God is watching!
I applaud The European court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for ruling against the use of crucifixes in Italian schools. In their judgement they stated that: “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.”
The decision is due to the bravery of Soile Lautsi , a native of Finland, although now an Italian citizen, who objected to crucifixes where her two children were being schooled.
Pope Benedict XVI has frequently insisted that crucifixes be displayed on public buildings. After a Jewish judge in the city of L’Aquila was barred from public office for removing crucifixes from his courtroom, he delivered a homily saying that “only if God is present do we have an orientation, a common direction; otherwise, disputes become impossible.
The ultras in Italy’s government have also argued that the crucifix is “a national symbol of culture, history and identity, tolerance and secularism”.
How many people do you know who regard the cross as a secular image?!!
Catholics know full well that the crucifixes represent a powerful symbol of Vatican’s dominance of Italian public and secular life. They should also know, but choose to ignore, that this runs counter to the fact that Catholicism is not Italy’s state religion. The separation of Church and State is set down by the post-war Constitution and mandated by a 1984 Concordat.
A hopeful sign that change is in the air is that, at the time of writing, 65% of online readers of La Repubblica newspaper were in agreement with the European court’s decision.
