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| Europe |
| Italy: Saving the Walled Virgin |
| 2007-08-27 |
| I suspect that there will be more, not fewer, stories along this line. CASATENOVO – “I’m pleased that the statue of the Virgin is back where it should be”, said a relieved Antonio Colombo yesterday evening. The mayor of Casatenovo was commenting on the removal of bricks sealing a niche at Cascina Rimoldo from which the Virgin has blessed passers-by for a hundred years. But in this corner of Brianza, in the province of Lecco, there is still a mood of shock and distress at the incident at Valaperta. It was two pensioners, Agnese and Angela, who saved the plaster Virgin from being walled up in its niche over the door of a Muslim immigrant’s home. “The Moroccan was irritated by the Virgin’s presence”, they explained as they returned the statue to its shrine. Mr Colombo, the Centre-left mayor, says he has reported the incident to the police and prefecture at Lecco so that any legal repercussions can be verified. After a visit by carabinieri to Valaperta yesterday, the other immigrant families who live in at Cascina Rimoldo removed the bricks to “avoid problems”. Nevertheless, the incident will be discussed by the municipal administration in the next few days after angry protests from the Northern League. The initial reaction of Northern League group leader, Giuseppe Perego, was to deplore “this act of intolerance and barbarism, this lack of respect for the Christian faith”. Only later that evening did he say he was “satisfied at the immigrant’s change of heart and the Virgin’s return to the niche”. “It was an unspeakable act”, said the mayor, “carried out at the initiative of one individual. The incident must not weaken the efforts we should all be making to achieve genuinely civil coexistence founded on mutual respect for everyone’s ideas, traditions and religious convictions”. The number of immigrants in Casatenovo, a town of 12,000 inhabitants, has been growing in recent years. Currently, there are about 500 resident non-Italian nationals, most of them from Morocco and Albania. “Coexistence between Catholics and Muslims, Italians and foreigners, is calm and peaceful”, points out the parish priest, Fr Sergio Zambenetti, who notes that “Muslims venerate the Virgin, too”. UCOII spokesman, Ezzedin Elzir, reacted similarly to the episode. “That Muslim does not know his own religion because Mary is very important for our faith, too”. His action was at least partly inspired by “ignorance”. And at least partly not. |
| Posted by:mrp |