Rome, Italy, Oct 27, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Arguing before the Constitutional Court, the chief lawyer of the state of Italy, Antonio Palatiello, defended the presence of crucifixes in public schools against a petition by an Italian mother to have them removed, saying it was “for the good of the country.”
According to Palatiello, the crucifix “is the sign” of the special alliance between the state and the Church and “not of a preference for a particular religion.”
He added that the crucifix is “the visible sign of this alliance for the promotion of man and the good of the country,” since the Church is “the only international actor mentioned in the Constitution.”
The Italian Constitution states, “The Church and the State are independent and sovereign,” and “all religious confessions are free before the law.”