Vatican rehires couple fired from its bank for violating workplace marriage rule

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — A married couple who had been fired from the Vatican bank for violating an internal rule barring workplace marriages has been rehired in a negotiated settlement, the union for Vatican lay employees announced Wednesday.

Silvia Carlucci and Domenico Fabiani filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in January, some four months after they were married. The union called the settlement “a victory of common sense,” though it did not say when they would resume working, or in which Vatican office they would be working.

The couple, who came to the marriage with three children between them, said they never considered calling off their Aug. 31, 2024 nuptials after learning of the new regulation. The bank suggested one of them quit, but the couple said they could not afford to due to financial obligations to their children, former spouses and a new mortgage.

The union said the victory was not complete, since Vatican procedures do not foresee the reimbursement of legal fees for the prevailing party.

“The emblematic case of Silvia and Domenico suggests that the application of labor law needs more solid foundations,’’ the union said in a statement posted on its website.

It noted that there were no social nets to support the couple during the period they were fighting for reinstatement, and underlined that the regulation that led to the couple’s dismissal would be deemed unconstitutional in Italy.

The couple has not commented publicly on the settlement, but they told The Associated Press when they filed the lawsuit that they had hoped for an intervention by the late Pope Francis, who was pontiff at the time, given his emphasis on family values.