Delibazione di sentenze ecclesiastiche e ordine pubblico «flessibile»

According to the 1984 Agreement between the Holy See and the Italian Republic, modifying the 1929 Lateran Concordat,  ecclesiastic final judgments, which annul (or declare void) a canonical marriage with civil effects in Italy, are subject, on party motion, to a special recognition procedure before the italian Court of Appeal and – apart from other conditions required – cannot be recognised, at any rate, if contrary to italian public policy rules. With the 2014 decision herein analyzed, the italian Supreme Court of Cassazione has reversed a previous different trend in matrimonial matters and, for public policy reasons, has denied any possible recognition, whenever the married couple has been living together for (at least) three years after the marriage (subsequently annulled by the ecclesiastic courts). This essay aims at laying stress on the critical questions involved in that last trend.