Religious leaders and heads of government were noticeably absent from the worldwide debate that raged in news media and on the Internet all day yesterday. The debate was in response to Monday's call from Pope John Paul II for Catholic lawyers to boycott divorce proceedings.
Although media Internet sites including those of Italy's La Repubblica newspaper and the BBC World Service were jammed with largely negative response to the Pope's call, religious and political leaders around the globe by and large opted for a diplomatic silence.
Speaking to the Vatican-based Sacra Rota, a tribunal that handles marriage annulment requests, the Pope on Monday had called divorce a modern "plague" and had urged Catholic lawyers not to handle divorce proceedings. While a statement from the Italian Bishops's Conference yesterday welcomed the Pope's exhortation, an opinion poll by Italy-based Datamedia suggested that 87.5 per cent of Italians disagreed.
Unlike world leaders, Italian politicians were less than shy about criticising the Pope, with both centre-left and centre-right exponents expressing reservations.
Former Social Solidarity minister, ex-communist Livia Turco, described the Pope's call as "interference in the very principles of a lay state", while Alleanza Nazionale deputy Alessandra Mussloini, granddaughter of Il Duce, defended the institution of divorce saying that it often "interrupts a spiral of hate and terror, especially for children".
In Britain, family lawyer Denise Lester also expressed reservations, telling the BBC: "This is a multi-ethnic society where divorce is legal and lawyers, as servants of the community, should be able to carry out their work. The Pope's comments could have an impact on freedom of choice for both lawyers and their clients."
Italian marriage lawyer Cesare Rimini was equally critical, telling Italian news agency, ANSA: "The laws of the state do not interfere in the laws of the church, so perhaps it would be right if the laws of the Church do not interfere in the those of the state".
Even senior Islamic clerics, often in agreement with the hardline aspects of the Pope's social teachings, appeared to express reservations.
Speaking to La Repubblica, Milan-based Imam Ali Abu Shwaima said: "Divorce is legal even though loathed by God, but at times it is necessary because it is natural that a couple's paths should separate".
Many comments posted on Internet sites underlined the ironic timing of the Pope's statement, claiming that such a potentially divisive exhortation appears to contradict the spirit of reciprocity and dialogue fundamental to last week's Day of Prayer for Peace at Assisi.