The case of the child who has three legally recognized parents. The decision of an Italian court has angered conservative Catholics

An Italian court has recognized three legal parents in the case of a 4-year-old boy, according to information transmitted on Tuesday by several publications in the country and confirmed by the lawyer of one of the child's two fathers, Reuters wrote, noting that the decision outraged conservative Catholics.

The child was born in Germany and lives there with two married men. One of them is his biological father. His biological mother is a friend of the couple.

The non-biological father, an Italian-German, adopted the child under German law, but applied for recognition of the adoption in Italy as well.

A local authority rejected his request, citing suspicions that the boy was born to a surrogate mother abroad, a practice criminalized by Italy's conservative government.

An appeals court in the southern Italian city of Bari overturned the decision.

The court ruling is final and means that Italy, like Germany, accepts that the boy has a legally recognized mother and two fathers.

“There was no secret surrogacy deal here, it's about three people who want to be the parents of this child, and the court recognized that,” lawyer Pasqua Manfredi told Reuters.

The decision dates back to January, but was made public on the 10th anniversary of the Italian parliament voting to legalize same-sex partnerships.

Pro Vita & Famiglia, a Catholic group campaigning for what it describes as traditional family values, criticized the ruling and said legal recognition of same-sex unions “overturned family law, exposing minors to all kinds of social and ideological experiments.”