European court accepts Italy appeal on crucifix ruling

The European Court of Human Rights accepted Italy's appeal over its ruling condemning the display of crucifixes in Italian schools, the court said in a statement today.

"The college of five judges in the court's Grand Chamber accepted the appeal lodged by the Italian government on January 28", the court said, adding it would deliver a definitive judgement on the case in several months.

The court's ruling on November 3, that found the display of crucifixes in Italian schools breached the rights of non-Catholic families, drew howls of anger from Church and political leaders in the staunchly Catholic country.

Catholicism was the state religion in Italy until 1984, and a 1920s ruling ordering the presence of crucifixes in schools was never abolished.

Italian mother Soile Lautsi, whose two children attended a state school near Venice, took her case to the European court after a long battle pitting her against Italy's Catholic establishment.