withdrew Buttiglione's nomination, keeping him in his office of minister in the Italian government. "The new soft totalitarianism that is advancing on the left wants to have a state religion. It is an atheist, nihilistic religion - but it is a religion that is obligatory for all", Buttiglione subsequently commented. Foreign minister Franco Frattini was later indicated as a possible alternative, with the implicit promise that his ministry would then go to Gianfranco Fini, whose party had recently increased its influence in the government coalition. However, there were still rumors that Giulio Tremonti, supported by the Northern League, might be picked for the job, but eventually Frattini was nominated and appointed. In response to the veto of Buttiglione's candidature, a collection of Christian personalities in 2008 (with Buttiglione himself as Founding Patron) formed the Dignitatis Humanae Institute to oversee the creation of a network of parliamentary working groups on human dignity across a diverse number of legislatures, with the aim of protecting the integrity of Christians serving in public life. Turin mayoral election Rocco Buttiglione ran as the candidate for his coalition, the House of Freedoms, for the office of Mayor in Turin. His opponent was the incumbent Sergio Chiamparino, member of The Union. Turin had been a left-wing stronghold in the previous general elections and the city hosted successfully the 2006 Winter Olympics, making Buttiglione's challenge very difficult. Adding to that, some wondered why such a hard-line conservative, who had never lived in Turin before, was proposed for the office, calling Buttiglione's move as a political suicide. After a poor campaign results were disastrous; Sergio Chiamparino, who had been elected in the previous elections with 52.8% of the votes, scored 66.6% of the votes against Buttiglione, and became the first Turin mayor to be elected at the first turn. Financial investigations It has also emerged that Buttiglione was investigated by the authorities in Monaco in 2002 over possible illegal money laundering in favour of his political party. At the end no evidence was found that a crime had been committed. Giampiero Catone, a senior aide of Buttiglione, has been charged with "fraudulent bankruptcy" in Italy; and faces inquiries into the disappearance of millions of Euros of Italian and EU funds. Views on abortion In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Italy's leading daily newspaper, Rocco Buttiglione was quoted as saying that he is opposed to efforts to create binding