Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana hit out at the religious values of the Italian government on Monday as the furore over a plan by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni to fingerprint all children in the country's gypsy camps rumbled on.
''The 'Catholic' ministers of Silvio Berlusconi's government have fallen at the first hurdle, without appeal,'' said the weekly, which slammed the newly formed government in April for failing to include staunch Catholics in its line-up.
''The dignity of man is worth nothing to them. No-one has raised his hand to counter Maroni and his indecent racist proposal''.
The weekly went on to attack the granddaughter of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Alessandra Mussolini, who had previously failed to comment on Maroni's plan despite her recent appointment as president of the Parliamentary Children's Committee.
''Mussolini's silence is not surprising, since ethnic and religious registers are part of her family DNA and finally return as government heritage'', it said.
The Catholic paper went on to suggest that the fingerprints of parliamentarians and their children should be taken first.
''The registering of a Roma child, who has committed no crime, violates human dignity,'' it said,
''We would have given more credit to the minister if, together with the register, he had explained how he would get all the Roma children into schools and take them away from the camps they share with rats. What help has he planned? Nothing''.
Mussolini described the editorial as ''a mixture of confusion and intolerance'', adding that she ''could not fail'' to support a plan that would ''save and defend'' the Roma children.
But the president of the Italian branch of the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) echoed Famiglia Cristiana's fears.
''Not only do we fail to understand how this register can bring positive results, but there is a risk of criminalising the victims - the children themselves,'' said Vincenzo Spadafora, appealing for a meeting with Maroni.
''I think the minister would do well to open dialogue on this issue rather than repeating his position,'' he added.
A former Italian president, Francesco Cossiga, added to the chorus of nay-sayers, asking what Maroni had planned next.
''I think the minister's next step will be to cut the first phalange from the little finger of the right or left hand of gypsy children, or even better a piece of the lobe from the right or left ear so that they can be immediately recognised,'' he said.
MARONI DEFENDS PLAN.
But Maroni's proposal received support from Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini, despite unofficial comments from the EC last week that the plan would be unacceptable.
''I think that Maroni has done well to continue along this path. This measure is above all in the interests of the children who have no identity. We can help them (by removing them) from the ignoble state of abandonment in which they find themselves,'' said Frattini, a former European Commissioner for Justice and Security.
''It's not about registers or anything like that but about identifying those who live in our country. These things are done in many other European countries without any scandal and they will also be done here,'' he added. Maroni hit back at critics, describing his plan as a
''logical measure'' that conformed to European directives.
''All the polemics are unfounded, the fruit of ignorance or ideological prejudice,'' he said.
Maroni also pointed to an EU law passed in April that requires member states to take the fingerprints from migrant minors coming from outside the EU from the age of six and up.
Under Maroni's proposal, fingerprints will be taken during a census of all gypsy camps in a bid to establish who is in the country legally and who is not.
Gypsies found without the correct paperwork will be expelled after three months.
The government eventually plans to dismantle all illegal camps as well as authorised camps that do not have adequate facilities.
The proposal has come under heavy fire from opposition politicians, children's rights organisations, Catholic immigration foundation Migrantes and international bodies including the European Union and the Council of Europe for discriminating against an ethnic minority.
