A small statue of the Virgin Mary, bought in Medjugorje, has become a subject of political attention in Meda, northern Italy. Bought and installed in the city hall by the mayor himself, the statue worries other local politicians who call it out of place because Italy is a secular state.
The statue on the courtyard balcony of the city hall in Meda
Politicians in Meda close to Milan and Como in northern Italy have got themselves a new and unusual subject of debate: Can a statue of the Virgin Mary be installed in the local city hall?
The statue was installed last week by mayor Giorgio Taveggia (Northern League) who paid for the statue himself, then named a courtyard of the town hall after Our Lady of Medjugorje, and put up the less than one meter tall, white concrete statue on a courtyard balcony.
Simone Buraschi
The opposition holds that the mayor’s decision violates the separation of Church and state.
“Since he took office last December, mayor Taveggia has accustomed us to bizarre decisions” Simona Buraschi of the Democratic Party says, according to the newspaper Corriere. She mentions naming town hall offices after people like economist John Maynard Keynes and others who are not related to the town.
“And now he puts up a statue of the Virgin, in the face of the secular state” says Buraschi.
Mayor Giorgio Taveggia
The mayor has declined to comment. Instead his deputy Wilma De Pieri defends the decision:
“I do not find anything wrong here. Meda is devoted to Our Lady, three churches are named after the mother of Jesus, the Virgin and Child are depicted on the walls of many houses. What harm is there in having a statue in the town hall? After all, there is a Crucifix in many public buildings, and no one has ever complained.”