The better to eat you with, my dear. From Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
ROME (Reuters) – An Italian school’s substitution of a Nativity play with Little Red Riding Hood so as not to offend Muslim children has raised the Vatican’s ire and sparked debate on how much traditions should change to accommodate immigrants.
The episode was the latest in a series in recent weeks which made headlines as overwhelmingly Catholic Italy comes to grips with an ever-growing Muslim population which some see as a blessing for the economy and others as a threat.
Pope John Paul, in a message for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Migrants, weighed in indirectly, saying Christians had to respect cultural differences but had to proclaim the gospel and defend traditions.
Last week, a public elementary school in the northern city of Treviso decided that Little Red Riding Hood would be this year’s Christmas play instead of the Christmas story.
The teachers said the famous tale was a fitting representation of the struggle between good and evil and would not offend Muslim children. The school’s traditional nativity scene was scrapped for the same reason.
In another school near Milan, the word “Jesus” was removed from a Christmas hymn and substituted with the word “virtue.” In Vicenza province an annual contest for the best Nativity scene in schools was canceled.
Conservative politicians and Churchmen blasted the moves.
“Are we losing our minds?,” said Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli, an outspoken member of the populist Northern League. “Do we want to erase our identity for the love of Allah?”