Row after Milan hospital removes crucifixes

[JODO 2]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070509/od_uk_...FEzVCpMOY7tiBIF

Row after Milan hospital removes crucifixes

Wed May 9, 12:47 PM ET

MILAN (Reuters) - A top Italian maternity hospital has drawn criticism from right-wing politicians by replacing crucifixes on the walls of its wards with images of the Virgin Mary so as not to offend immigrant women giving birth there.

Basilio Tiso, head of Milan's Mangiagalli clinic where 7,000 women give birth each year, said it was felt the Virgin's image was more fitting to motherhood and was less of a religious statement than a crucifix.

"We have so many people who come here from different backgrounds, different countries," he told Reuters, adding that the move was intended to "help us all live together in a more civil way".

But Carla De Albertis, a Milan townhall official in charge of health affairs, called the decision "folly".

"If I went to a foreign country, I would never dream of asking them to take down a religious symbol representing their faith, culture and traditions," she said.

"We should not lead people to believe that we are ashamed of our roots," she said.

Ignazio La Russa, from the right-wing National Alliance, called on the hospital's patients to take their own crosses with them and put them on the walls.

Edited May 10, 2007 by JODO

[almaty 19]

If I went to a foreign country, I would never dream of asking them to take down a religious symbol representing their faith, culture and traditions," she said.

good point, but if the hosptial relies on a large amount of income from the immigrant patients, this could be a reason....lira/money will guide principles .

[Nagishkaw 510]

Happy Immaculate Conception Day !

[Oath 0]

I believe we can all learn from the seperation of church and state, but it has to be a seperation, a total one, not a conditional as it suits me one.

While I have no problem with you or anyone else believing in a higher power, it should be noted that I do not believe in 'god' but that I do belive in the power of faith has for people, people coming to my door and telling me im going straight to hell unless I repent all get the same treatment, F and OFF with three other letters added. I do not want religion shoved down my throat, and I think that the hospital in Milan has realised that people do not want religion shoved down their throat.

Good on them.

[homesick_american 1]

They should have replaced the crucifixes with nothing. I'd be outraged if I set foot in a US public hospital and had to stare at a crucifix or an image of Mary while I was giving birth, but that's coming from an American, separation-of-church-and-state perspective. If I was giving birth in Italy I'd probably just ask them to remove the religious items from *my* room.