Christmas this year marks the first time in its history that the European Parliament set up a Nativity scene at its headquarters in Brussels. Until now, officials of the European institution had considered it “potentially offensive.” The move was hailed by the EPP, the largest political grouping in the Pariament.

Isabel Benjumea, an MEP from Spain, was instrumental in the decision. First elected in 2019, she tried that year to prepare the groundwork for a gift of a Nativity scene to the parliament. However, she ran into bureaucracy and deadlines.

The following year she was told by the office of the President of Parliament that a crib could not be installed because it was “potentially offensive” to nonbelievers.

Nevertheless, she persisted as “it seemed unacceptable to me to ignore the Christian roots of Europe,” the parliamentarian told Spanish newspaper ABC.

Finally, this year the effort had the support of the Maltese president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, although the Nativity scene has only been “authorized as a special exhibition,” which may or may not be renewed in the future.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized the EU for excluding any mention of God or the continent’s Christian roots in the institution’s declarations on the 50th anniversary of its founding.