A priest criticised by
anti-immigrant groups for taking a group of migrants to the
local swimming pool said Friday he would go ahead with Mass on
Sunday despite threats from a far-right group.
The far-right Forza Nuova (New Force, FN) extraparliamentary
group said it will "control" Sunday's Mass in the Tuscan city of
Pistoia.
"We will guarantee a large presence at Father (Massimo)
Biancalani's Mass", said FN.
Father Biancalani said "everything is going ahead as usual,
but with greater force than usual".
He said he would deliver the homily on Sunday.
Pistoia Bishop Fausto Tardelli reacted by saying that the
Mass will be "presided over" by his vicar-general.
"I think they're really going over the limit here,"" said the
bishop.
"I only hope they're joking, although the joke seems to me in
bad taste".
Anti-immigrant Northern League (LN) leader Matteo Salvini
slammed Biancalani after he took a group of migrants to a
swimming pool in Pistoia last Sunday.
"This "Massimo Biancalani, an anti-LN, anti-Fascist and I'd
say anti-Italian priest, is a parish priest at Pistoia, It's not
fake news, it's all true. Have a good swim," Salvini said on
Facebook.
Father Biancalani had posted photos of the young migrants in
the water, saying: "Today it's the swimming pool! They are my
homeland, racists and Fascists my enemies."
The post spawned hundreds of comments, for and against, and
the photos were blocked.
The priest later posted a photo of the migrants' bicycles
with their tyres pierced after the incident.
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