The European Court of Human Rights’ decision that crucifixes in public school classrooms are a violation of students’ religious freedom was received by the Vatican with “astonishment” and “regret.” This is what Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Office, said in a statement that was given in response to the court’s decision.

The case was brought to the Strasbourg-based European Court by Soile Lautsi, an Italian citizen of Finnish origin, who in 2002 had asked that the school in which her two children study, the Vittorino da Feltre School in Abano Terme (Padua), remove the crucifixes from the classrooms. According to Zenit News Agency, the School’s administration refused, contending that the crucifix is part of Italy’s cultural patrimony; Italian courts later backed their claim.

“The crucifix has always been a sign of God’s offer of love, of union and of welcome for the whole of humanity,” the Vatican spokesman said. “It is to be regretted that it has come to be considered as a sign of division, of exclusion and of limitation of liberty. It is not this, and it is not so in the common feeling of our people.”

The Strasbourg-based European court has asked the Italian government to compensate the woman for moral damage with 5,000 euros.