[JURIST] A leading member of the Catholic Church expressed concern Thursday that the Church could be prosecuted for some of its traditional religious positions against abortion, same-sex marriage and stem cell research [JURIST news archives]. In an interview [transcript, in Italian] with leading Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana [media website, in Italian], the head of the Pontifical Council for the Family [official website] Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo [Wikipedia profile] said that socially liberal laws in several European countries, including Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands, may leave the Vatican open to discrimination lawsuits down the road.

Trujillo also criticized laws recognizing same-sex marriage and civil unions, and denounced the latter as a "legal fiction." Reuters has more. ANSA has local coverage. Catholic Online has additional coverage.