It’s always better to know the local laws. The Irish Times reports on why the Vatican has lodged an official complaint with RTÉ. “The three-man crew of RTÉ1’s Would You Believe series was shooting footage for a programme on the role of women in the church.”.. which they, unfortunately, decided would be best illustrated with footage of an Italian actress.. dressed as a bishop.. at least, that’s the official story.. *ahem*
From the Irish Times report –
The three-man crew of RTÉ1’s Would You Believe series was shooting footage for a programme on the role of women in the church.
They were taken to a police station in Rome and questioned for three hours as to why their female companion was dressed as a bishop in such a religiously sensitive area.
Under Italian law it is illegal to wear clerics’ clothing if not a cleric.
The Vatican has lodged a complaint to RTÉ claiming the crew had broken this law close to a property owned by the Holy See and in doing so had acted insensitively.
“It’s all a bit Da Vinci Code-esque,” said one RTÉ source.
The crew were also quizzed about their permits to film in the city. As a sanction, their permit to film Pope Benedict’s Wednesday audience in St Peter’s Square yesterday was withdrawn.
Vatican authorities became aware of the incident, which took place on Tuesday, only after Rome police contacted them to inquire if they had any knowledge of the Irish producer, cameraman, sound engineer and Italian actress.
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