[fable]

The European Union is on a collision course with its own president, Jose Manuel Barroso, who narrated a slate of candidates that included Rocco Buttiglione for Justice Minister. Quoting from Catholic World News:

Buttiglione had enraged gay-rights activists during a nomination hearing, when he said plainly that he believed homosexual acts were sinful. A devout Catholic who is a personal friend of Pope John Paul II (bio - news), Buttiglione became a lightning-rod for opposition by leftists in the European parliament.

Actually, it's not just "gay-rights activists" who are up in arms, nor does that term truly define the broad-spectrumed coalition that has formed against Buttiglione, regarded as someone that cannot keep his religion separated from his political activities. But to continue:

The future of Buttiglione's nomination is now in question. The parliamentary civil-rights committee, which voted narrowly (27-26) against him, does not have the final say. The president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, could still choose to give Buttiglione the justice ministry, or some other spot on the European Commission, and Barroso told reporters that he still has confidence in Buttiglione. However, the vote prompted several influential European leaders to recommend that Buttiglione's nomination should be dropped entirely.

Italian President Silvio Berlusconi, who had put forward Buttiglione's name, said that the parliamentary vote "reeked of fundamentalism." And a prominent Vatican prelate said that the rejection of an active Catholic was a "discriminatory act."

I suspect Berlusconi, as usual shooting from the hip, meant Protestant fundamentalism, as opposed to the Catholic Pope's own brand of 7th century Roman Catholic fundamentalism, which he has liberally dispersed throughout his tenure. How it constitutes a discriminatory act to refuse to accept as Justice Minister a person who himself is a bigot must remain one of those wonders of politics that are never explained.

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