For the past week Italy has been caught up in a controversy sparked by a local judge's order that a crucifix be taken off the wall of a school in a small town east of Rome.

The ruling, which has dominated the country's media, followed a complaint by Adel Smith, a Muslim rights activist who did not want his children to see crucifixes in their school.

It sparked widespread outrage in the country, which is nominally overwhelmingly Catholic although only some 25 percent of Italians go to church regularly according to some polls.

The pope called for "proper recognition, even through laws, of distinctive religious traditions."

In Rome, the Education Ministry filed an appeal against the local judge's ruling. At about the same time the pope was addressing the interior ministers, a regional judge suspended the order and scheduled a hearing on the issue for next month.

The pope said people could not be forced to renounce their religious symbols in the name of what he called "an incorrect interpretation" of the principle of social equality.

"Social co-existence and peace cannot be achieved by erasing the religious distinctiveness of each people," he said, adding that such attempts would be "not only futile but even undemocratic" and could lead to instability and conflict.

Most leaders of Italy's 1-million strong Muslim community have distanced themselves from the firebrand Smith, who has appeared on Italian television defending Osama bin Laden.

Sociologists have expressed concern that the crucifix debate could inflame relations between Catholic Italians and a growing Islamic community made up mostly of immigrants.

Racial tensions have grown in some areas of Italy as more and more Muslims seek to enter Italy, legally and illegally, in search of a better life.

Some commentators have said Smith's demand may backfire and fuel the very intolerance it aimed to counter.