Vatican body criticises Italy immigration measures

The head of a Vatican council on migrant issues criticised on Wednesday Italy's latest measures to fight illegal immigration, saying they did not live up to international commitments to protect refugees.

The Italian cabinet on Tuesday approved measures making it harder for asylum seekers to obtain refugee status and the right to stay in Italy. It also tightened rules for immigrants' relatives seeking to join family members already in the country.

The secretary of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People said there was a tendency in Europe to "weaken the standards compared to international commitments undertaken some time ago to protect persecuted people".

"It seems to me that the latest (Italian) cabinet meeting goes in the same direction (...) There is a tightening of the procedure for asylum seekers and the justification given for that does not hold," Monsignor Agostino Marchetto told Vatican radio.

Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the new rules were designed to prevent "manipulations" of the asylum seeking process. He said Italy had granted more than 14,000 asylum requests in 2007.

The latest measures are part of a crackdown by the centre-right government's against illegal immigrants and crime. Human rights groups and Church officials have expressed concern the security package could fuel racism and xenophobia.

Authorities in Italy are particularly sensitive to criticism from the Vatican, which remains highly influential in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.

"We are not in the kingdom of Utopia, in a country that can open its doors to everybody," Carlo Giovanardi, cabinet undersecretary for family policies, told ANSA news agency reacting to Marchetto's comments.

He said the government would favour genuine asylum seekers and family reunifications but would fight abuses.