Church in the World

Crucifixes removed from courtrooms

Germany

The Bishop of Trier, Reinhold Marx, has sharply criticised the removal of crucifixes from the courtrooms of the provincial courts in Trier. The crucifixes were taken down while the rooms were being redecorated. When the redecoration was finished, the president of the court announced that they would not be hung up again as courts and state institutions in Germany were obliged to remain "neutral".

 Bishop Marx accused the president of trying to remove the crucifixes "quietly and without attracting attention" and recalled that the German Constitutional Court had not ruled that all crucifixes in public buildings had to be removed. The decision was regrettable, he said, as Trier is Germany's oldest bishopric and has the oldest Catholic cathedral north of the Alps. He argued that this was an attempt to suppress Trier's Catholic tradition and heritage and was in his eyes an historic watershed.

The news that the crucifixes would not be rehung had reached him in Rome just after the Pope had spoken to the German bishops of the dangers of increasing secularisation and the gradual disappearance of God from public awareness. This decision not to hang up the crucifixes was a good example of what the Pope meant, Bishop Marx said.

Churches in Romania have rejected calls for a French-style ban on religious symbols from schools, to protect the state's secular character and ensure "freedom of conscience" for pupils, writes Jonathan Luxmoore.