LGBT rights in Vatican City
The legal code regarding LGBT rights in Vatican City is based on the Italian Zanardelli Code of 1889 (effective 1890), which was applicable in 1929, the time of the founding of the sovereign state of the Vatican City. From 1929 to 2008, the Vatican City automatically adopted most Italian laws; however, it was announced in late 2008 that Vatican City would no longer automatically adopt new Italian laws as its own. Criminal law. There are no criminal laws against non-commercial, private, adult and consensual same-sex sexual activity. Since 2013, the age of consent  is 18 years old, except for sex within marriage, in which case it is 14 years old. Foreign diplomats, in order to be accredited, must not be part of a same-sex family, and must not be divorced. In 2008, Jean-Loup Kuhn-Delforge, who is an openly gay diplomat, and who is in a civil pact with his partner, was rejected by Roman Catholic officials to be the French ambassador to the Holy See. In 2015, Laurent Stefanini, an openly gay practising Catholic diplomat was rejected by Roman Catholic officials to be the French ambassador to the Holy See  although he was single, and was backed by President Francois Hollande and was supported by France's top Curia cardinal, Jean-Louis Tauran, who was the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, and Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris. Despite French refusal to back down from his nomination, and a stand-off with the Vatican that resulted in the position being vacant from March 2015 to May 2016, France nominated another diplomat in May 2016. Civil rights. Vatican City State does not have any civil rights provisions that include sexual orientation or gender identity. On 13 January 1998, the  LGBT activist of Arcigay Alfredo Ormando set himself on fire in St. Peter's Square (which is under the jurisdiction of the Vatican City) in protest against the attitude of deep-rooted refusal that has always been expressed by the Catholic religion towards homosexuality. As a result of the severe burns suffered, he died a few days later in the hospital. Recognition of same-sex relationships. The Vatican City has always expressed its sharpest disagreement against any civil recognition of same-sex unions and same-sex marriage and against the granting of adoption rights to same-sex couples. Discrimination protections . The Vatican reserves the inalienable right to remove, suspend and dismiss immediately any official and employee who publicly admits to being gay or who even questions the general policy of the Vatican towards homosexuals. Krzysztof Charamsa. In October 2015, the coming-out of theologian Father Krzysztof Charamsa ended with his suspension from his priestly duties, teaching positions and posts in the Roman Curia. On the eve of the second session of the Bishop's Synod on the Family, Charamsa was quoted as saying in the "Corriere Della Sera", "I want the Church and my community to know who I am : a gay priest who is happy, and proud of his identity. I’m prepared to pay the consequences, but it’s time the Church opened its eyes, and realised that offering gay believers total abstinence from a life of love is inhuman." Gender identity and expression. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: In the 2016 document "Amoris Laetitia", written by Pope Francis after a Synod involving a great part of the Catholic bishops from the whole world, he writes that: "It needs to be emphasized that 'biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be  distinguished but not separated'." HIV/AIDS. There are no known cases of AIDS or HIV infection in Vatican City. Internationally, the Vatican government has been a leading opponent of the use of condoms as part of any campaign to stop the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.