VATICAN WELCOMES COURT’S OK TO CRUCIFIXES IN SCHOOLS
(19.03.2011) The director of the Vatican press office is welcoming today's ruling
from the European Court of Human Rights, which found that crucifixes can be displayed
in Italy's public schools.Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement that
the Holy See received the ruling "with satisfaction." He called it historical, noting
the widespread opposition to the court's November 2009 decision that the presence
of crucifixes in schools was an affront to human rights. Italy was joined by more
than 20 countries as well as a number of non-governmental organizations in appealing
the '09 ruling. Father Lombardi said that today's decision recognizes "that the culture
of the rights of man must not be in opposition to the religious foundations of European
civilization, to which Christianity has made an essential contribution." He also
lauded application of the principle of subsidiarity, such that the court pointed to
a "duty to guarantee every country a margin of appreciation of the value of religious
symbols in their own cultural history and in the national identity and of the place
of their exposition."