Picture of Fr. Mario Alexis Portella

Fr. Mario Alexis Portella

Fr. Mario Alexis Portella is a Minor Canon of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. He has a doctorate in canon law and civil law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome; he also holds an MA in Medieval History from Fordham University, as well as a BA in Government & Politics from St. John’s University. He is author of Islam: Religion of Peace?: The Violation of Natural Rights and Western Cover Up and Ethiopian and Eritrean Monasticism: The Spiritual and Cultural Heritage of Two Nations.
The dilemma in today’s western culture is that in Europe there is no historical point of reference to the natural law as a founding principle of government.