ROME - A sharp attack on divorce by Pope John Paul II brought an angry response in Italy's press today and put officials in Prime Minister Silvio Berlosconi's conservative government on the defensive.
On Monday, the pope called on Roman Catholic lawyers to refuse to represent clients seeking divorce.
Justice Minister Roberto Castelli said that magistrates who refused to hear divorce cases would be committing civil disobedience.
Emilio Nicola Buccino, president of Italy's federation of lawyers, said that it was "inconceivable" for lawyers to betray the law.
The daily newspaper Corriere della Sera compared the pope's position to the Taliban's imposition of its strict religious laws in Afghanistan.