Before the meeting, citing the fact that many of the participants were of a different faith, the German Foreign Ministry removed the nearly 500-year-old cross from the ceremonial hall. Although a spokesperson for the German Foreign Office claimed in response to a question that Foreign Minister Berbock was unaware of the deportation, the decision was not withdrawn nor was it classified. This clearly indicates that the decision reflects the official position of the German Foreign Ministry.
This move has weight.
The reference is wrong several times. Six of the G7 countries, namely France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, are de facto Christian, and the seventh, Japan, has no problem with Christianity.
In addition, the host could have recognized and even conveyed the existence of the cross as a classical artifact, which is closely related to the room’s furnishings, which are also half a millennium old.
Or he could not have transmitted anything at all.
Contrary to the spokesperson’s interpretation (Da muss natürlich ein Anderer Tisch rein, da muss eine andere Beleuchtung rein, da wurden andere Teppiche reingelegt – Of course you have to put in another table, you have to have different lighting, different carpet) The cross, as you can see in the attached photo, didn’t interfere with any equipment, nothing was replaced. The reasoning is completely wrong, as if reasonableness wasn’t even a goal.
The gesture of removing both values and rejecting the cross: it elevates it from an artistic object to a religious symbol and removes it as such. He makes it clear to the German Foreign Ministry, and therefore to the German government, the intention to separate the German state it leads from Christianity. The statement of the Foreign Ministry spokesperson that the decision has not been taken at the political level can only indicate that the German Foreign Minister makes the continuation of the process dependent on the reaction of the public at the present time, leaving himself the option of withdrawing.
