ROME (CWNews.com) - Italian newspapers reported today the Vatican is expected to protest plans for a global homosexual pride festival in Rome this summer.

    World Gay Pride 2000 is scheduled between June 28 and July 9 and is expected to be attended by one million people, dropping the controversial event in the middle of the Catholic Church's Jubilee Year 2000. The festival, which is expected to include the usual expressions of antagonism toward the Catholic Church for its teachings on the immorality of homosexuality, has received 350 million lire ($178,000) from Rome's city government.

    The city of Rome and the Vatican City-State have a unique, symbiotic relationship due to the 2,000-year history of the Church in Rome and embodied in the 1929 Lateran Treaty.

    According to Italian newspaper reports, Vatican officials have asked why they were never consulted when Rome first considered hosting the gay pride festival during the Holy Year. The Vatican also believes that Rome's staging of the rally contravenes the spirit of the Lateran Treaty, La Repubblica and Il Giornale newspapers said.