The Buttiglione case

The Barroso Commission is in limbo for the next month or so. What will emerge after this period of rethinking and redrafting is a moot point. The Socialist, Green and Liberal members of the European Parliament, mainly, threatened to reject the Commission proposed by the President-elect, José Manuel Durao Barroso.

As a result he opted for more reflection and dialogue and to re-package and re-present the fruits of his labour.

The Parliamentary committees had objected to four Commissioners but the media focused on the objections against the Italian philosopher/politician Rocco Buttiglione.

The controversy about Buttiglione's appointment was given several interpretations.

Buttiglione himself has denounced the "anti-Christian inquisition" in Europe and a "hate campaign" against him that twists and distorts his public statements.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero journalist Vittorio Messori denounced anti-Catholicism in Europe as a substitution for anti-Semitism, but expressed his hope that this "anti-Catholic fury" would help believers to rediscover their identity.

Referring to the Buttiglione case, Messori cited the saying that Catholics, along with smokers and hunters, form one of the "three groups not protected by political correctness, and which therefore can be freely slandered".

"Thank God anti-Semitism has ended. But it has been substituted in Western culture by anti-Catholicism," he said. "Before, blacks, women, Jews, and homosexuals were the object of sarcasm and criticism. Now, fortunately, these groups cannot be attacked. But I don't see why other groups have to be harmed."

The Catholic agency, Zenit, interviewed Giorgio Salina, vice-president of the Convention of Christians for Europe. He said that what has happened is very serious, as Buttiglione did not say anything that could be a reason for such intolerant reactions. He tied what happened to Buttiglione with what happened during the debate about the European Constitution, describing it as not only an act of secularism but of real aversion to Catholic culture.

"Secularism of institutions means neutral attitude and support of all cultural positions respectful of the fundamental rights of man. Instead, this is secularist fundamentalism, dangerous as are all fundamentalisms: to ostracise a culture means to want to impose another. The risks for freedom are obvious."

Not everyone is of this opinion. Romano Prodi, the outgoing President of the European Commission, in an interview on RAI, noted that everyone knows that he is a practising Catholic and even his predecessor was, but they never had any problems because of their beliefs. He hinted that what happened to Buttiglione could have been more of a dig against Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi than a dig at Catholicism.

This could be true but why was the dig made because of Buttiglione's comments on social morality? Butiglione made it clear that although he believed that homosexuality is a sin it will make no difference for him in his work since homosexuality is not a crime. Reports in the local media indicate that even "our own" Commissioner, Dr Joe Borg, indicated his opinion that what happened to Buttiglione could have happened to him because of his beliefs.

This is not right. Is seems that for most in the Socialist, Greens and Liberal group one can believe anything about everything but that the expression of Catholic beliefs is anathema. A Christian Outlook congratulated all Maltese MEPs on their stand against abortion. We cannot do the same on this occasion. The Maltese Socialist MEPs passed their first test but miserably failed in their second one. They were ready to follow the directive of the Socialist Group and vote against the Commission because they were against Buttiglione. We strongly disagree with their stand.

An interesting position was taken by Cardinal Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State, in an interview with La Repubblica: "At this time it is difficult to express judgments on this case, in particular, and more in general on what has happened in Brussels over the last days... Perhaps one should remain silent."

He continued: "I would urge: do not be preoccupied by these concrete vicissitudes or about what has happened in European institutions. It is not the first time that Catholics, Christians, men of the Church, are faced with problems of this sort and the danger of isolation and discrimination.

"It is enough to look at Christian history to realise this immediately. The life of the Church in the course of 2,000 years has always been fraught with difficulties of all kinds, and (the Church) has confronted obstacles that seemed to be insurmountable."

We make our own the words spoken by the Pope to Prodi on Thursday when he expressed the hope that "the difficulties that have arisen in these days concerning the new Commission will find a solution of reciprocal respect in a spirit of concord among all the authorities concerned".