ITALY: POPULISTS BLOCK MUSLIM GROUP'S BID TO TURN CHAPEL INTO MOSQUE
BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and
research purposes:
In an effort to protect Christianity in Italy:Lombardy’s populist League-led local government has blocked plans to turn an old chapel into a mosque after an Islamic group outbid Christians at the auction of a church in Bergamo, northern Italy.Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini named Islam as “one of the greatest threats to Italy” and stated months ago:
Centuries of history are at risk of disappearing if Islamisation, which has been underestimated until now, finally wins.Before the rise of Salvini’s “populist” movement, a scenario was reported two years ago that demonstrated the direction that Italy was taking with respect to mass migration. Christians at the Church of St. Anthony in Ventimiglia were ordered to “pray in silence” by the Catholic charity Caritas, which facilitates mass migration to Europe, so as not to disturb Muslim migrants who were living there. The faithful were told by Caritas that they could not recite the rosary. The organization even boasted “that it contributes to and seeks to influence European Union (EU) asylum policies.”
“Italy: Populists Block Muslim Group’s Bid to Turn Chapel into Mosque,” by Virginia Hale, Breitbart, October 30, 2018:
Lombardy’s populist League-led local government has blocked plans to turn an old chapel into a mosque after an Islamic group outbid Christians at the auction of a church in Bergamo, northern Italy.
The region’s president, Attilio Fontana, announced at the weekend that the council had utilised a 2004 law which allows regional government to halt a sale in the name of safeguarding cultural sites.
According to local media, the auction for the former hospital chapel was won by the Muslim Association of Bergamo which sought to turn the building into another mosque in the city after outbidding the Romanian Orthodox Church, which had used the site for worship since 2015.
Lombardy “will exercise our right of preemption and there will be no room for an appeal” regarding the sale of the church, said Fontana, stating that the council intends to “protect” Christianity in Italy.
“I would never have put a church up for sale and I am amazed that the hospital management did not understand how sensitive this issue was,” the League politician said.
“I have already contacted Father Gheorghe Valescu, head of the Romanian Orthodox community in Bergamo, to reassure him and illustrate the actions that are being taken to ensure the community does not lose their place of worship,” added Fontana.
League leader Matteo Salvini, who has served as Italian Interior Minister since June, had vowed ahead of national elections earlier this year his party would “put a stop to any irregular or abusive Islamic presence in Italy”,….
