Italy denies removing LGBTQ and abortion references from G7 declaration

Pope Francis, sitting between Giorgia Meloni and Emmanuel Macron, addresses the G7 summit. Photograph: Vatican/Getty Images

Italy’s far-right government has denied that it removed references to abortion and LGBTQ rights in the final declaration of the G7 summit in Puglia.

In the declaration, published late on Friday, a reference to the protection of the “gender identity and sexual orientation” of the LGBTQ community did not appear, although reference had been included in the final declaration of the G7 in Japan last year.