The removal of the 480-year-old crucifix from the Hall of Peace in Münster Town Hall for the 3-4 November G7 foreign ministers meeting has been widely criticised.
Anger has been expressed both inside and outside Germany, and not only by religious leaders.
The German Foreign Office had asked the city of Münster to remove the crucifix as people of different religious backgrounds were taking part in the G7 meeting.
At the final G7 press conference an explanation was demanded from Green Party Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Clearly uncomfortable, she claimed that the decision to remove the crucifix had been an “organisational” and not a “political” one.
Personally, she deplored the fact that she had “only been informed of the decision by her office on the last day of the meeting”.
“I very much regret what happened. The crucifix is part of the history of the region. It would have been a good thing in my opinion if it had not been removed,” she said.
Münster Catholic diocese expressed its own deep disappointment. “From our point of view this measure is incomprehensible. It unfortunately reflects and expresses a curtailed understanding of tolerance.
The crucifix stands for overcoming violence and death,” the diocese underlined in a statement published on 4 November.
The diocese would ask the Foreign Office for an official explanation via the Catholic Office in Berlin, the statement added.
The mayor of Münster, Markus Lewe, said he deplored the Foreign Office’s decision. The crucifix had hung in the Peace Hall for centuries and was part of the history and culture of Münster.
The chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, also sharply criticised the decision on Twitter.
According to the German daily Westfälische Nachrichten this is the first time that the crucifix has been removed from the Peace Hall of Münster’s City Hall. It was not removed for the visit of one of the most important Muslim leaders, Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb in 2017, nor for the visits of the Dalai Lama in 1998 and 2007.
According to Münster’s city records, the crucifix dates back to 1540, more than 100 years before the Peace of Westphalia which was signed in the Münster Peace Hall in 1648 and ended the Thirty Years War.