ITALY'S TOP BISHOP URGES E.U. STANCE ON CROSS RULING
ITALY'S TOP BISHOP URGES E.U. STANCE ON CROSS RULING
(ANSA) - Assisi, November 12 - Italy's highest churchman on Thursday urged the European Union to take a stance on a recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights ordering the removal of crucifixes from school classrooms.
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, who heads the Italian Council of Bishops, said he hoped the EU would make ''an institutional statement on the merits of the ruling'' by the Strasbourg court, which is not part of the EU.
He said the ''mistaken decision'' handed down last week required ''more serious reflection'' on the part of Europe.
Bagnasco said the ''incomprehensible'' ruling was ''partly ideological and partly the result of individuals making decisions without knowing [Italy's] history''.
Critics of the ruling argue that the cross is a traditional cultural symbol of Italy rather than a mark of religious affiliation.
Upholding an appeal from a Finnish-born Italian mother, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that parents must be allowed to educate their children as they see fit.
It said children were entitled to freedom of religion and said crucifixes in classrooms might offend or frighten students brought up in other religions.
The mother, Soile Lautsi, was awarded 5,000 euros in damages but the Italian government has asked that it be allowed to appeal the decision.
The ECHR has no power to force states to comply with its rulings and Italy has ignored several decisions by the Court in the past.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi has rejected calls for a referendum on the issue, saying the sentence ''is not coercive and there's nothing stopping us from keeping crucifixes in the classrooms''.
However, the decision been greeted with widespread anger in Italy and some local councils have reacted by making it compulsory to display a cross in public buildings.
The latest town to join the backlash on Thursday was Cicciano, north of Naples, where Mayor Giuseppe Caccavale said a 500-euro fine would be issued for every classroom failing to display a crucifix.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Brendola, near Vicenza, announced he had ordered a crucifix to be hung in the previous cross-free municipal assembly hall.
''This should give us the inner strength to show to everyone that when our most personal values are attacked, we must be able to give a suitable response,'' said Mayor Renato Ceron.
On Wednesday, Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said many schools that had previously not displayed a crucifix were now choosing to do so ''as a sign of disdain at the irrational ruling''.
In the southern city of Brindisi, a council employee who promised free crucifixes to anyone who wanted to hang them on walls in public buildings said he had been ''deluged'' with requests.
But there has also been growing concern that anger over the decision is being exploited for political purposes.
Padua Bishop Antonio Mattiazzo spoke out against the ''instrumentalisation'' of crucifixes on Wednesday, while Veneto Governor Giancarlo Galan said he was ''revolted'' by the action of another mayor, who distributed 500 crosses on the streets in protest.
''This is one of the most vulgar things I have ever seen in my life,'' commented the governor.
Crucifixes are a fixture in Italian public buildings although the postwar Constitution ordered a separation of Church and State, and Catholicism ceased to be Italy's state religion in 1984.
Using a legal loophole, two Fascist-era laws have sometimes been used to justify their status.
In 2004 Italy's Constitutional Court ruled that crosses should stay in courts and classrooms but did not give a legal justification for its ruling.
The Strasbourg-based ECHR upholds the 1950 Convention on Human Rights for the 47-member Council of Europe, the continent-wide human rights body.
