Crucifix is symbol of freedom, says Spanish bishop

Madrid, Spain, Nov 9, 2009 / 12:10 pm

The secretary general of the Spanish bishops' conference, Auxiliary Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino of Madrid, lamented the recent ruling by the EU Court in Strasbourg, France that ordered Italy to remove crucifixes from school classrooms.  The crucifix is “a symbol of freedom,” he explained.

According to the COPE Radio Network, Bishop Martinez Camino said it is “unjust and discriminatory to want to confine the crucifix to the private sphere.”

“The crucifix is a symbol of freedom and of the distinction  between civil and religious power,” he said.  “If it disappears from public life, we will lose all  the achievements of Western culture linked with our values.”

Bishop Martinez Camino also discussed the recent statistics on abortion in Spain, which number now almost 120,000 per year.  The high rate of abortion is a “reflection of the dramatic situation our society is experiencing when thousands of children are being eliminated,” he said.

The bishop urged that new laws be passed that “support women.”