Rome, Italy, Oct 2, 2019 / 11:30 am
The Italian bishops conference have condemned a proposal from Italy's education minister that crucifixes should be removed from public school classrooms.
"I believe schools should be secular and allow all cultures to express themselves," said Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti on an Italian radio show on Monday, Sept. 30. "I would not display any symbol in particular."
Removing the crucifixes would purportedly make the classrooms more "inclusive" to people who are not Christian. About 80% of Italians identify as Catholic.
Fioramonti also said that he thought classrooms in Italy should display world maps and portions of the Italian constitution instead of a picture of the country's president, Sergio Mattarella.