Italian politicians furious over anti-crucifix decision

11/05/2009

The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against crucifixes in Italian schools has garnered outrage from many corners in Italy, including senior officials of the Vatican and the Italian Parliament as well as local political and social groups. The news made the front page of most national Italian papers, reports Hilary White, LifeSiteNews.com.

The ruling comes in response to a complaint by an Italian citizen of Finish origin, Soile Lautsi, who now lives near Padua, who had asked her local public school to remove crucifixes that she deemed offensive. Lautsi had campaigned through the courts for eight years against the presence of crucifixes in Italy's classrooms. The ECHR ruling granted her compensation of five thousand Euros for moral damages.

The ruling said, "The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities ... restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions."

Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi SJ, said that the decision had been greeted with "astonishment" in the Vatican. "The Crucified, remember, was always a sign of God's offer of love and union and reception for all humanity," Lombardi said. For this reason he said he is "sorry that it would be regarded as a sign of division, exclusion or restriction of freedom. This is not in the common sentiment of our people." the rest