Blood of St. Januarius liquefies in Naples on feast day

Edinburgh, Scotland, Oct 4, 2018 / 03:54 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Police Scotland maintains that “if flown or displayed in a provocative manner or altered,” the display of the Vatican flag could be a criminal act.

Scotland has experienced significant sectarian division since the Scottish Reformation of the 16th century, which led to the formation of the Church of Scotland, an ecclesial community in the Calvinist and Presbyterian tradition which is the country’s largest religious community.

Sectarianism and crimes motivated by anti-Catholicism have been on the rise in Scotland in recent years. Football hooliganism in the country can be linked to sectarian football clubs.

“It would be very concerning if the Vatican flag was in any circumstance deemed offensive,” a Church spokesman said, according to the Scottish Catholic Observer.

The Herald obtained the Police Scotland document which shows symbols and flags, the “provocative” use of which could be a crime.

“Whilst the display of the following flags is not an offence, in itself, if flown or displayed in a provocative manner or altered, constitute a common law Breach of the Peace or an offence under Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2000,” the police document stated.

Among the flags deemed potentially criminal are those of the Vatican, Israel, Ireland, Palestine, Catalonia, and the Basque Country.

“If they are altered to contain a reference to a proscribed organisation they may constitute an offence under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.”

“Irrespective of the above, the possession of these flags within a football ground may constitute a breach of ground regulations.”

Police Scotland Chief Superindendent John McKenzie said that “often flags themselves are not the issue but the criminal conduct that accompanies them is. This could include, but is not limited to, threatening gestures or words, or flags being amended to show support for a proscribed terrorist group or amendments which constitute a hate crime.”

And a spokesman for the Scottish government said, “It is not an offence to fly the flag of the Vatican or any other country.”

A Church spokesman noted that the Vatican flag “has been flown proudly in Scotland on the occasion of two Papal visits without upset or incident and its use should not be restricted in any way.”

Sectarianism has been a problem in Scotland in recent years.

Glasgow has rerouted Protestant marches associated with the Orange Order.

An April poll of Catholics in Scotland found that 20 percent reported personally experiencing abuse of prejudice toward their faith; and a government report on religiously-motivated crime in 2016 and 2017 found a concentration of incidents in Glasgow.

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CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- The Republic of Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission has decided that an atheist child was discriminated against by his Catholic school when students were rewarded for attending a religious ceremony.

The commission, an independent, quasi-judicial forum, ruled that the Yellow Furze National School in County Meath had discriminated against an atheist student.

Early in the 2019 school year, the students had been promised a homework pass if they took part in the choir during a First Communion ceremony

The boy’s mother complained, but the school defended its policy.

“Any student, regardless of his/her religion in our school who opted not to participate in this extracurricular event was not ‘rewarded,'” the school said, according to the Irish Post last year.

The school added that children of any religion were able to participate in the choir, and that the claim of discrimination was thus “wholly unfounded.”

The commission said the school “does not appreciate this action had an adverse effect on students who are not of a Catholic faith,” the Irish Times reported.

His mother said that “on that day my son was the only child in the class who was not participating. He was also the only non-Catholic child in the class.” She added that “he came out of school crying.”

“We are atheist and this is not a choice that is open to him,” she said.

The Irish Post reported in 2019 that the boy was one of two pupils in his class of 33 to receive homework instead of attending the choir ceremony.

According to the commission the boy’s parents were “deeply hurt and upset” by the school.

“We felt that the school had disregarded the fact that we have a different set of beliefs,” the mother told RTE News. “We felt that our child had been singled out and punished for not being a Catholic,” and she added that she hoped the ruling would “change things for children here who are not Catholic”.

The mother has since enrolled her son in a different school.

The commission ordered the school to pay €5,000 and demanded the school review its policies so it complies with the Equal Status Acts. The school will also have to post a memo of its compliance in a noticeable location within the school.

The mother told RTE News she will return the €5,000 to the school, “because it will be our friends and our neighbours who will be funding it, through school fundraising. We have been vindicated, but we feel that it would be wrong to accept this money.”

Catholic schools in Ireland make up 90% of all primary schools in the country, the Irish Times reported. The ruling is likely to affect how other schools promote and organize religious events.

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Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) senior counsel Kellie Fiedorek (center) and Elizabeth Gillette (right), who survived severe complications from a chemical abortion, spoke with EWTN News Nightly anchor Tracy Sabol about the case. / Credit: Screen… […]