A controversial Christmas tree
Austrian leader’s visit prompts protests

Each year the Vatican accepts a tree from a different country, to be erected in St. Peter’s Square. The tree is formally presented to the Vatican by officials from the country that provided it, in a short and ordinarily unremarkable ceremony.

This year, however, the Christmas tree comes from Austria, and in particular from the province of Carinthia. The governor of that province is Jörg Haider, the controversial leader of Austria’s Freedom Party. Last February, when national elections had resulted in the creation of a new coalition government that included Haider’s Freedom Party, the European Union had imposed sanctions on Austria, on the grounds that the Freedom Party harbors racist sympathies. The sanctions were lifted in September when the coalition dropped Haider’s group. Now the news that Haider would lead the Austrian delegation arriving in Rome on December 16 caused a sharp protest by his many critics in Italy and elsewhere.

In Italy, leftist political groups ranging from the Communist and Green parties to trade union officials vowed to stage protests around St. Peter’s Square when Haider arrived. Even diplomatic representatives from other nations joined in the chorus of complaint. “Haider is a politician who is ostracized by the enlightened world,” the Israeli foreign ministry argued. “The granting of an honor to a man of this kind is liable to send a wrong and inappropriate message.”

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