in idem be regarded as operating in the present case by reason of agreements between the Holy See and Italy or conventions to which they have both acceded and which, as already stated, are necessary precisely because of the absence of an internationally recognised principle to that effect.

3. There is nothing to prevent a cleric who has been judged in the canonical courts for the offence referred to in Article 609-quater of the Criminal Code from also being judged for the same offence by the State courts.