Rome, Italy (AHN) -- The Italian government will appeal the decision of a European court awarding 5,000 euros ($7,400) in damages to a Finnish-Italian mother who sued authorities for not removing crucifixes in classrooms.

The appeal was prompted by public outrage on the Tuesday decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upholding Soile Lautsi's appeal against an Italian court's rejection of her petition to remove crosses in classrooms. In the 8-year-old case, Lautsi complained that the crosses might offend or frighten children from other religion.

The ECHR ruling, however, states that parents have the right to educate their children in their chosen school and children must have freedom of religion.

The decision outraged the Vatican, calling it short-sighted and a betrayal of Europe's Christian roots. Italian bishops said the ruling is biased.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the ruling does not require Italy to remove crosses in public schools.

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