The parish priest of Sant'Angelo in
Mercole in the Umbria town of Spoleto on Monday hung a sign on
the church door banning racists from entering the premises.
"Racists are not allowed in this church" says the sign in
gigantic red and black letters on a white background.
Father Gianfranco Formenton is enraged at violent
anti-immigrant protests staged last week by local residents and
extreme rightwingers in the town of Quinto di Treviso in his
native Veneto region and in a Rome suburb.
"For I was a stranger and you did not take me in,"
continues the sign in a paraphrase of Matthew 25:35.
"Far from me, cursed ones, into the eternal flames," the
sign carries on.
A picture of the sign has gone viral on social media.
The outspoken prelate is no stranger to controversy. He
celebrated a Mass for right-to-die activist and artist
Piergiorgio Welby, who died in 2006, against the wishes of the
Catholic hierarchy.
He also railed against what he said is an excess of flowers
at funerals and "the new liturgy invented by those who de facto
manage the celebration of death in our society: funeral
parlors".
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