Italian Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale italiana), No. 329/1997, 10 November 1997

Criminal protection of religious sentiment. Offenses against the State religion by defamation of property

Art. 3 Italian Constitution
Art. 8 Italian Constitution
Art. 404 Criminal Code
Art. 406 Criminal Code

1.  The protection of religious sentiment, as an aspect of the constitutional right to religious freedom, is not divisible. Any violation of religious conscience is always a violation of that good and that right in their entirety and therefore concerns everyone in the same way, regardless of the religious denomination to which one may belong, so that it is not possible to attribute relevance, with a view to legal discipline, to the existence of differentiated social reactions. To do otherwise would mean that the constitutional guarantee of equality would yield to the changing and unpredictable attitudes of society.