From VM
Published 3 hours ago, updated 45 minutes ago
Father Della Sala is known in Italy for his sympathy towards the LGBT community. CIRO DE LUCA / Portal
“I wanted to show that families are no longer just traditional,” explained the priest of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Capocastello di Mercogliano near Naples.
The production sows discord in Italy. A nativity scene showing baby Jesus surrounded by two mothers, instead of the traditional figures of Mary and Joseph, has drawn the ire of conservative Catholics and politicians in Italy, Portal reports.
The priest at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Capocastello di Mercogliano, a hamlet about an hour's drive east of Naples, defended the depiction of Jesus' birth. “I wanted to show with this scene that families are no longer just traditional,” Father Vitaliano Della Sala told Portal. In our parishes we are seeing more and more children from the new types of families that exist and are part of our society, children of separated and divorced people, of homosexual couples, of single people, of young mothers.”
Father Della Sala is known in Italy for his sympathy towards the LGBT community. He says his stance is consistent with that of Pope Francis, who in a historic decision this week authorized priests to bless same-sex couples.
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The conservatives immediately took up the issue. Senator Maurizio Gasparri of the Forza Italia party said the nativity scene “insults all those who have always shown respect and devotion to the Holy Family.” The group Pro-Vita & Famiglia (Pro-Life and Family, editor's note) called the crèche “dangerous, shameful and blasphemous” and said it “promotes the buying and selling of children.” Pro-Vita has also launched a petition on its website calling on the Bishop of Avellino to intervene and “defend the symbols of the crèche and the family.”
In Italy, the use of a surrogate mother is prohibited. The government has also proposed a law, currently being debated in Parliament, that would criminalize couples who use a surrogate when traveling abroad. Kindergartens are popular in this predominantly Catholic country. But in recent years they have become increasingly embroiled in culture wars. On December 20, Italy's ruling far-right Fratelli d'Italia party proposed a bill requiring the installation of nativity scenes in the country's public schools.