The mayor of the northern city of
Padua declared Wednesday that all public buildings must display
a Catholic crucifix.
"Now every office and every school will get a nice
mandatory crucifix donated by the city. Hands off the crucifixes
or you will be in trouble", Mayor Massimo Bitonci, who is from
the anti-immigrant Northern League party, wrote on his Facebook
page.
He also posted a picture of himself at a 2009 sit-in while
distributing free crucifixes in the nearby town of Abano Terme,
where a public school had one removed upon request by a
student's family.
While its 1948 Constitution says Italy is a secular State
and that all religions are equal before the law, the government
never explicitly abrogated decrees making crucifixes mandatory
dating from the preceding Fascist regime.
As a result many hospitals, courts and schools still
display the Catholic symbol.
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