Mayor Publicly Criticised Parish for Holding a Rosary for the Family
The parish priest of the Church San Nicola in Lizzano was publicly criticized by the mayor for his prayer on the 14th of July. The priest organized a rosary for the families to ‘’defend the family from the pitfalls that threaten it, including the bill against homophobia.’’ The religious service was interrupted by a group of people holding rainbow flags and are in favor of the bill outside the church. According to the priest, the protesters put posters on the church saying, "God teaches you to hate gays", "God teaches you to discriminate" and similar phrases. While the Carabiniere were called to end the riot outside the church, the mayor defended the protest against the church. In the same respect, the Municipality of Lizzano also distanced itself from the initiative of the Church "We take, firmly, the distance," they wrote in a post published on Facebook.
"Everyone has the right to freely express his or her thoughts through speech, writing and any other means of dissemination". In the square there was also the Apulian writer Francesca Cavallo, who wrote on social media that she was "proud of Lizzano" and that this is a "beautiful story of active citizenship and healthy democratic participation".
"Of course it's not up to us to say what we should or should not pray for - we read - but also in an extremely secular vision which is that which characterizes the current municipal administration, the church is a mother and no mother would ever pray against her children. Whatever their legitimate sexual orientation."
Source: Corriere, Il Giornale, Facebook
Symbolic Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash