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Rome, Italy, 19th October
2004 (CNA) -
The Foreign Affairs
Minister of Italy and candidate for justice minister on
the European Commission, Rocco Buttiglione, denounced
the existence of an “anti-Christian inquisition” in
Europe and a “campaign of hate” against him that twists
and distorts his public statements.
“Buttiglione must be
disqualified, no matter what, and this does not bode
well for democracy. This doesn’t help you to
understand Buttiglione,” the Catholic public official
said, speaking about himself.
In interviews with the
Corriere della Sera and La Stampa, Buttiglione blamed
the matter on the European Parliament, a “new
anti-Christian inquisition” and “a sort of
‘Berufsverbot’ against Christians.”
Buttiglione explained that
the “Berfusverbot,” established in 1972 by Willy Brandt,
prohibited those who were part of the leftist groups in
Germany from access to public employment.
A few days ago,
Buttiglione, a Catholic philosopher and author of one of
the first “intellectual biographies” on the thought of
Pope John Paul II, spoke about the relationship between
the US and Europe saying, “Children who have no father
and only a mother are not children of a very good
mother.”
The media used the
statements to accuse Buttiglione of criticizing single
mothers. Nevertheless, Buttiglione said his
statements were distorted by the press, who were
“putting words in my mouth that I did not
say.”
Buttiglione said that in
the case of the relationship between the US and Europe,
“Children who only have a father are not children
because a man all by himself can build a robot but not a
child.”
He also said that he
supports single mothers, “although it is obvious that if
children have a father and a mother they are better
off. That does not take away from my respect for
those women who face the responsibility of educating and
bringing up their children alone.”
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