The church and state: Buttiglione forced to withdraw.Following outrage from members of the European Parliament European Parliament, a branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU). It convenes on a monthly basis in Strasbourg, France; most meetings of the separate parliamentary committees are held in Brussels, Belgium, and its Secretariat is located in Luxembourg. and a campaign by progressive groups, both religious and secular, Rocco Buttiglione Rocco Buttiglione (born June 6, 1948) is an Italian Christian Democrat politician and an academic philosopher. His being proposed as a European Commissioner resulted in controversy, as some political groups opposed him for his Roman Catholic views on homosexuality, despite , an ultraconservative Catholic with close ties to the pope, withdrew from consideration for appointment to the governing body Noun 1. governing body - the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something; "he claims that the present administration is corrupt"; "the governance of an association is responsible to its members"; "he of the European Union European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community , the 25-person European Commission. In a letter to the president of the European Parliament The President of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. The current President is Hans-Gert Pöttering. Role The President chairs debates and oversees all the activities of the Parliament and its constituent bodies organized by Catholics for a Free Choice Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) is a pro-choice political organization whose founders hold the belief that "the Catholic tradition supports a woman's moral and legal right to follow her conscience in matters of sexuality and reproductive health. and signed by some 150 Catholics from 10 European Union countries, the signatories outlined their opposition to Buttiglione. "We are deeply concerned about a possible appointment of Rocco Buttiglione as Commissioner for Freedom, Security and Justice, because Mr. Buttiglione has a dismal record on women's rights The effort to secure equal rights for women and to remove gender discrimination from laws, institutions, and behavioral patterns. The women's rights movement began in the nineteenth century with the demand by some women reformers for the right to vote, known as suffrage, and and the civil rights of homosexuals and as a Minister of European Affairs for Italy has not upheld the EU principle of non-discrimination in his own country. As European Catholics we disagree with Rocco Buttiglione's positions on the family, on homosexuals, on women, as well as on his promotion of camps for asylum-seekers at the borders of the EU. His positions on these issues do not reflect mainstream Catholic attitudes." After his forced withdrawal, Buttiglione responded by launching a 'theo-con' movement against what he described as "anti-Catholic totalitarianism" and a "new inquisition." "If they want a Catholic witch to burn, then here I am," he said during a series of debates called, "The Trial of the Catholic Witch." However, Giulio Andreotti, a Christian Democrat and one of Italy's foremost politicians, compared him to Don Quixote, battling against non-existent windmills of discrimination. "We must be very careful not to erect barriers that divide people into Christians and non-Christians," Andreotti said. Writing in the Independent, a London daily newspaper, Joan Smith continued this theme, stating, "There have been dark mutterings about anti-Catholic and anti-Christian prejudice, as though Buttiglione is somehow the victim in all this, when the simple truth is that his views are in direct conflict with notions of equality and civil rights enshrined in European and national conventions." (For more on Rocco Buttiglione, see p. 31.) |
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