FRANCE: The French government has ordered that flags on all public buildings be flown at half-mast for the death of the Pope and was immediately accused of breaching the country's secular principles.
"It upsets me," said Christophe Girard, a Green party councillor in Paris. "On the front of our town halls and schools, the words that are written are 'liberty, equality, fraternity'. They do not say 'The Catholic Republic of France', like the Islamic Republic of Iraq."
The office of prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the decision was purely diplomatic. It was in line with custom to order that flags be flown at half-mast for the death of "a sitting head of state with whom France enjoys a privileged relationship", a spokesman said.
Having fought for centuries to limit the temporal power of the Roman Catholic church, France is so concerned about separating church and state that last year it passed a law banning Islamic headscarves and other signs of religious faith from public schools.
This official display of public mourning has raised hackles, mainly on the left.
Another Green councillor, Yves Contassot, said the decision was "utterly out of place" and accused President Jacques Chirac of "abusing his position" by attending a Mass in the Pope's honour at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Sunday.
He also alleged that Mr Chirac's actions were politically motivated. With his government languishing in the polls, he was "trying to turn to his own political advantage something that should remain strictly private," the councillor said.
France's main teachers' union said the government was being "selectively secular" in asking head teachers to lower school flags.
"It is not usual for the death of a foreign ruler, and contrary to our constitutional principles for the representative of a church," it said.
Senator Jean-Luc Melenchon of the Socialists said the gesture "favoured Catholicism".
The government spokesman, Jean-Francois Cope, said the dispute was unnecessary.
"It's a straightforward homage from the republic. The Pope was an exceptional man, a man of peace. I believe that should take precedence over any other debate we may have." - (Guardian Service)