Vatican says Euro court crucifix ruling shocking

Wed, Nov 4 12:21 AM

Enlarge Photo Vatican's spokesman Father Federico Lombardi ponders a question during a news conference in the Holy... Slideshow: World in pictures: November 03

The Vatican on Tuesday condemned as shocking, wrong and myopic a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Italian schools should remove crucifixes from classroom walls.

"The ruling of the European court was received in the Vatican with shock and sadness," said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.

"It is wrong and myopic to try to exclude it (the crucifix) from the world of education," he said, adding to the uproar the court's decision has sparked in Roman Catholic Italy.

(For more on faith and ethics, see the Reuters religion blog FaithWorld http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld)

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