The Magistrate's Bow

Who is the father of a child conceived by artificial insemination? The man whose semen was used, decided a tribunal of Italian magistrates last week. But in arguing the case, the presiding judge made the point that artificial insemination was a fact of modern life and should be treated as such, rather than as the sin the Roman Catholic Church says it is. "The magistrate cannot accept the church's totally negative views on artificial insemination," he said. "That is the religious viewpoint, but a lay magistrate must see other viewpoints beside the religious."

Next day the Vatican's paper, Osservatore Romano, slapped back. "A Roman tribunal has made statements of extreme gravity . . ." it editorialized. "Its statements separate the lay order from religious morals. In a religious nation such as Italy, where the state declared the Catholic religion to be its own religion, the public magistrate cannot but bow to the dictates of that religion."

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