Italy to EU: Protect Christians

2 January 2011 | 19:33 | Source: Tanjug

ROME -- Italy has requested that the issue of anti-Christian violence worldwide be included in the agenda of the EU foreign minister's meeting on January 31. This comes in the wake of the December 31 massacre in a church in Alexandria, Egypt, when 21 Christians were killed in a suicide attack. "The latest events have tragically confirmed that the phenomenon of religious intolerance is being intensified, especially when aimed against Christians," the MFA in Rome said in a statement on Sunday. "This has become too serious, worrying and obsoletely unacceptable," the statement said, condemning the Alexandria crime. Italy also believes the time has come for all governments that respect human rights, among them the right to religious freedom, to provide a "strong and clear political answer". "The European Union should be at the forefront of that fight. This is what Italy is requesting of the EU today," the statement concluded.