Italy has been found guilty of breaching “the religious rights of children” by allowing crucifixes to be displayed in classrooms, the European Court of Human Rights said today in a landmark ruling.

The judgment also ordered the Italian government to pay €5000 moral damages to Soile Lautsi, the woman who had brought the complaint.

The Vatican has said it will examine the judgement “closely” before making any comment.

The Court said that having a crucifix in the classroom was a ‘violation of the right to parents to educate children as to their own wishes and a violation of liberty of religion of pupils.’

Italy immediately said that it would appeal against the ruling – which will be enforced in three months – Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said having a cross in the classroom was ‘a symbol of our tradition.’

Mrs Lautsi, a Finn living in Italy, said that she felt having a crucifix in the classroom where her children Dataico, 11, and Sami Albertin, 13, were taught was a ‘violation of their freedom’ and of ‘right to freedom of religion.’

The eight year case centred on a State primary school in Abano Terme near Padua in northern Italy and she brought the case to Strasbourg after her local court threw it out.

Today in a 16 page decision the seven judges of the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled in her favour and saying: ‘The presence of the crucifix could easily be interpreted by pupils of all ages as a religious sign and they would feel that they were being educated in a school environment bearing the stamp of a given religion.

‘This could be encouraging for religious pupils, but also disturbing for pupils who practiced other religions or were atheists, particularly if they belonged to religious minorities.’

It added: ‘The Court was unable to grasp how the display, in classrooms in State schools, of a symbol that could reasonably be associated with Catholicism (the majority religion in Italy) could serve the educational pluralism that was essential to the preservation of a “democratic society” as that was conceived by the Convention, a pluralism that was recognised by the Italian Constitutional Court.”

Today a Vatican spokesman said: ‘We will look closely at the judgment before making any comment.’

However a Vatican source said: ‘This goes completely against the grain and we are furious at this decision.’

Conservative Catholic politicians were also furious with Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia of the Northern League calling it ‘shameful’ and a member of PM Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party, Antonio Mazzocchi, saying that Europe was forgetting its Christian heritage.

Crucifixes are common in Italian public buildings despite the postwar Constitution’s separation of Church and State.

In practice, with Catholicism being such a part of Italy’s cultural identity, local bodies decide whether they want crosses in schools and courthouses, and the majority of them do.

There has been outrage in the past after it emerged some Italian schools had dropped Nativity plays and Easter plays so as not offend Muslim pupils and other religions.