In a November 3 ruling, the Strasbourg-based court said that the compulsory display of a symbol of a particular religious confession had, “restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions, and the right of children to believe or not to believe.”
Domenico Maselli, president of the Federation of Protestant Churches in
Italy, in a November 4 statement said he welcomed the decision, “because it repeats the idea that the freedom of religion and respect for all faiths are at the basis of a peaceful and civil Europe.”
The Vatican spokesperson, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, reacted to the court’s decision by describing the crucifix as having been always, “a sign of God’s offer of love and a sign of union and welcome for all humanity,” the Catholic News Service reported.
“It is sad that it is being considered a sign of division, exclusion or limitation of freedom. That is not what it is and that is not the common feeling of our people,” Lombardi said.
Italian education minister Mariastella Gelmini said Italy would appeal the decision.
“No one, not even some ideological European court, will be able to cancel our identity,” the Rome-based Italian Protestant news service nev quoted Gelmini as saying.
The European court said it was unable to grasp how the display, in classrooms of state schools, of a symbol “that could reasonably be associated with Catholicism,” the majority religion in Italy, could serve educational pluralism.
The case had been brought by an Italian citizen, Soile Lautsi, who considered that the display of crucifixes was contrary to the principle of secularism by which she wished to bring up her children.
The European Court of Human Rights was established by the European Convention on Human Rights.
