About that ban on crucifixes in Europe!

Remember a year ago when then Assistant City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro virtually lorded it over the Bureau of Customs? It was then that people began thinking that she had become “untouchable.” Her case was brought to the attention of then Acting Executive Secretary Cerge Remonde who looked into this matter as it was his official function. Not happy with Malacañang’s “interference”, she ended up filing a libel case against Sec. Cerge. I’m sure at that time Cerge was getting numerous similar complaints from all over the country from erring public officials. If he gets a libel suit everytime he handles problems, how then can the government move?

When I read the report on the dismissal of this case in Manila for insufficient evidence to support a finding of probable cause, I immediately called Press Secretary Cerge for his comments. Here’s his text message: “I thank the ombudsman for dismissing it with finality. It was absurd to begin with. I was just exercising my duty as acting executive secretary to act on documented complaints against suspected corrupt, abusive and reputedly untouchable government officials.”

As the report goes, overall deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro noted that the alleged libelous letter does not contain words that are calculated to induce the readers to deduce that the complaint against whom they are written is guilty of certain offenses. In short, there was no malice found in those official letters, hence the case was dismissed. Mary Ann Castro also considers this as “water under the bridge.” I would call it simply, “all’s well that ends well”!

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Our editor Jerry Tundag forwarded to me photos of a rally in London by Muslims groups carrying placards declaring, “Exterminate those who slander Islam”, “Islam will dominate the world” or “Europe you will pay. Your 9/11 is on the way! This is one clear proof that Europe, which was predominantly Christian, is fast changing its face and image, thanks to immigration of Muslim minorities. Already, certain people have issued warnings that someday Europe might be overrun by Muslims, not through war, but via immigration. This seems to be happening right before our very eyes.

Last Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights declared that the display of crucifixes in Italian Public Schools violates religious and educational freedoms. Apparently, this was the result of a suit filed by an unnamed mother in Northern Italy eight years ago. Now this court has fined and ordered Italy to pay 5,000 Euros (US$7,390) for this violation. How the face of Europe has indeed changed.

During the Age of Discovery from Vespucci, Columbus, Magellan to Ponce de Leon, European explorers sought new worlds under the flag bearing the cross, which was the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire. When a large chunk of Europe was overtaken by the Ottoman Empire (1301-1922) one of the longest lasting and largest Empires, it was the Christian European nations that stopped the Ottoman Empire from spreading to the west. They were stopped under the sign of the cross. So it was only right that the crucifix should be placed conspicuously in government buildings or schools; after all, without it, those nations would be Muslim today!

I got this emailed statement fresh from the Vatican Press. The Vatican expressed “astonishment” and “regret” at Tuesday’s decision from the European Court of Human Rights that crucifixes in public school classrooms are in violation of freedom.” No doubt, EU officials have obviously forgotten their history and will definitely be doomed to repeat their mistakes. 

Jesuit priest, Fr. Federico Lombardi, Director of the Vatican Press Office issued this statement to Vatican Radio: “The crucifix has always been a sign of God’s offer of Love, of union and of welcome for the whole of humanity. It is to be regretted that it has come to be considered as a sign of division, of exclusion and of limitation of liberty. It is not this, and it is not so in the common feeling of our people.”

Fr. Lombardi added, “Religion makes a precious contribution to a person’s formation and moral growth, and is an essential component of our civilization. It is mistaken and myopic to want to exclude it from the educational realm. It is astonishing then that a European Court should intervene weightily in a matter profoundly linked to the historical, cultural and spiritual identity of the Italian people. It seems that there is a desire to ignore the role of Christianity in the formation of European identity, which instead has been and remains essential.” The EU has forgotten that the Holy Cross was symbol of the Crusades. If they don’t wake up soon, the European Union will eradicate Christianity and usher in a new era called Muslim Europe!

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