Italian officials unveil solution to head coverings on photo ID cards

Published: 2004-09-08

ROME (CNS) -- The central Italian city of L'Aquila unveiled its solution to a recent controversy over whether people applying for a picture identification card should be allowed to use a photo of themselves with their heads covered. The imbroglio occurred when two nuns went to the city's vital statistics office to apply for an Italian photo identification card, according to Italian media reports Sept. 7. The clerk on duty turned them away when they presented passport-size photos of themselves in their habits, complete with wimple, a head covering that leaves only the face exposed. Just a few days earlier, newspapers said, the same clerk had required a Somalian Muslim woman applying for an Italian identification card to return to the office with a photo of herself without her hair covered by the "hijab" or Muslim woman's veil. In 1995, the federal government circulated a memo saying that, while the 1940 no-hat requirement still applied, "veils, turbans, and other religious headwear" were allowed in ID pictures "as long as facial features are completely visible." The Italian press reported Sept. 8 that officials resolved the confusion by saying they would follow the specifications spelled out in the 1995 memo.

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