European churches lobby for crucifixes in Italian schools

WARSAW (RNS/ENInews) Catholic and Orthodox bishops from across Europe are lobbying the European Court of Human Rights to revoke a judgment against crucifixes in Italian public schools as the case heads to appeal. “We hope people’s religious feelings will be taken into account,” the Italian (Catholic) Bishops’ Conference said in a statement last month. “A […]

WARSAW (RNS/ENInews) Catholic and Orthodox bishops from across Europe are lobbying the European Court of Human Rights to revoke a judgment against crucifixes in Italian public schools as the case heads to appeal.

“We hope people’s religious feelings will be taken into account,” the Italian (Catholic) Bishops’ Conference said in a statement last month. “A decision not to penalize the presence of the cross and religious symbols in the public sphere would reflect the principle of subsidiarity which regulates relations between states and European institutions.”

The Strasbourg, France-based court ruled last November that the display of crucifixes in Italian schools breached the rights of non-Catholics. Italy, supported by other European nations, launched an appeal against the ruling on June 30.


The court’s final ruling will likely apply to schools in all 47 member countries of the Council of Europe.

Orthodox leaders from Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Ukraine have declared their support for Italian Catholics, and warned that a ban on crucifixes will constitute an attack on European religious identities.

“Such decisions express a tendency to exile religion into the private space and reject the role of Christianity in society, just as happened in Eastern Europe during the communist regime,” the Romanian Orthodox Church said in a statement.

“A society cannot exist without symbols, and if the Christian religious symbols … are excluded from the public space, symbols of a different nature (commercial, consuming ones) will replace them, as a result of the loss of the national cultural identity,” the church stated.

New York University professor Joseph Weiler, who is representing countries opposed to the ban, said secular principles were interpreted differently in different parts of Europe.

“France wouldn’t be France without empty school walls, but Italy wouldn’t be Italy without crucifixes,” Weiler told the court.


Official support for the Italian government has so far been voiced by governments in Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Romania, Russia and San Marino, as well as by Albania, Moldavia, Serbia and Ukraine.

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