Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

A referendum in Italy has spotlighted an emerging social justice issue: access to safe water as a basic human right. Italians went to the polls on June 12-13 and voted overwhelmingly to revoke the proposed privatization of Italy’s water systems. The issue stirred an unusually intense debate, with church leaders arguing that water is the archetypal “gift from God” that should not be polluted by the profit motive. On June 9 a group of more than 100 missionary priests and nuns fasted and prayed in St. Peter’s Square to underline their support for the referendum and their opposition to the privatization of water. Beneath Pope Benedict XVI’s windows, they unfurled a giant banner reading: “Lord, help us save the water!” The next day, Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said water distribution should be a service provided by governments to their citizens as part of their role in protecting the common good.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

It has been 56 years since humankind went to the moon—but it's still on our minds.
James T. KeaneJuly 22, 2025
Cardinal Pizzaballa and Patriarch Theophilos III gave a press conference after visiting the Holy Family Parish church, which was struck by Israeli forces.
“The definition of desolation is notoriously slippery,” Father James Martin writes. “It is not simply a period of dryness in prayer, which is common to everyone.”
James Martin, S.J.July 22, 2025
I felt two things when Stephen Colbert announced last Thursday that in nine months, CBS would be ending his top-rated “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” I felt uncomfortable. And I felt old.
Jake MartinJuly 22, 2025