“Bewildering”. The Custodian of the Holy Land, father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, disagrees on the ruling with which yesterday the European Court for Human Rights defined the presence of a Crucifix in a classroom as a “violation of the parents’ right to raise their children according to their own beliefs”. “Our schools in the Holy Land – he states to SIR – are mixed schools, attended by Christian and Muslim students, Muslim students often being the majority; in the classrooms, we have the crucifix, and there are no problems at all. Different religious identities are respected, and their symbols are not considered to be a threat”. “This ruling – the priest adds – shows that the Court intended to deprive Italy of its history, its tradition and its identity. Any reference to laicism is, I think, just an excuse”.

© SIR - nov 4th, 2009