Two senior Vatican officials on Tuesday joined a growing list of European political and religious leaders expressing concern over the use of some Muslim veils by women immigrants.
Cardinal Renato Martino and Archbishop Agostino Marchetto spoke at a news conference presenting Pope Benedict's message for the Catholic Church's World Day of Migrants and Refugees, in which the Pontiff called for laws to help immigrants integrate.
Immigrants of other religions "must respect the traditions, symbols, culture and religion of the countries they move to," said Martino, head of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, in response to a question about the use of the veil. "It seems elementary to me and it is highly justified that authorities demand it," he said.
In recent months, European leaders including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi have said the veil presented difficulties for their nations, adding Muslim immigrants needed to integrate into Western societies.
"There are various types of veils," said Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, the Vatican's top immigration expert. "Italian law demands that the face be visible and so to be accepted in the country you must accept the laws of the country." The "niqab" is a veil worn by women in many Muslim societies which usually covers the whole face except the eyes.
Italy has decades-old laws against covering the face in public as an anti-terrorism measure and some politicians have called for this rule to be enforced against veiled Muslim women. The question of whether Europe is doing enough to integrate Muslims into society has been urgently addressed by governments across the continent since July 2005, when British-born Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people in London.
Marchetto said dialogue was the key to helping Muslims integrate in Europe. "In dialogue, we have to try to make them understand that the consequences of some of their desires deriving from their religion or traditions may not be positive in the society in which they now find themselves," he said. John Sentamu, the Anglican Archbishop of York, criticised the veil in an interview with a British newspaper last week.
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